True Story: A Neighbor Saw My New “Make America Great Again” Flag–And Cried

 

This little story definitely falls under the heading of “you can’t make this stuff up!”

I am very proud of my flagpole in my front yard and have proudly flown “Old Glory” for many years. I try hard to keep it replaced when our frequent South Louisiana storms “have their way with” them and I try hard to observe all the rules with regard to the proper care of the American flag.

I was very happy recently to see an ad for a beautiful red flag with large white lettering reading “Make America Great Again” and immediately ordered it to fly with my brand new American flag, without ever giving a thought to the fact that someone might be so offended by the mere sight of the flag that they would voice loud complaints about it. Therefore, I was delighted when the flag came in and I immediately ran it up the flagpole to take its place of honor right below my spanking new American flag.

Shortly thereafter, I got a call from a neighbor and long-time friend, who explained that he was simply doing his duty as grievance Chair of the Homeowners’ Association in conveying to me a complaint he had received from a neighbor, who told him that as they were from Mexico the mere sight of the flag so upset them that they cried for quite some time after seeing it. My friend made it clear that he was doing his duty, but not necessarily in an enthusiastic way, and in the course of the conversation, he said words to the effect “I must tell you, I really like that flag!”

He asked for my response and I asked whether he wanted the dignified response or the one I would really like to give, and he said as he had known me for many years he could probably guess what the “undignified” response would be! So, I responded that it would take a final order of a Court of competent jurisdiction ordering me to take down the flag before it would move one inch; I have had no further complaints. As a matter of fact, another neighbor called me asking for information as to where he could get one for his own flagpole.

If someone tries to tell me there is no such thing as “Trump Derangement Syndrome.” I have a true story ready for them. It is real and it is really quite chilling to actually know someone to whom the mere sight of his campaign slogan on a piece of cloth causes them physical upset.

Although if I were truly fair about it, I would have to admit that when I saw a pink knit cap recently at a soccer match, commonly identified by a feline reference and which has become something of an icon for women in The Resistance, if that’s what it’s called this week, I did feel some kind of emotion, mostly sadness for the rather pathetic specimen who was wearing it.

But I did not cry. And if I had, I would never, ever, ever admit it to one living soul!

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  1. DocJay Inactive
    DocJay
    @DocJay

    Enjoy your freedom of expression!

    • #1
  2. Misthiocracy Member
    Misthiocracy
    @Misthiocracy

    Why wouldn’t your neighbours want to live in a great country?

    • #2
  3. Ryan M(cPherson) Inactive
    Ryan M(cPherson)
    @RyanM

    I think you should offer to have a conversation with the neighbor who complained; take him out for a beer and explain to him what you think that flag means to you, and why it doesn’t mean anything that should cause anyone to be crying.

    Maybe you’ll make a friend out of it.

    • #3
  4. JustinMcClinton Inactive
    JustinMcClinton
    @JustinMcClinton

    the university I’m getting my PhD from in California had the biggest tizzy over any form of support for Trump.  I do think wearing the hat is kind of lame, although I do own one (it’s a collectors item for sure) but I did feel bad for the Trump kids because their courage in expressing an unpopular opinion turned them into public enemy number one.

    • #4
  5. Jimmy Carter Member
    Jimmy Carter
    @JimmyCarter

    Ryan M(cPherson) (View Comment):
    I think you should offer to have a conversation with the neighbor who complained; take him out for a beer and explain to him what you think that flag means to you, and why it doesn’t mean anything that should cause anyone to be crying.

    Maybe you’ll make a friend out of it.

    Or raise a Confederate Flag and watch Them curl in the fetal position.

    • #5
  6. Umbra Fractus Inactive
    Umbra Fractus
    @UmbraFractus

    You should remind your Mexican neighbor that if he’s a citizen or a legal immigrant then he has nothing to worry about. Anyone who says otherwise is trying to sow division.

    • #6
  7. Seawriter Contributor
    Seawriter
    @Seawriter

    Jimmy Carter (View Comment):

    Or raise a Confederate Flag and watch Them curl in the fetal position.

    If they are really from Mexico, they should be cool with a Confederate flag. As long as the Confederacy existed the United States left Mexico alone. And Mexico got a lot of money from cotton smuggled out of Texas through Mexico. If there was any country that would wish the South to rise again it is Mexico.

    Seawriter

    • #7
  8. dittoheadadt Inactive
    dittoheadadt
    @dittoheadadt

    I’m gonna hazard a guess that the person was lying through their teeth about “crying for quite some time.”  Much of the alleged apoplexy on the Left is faux, phony, and eventually debunked.  Absent contemporaneous video evidence, I’d put this in that same category:  BS.

    • #8
  9. GFHandle Member
    GFHandle
    @GFHandle

    dittoheadadt (View Comment):
    I’m gonna hazard a guess that the person was lying through their teeth about “crying for quite some time.”

    Yes. Establishing a possible legal case–you need to claim harm to have standing, I think.  An assault that doesn’t bother me is not an assault.  I must be upset. If the flag is to be held assaultive, you will need injury, which crying helps prove, in the logic of a court.

    Or it could just be standard issue American victimology. “Ima v-v-vic-DOM, yes I am…”

    • #9
  10. Front Seat Cat Member
    Front Seat Cat
    @FrontSeatCat

    If I was in a neighborhood with an HOA, I would probably leave the American flag up, but take down the Make America Great Again. While I voted for Trump, and believe in the Make America Great Again slogan, I would say that I would rather respect the neighbors as far as politics go. It is no different than keeping a yard sign up.  If someone had Bernie or Hillary posted all over the place, I would complain to the HOA.  At this point, he won, and everything from now on depends on his making America Great Again, not you. Just an opinion, but that’s it…..

    • #10
  11. Doug Watt Member
    Doug Watt
    @DougWatt

    I love it. My life’s dream is to move into a Protestant neighborhood and fly the Papal flag. :)

    • #11
  12. Arthur Beare Member
    Arthur Beare
    @ArthurBeare

    Doug Watt (View Comment):
    I love it. My life’s dream is to move into a Protestant neighborhood and fly the Papal flag. ?

    Dream on.  I doubt most of them would know what it was.

    • #12
  13. CB Toder aka Mama Toad Member
    CB Toder aka Mama Toad
    @CBToderakaMamaToad

    Doug Watt (View Comment):
    I love it. My life’s dream is to move into a Protestant neighborhood and fly the Papal flag. ?

    Have I told you about my friend whose Anglican girlfriend asked if he would come to their All Saints Day party? He said he would only come it he could dress as St. Thomas More.

    • #13
  14. Mike LaRoche Inactive
    Mike LaRoche
    @MikeLaRoche

    Burn a Mexican flag.

    • #14
  15. Eb Snider Member
    Eb Snider
    @EbSnider

    Doug Watt (View Comment):
    I love it. My life’s dream is to move into a Protestant neighborhood and fly the Papal flag. ?

    Too Funny

    • #15
  16. CM Inactive
    CM
    @CM

    I wish there was an Alamo flag you could fly…

    • #16
  17. Seawriter Contributor
    Seawriter
    @Seawriter

    CM (View Comment):
    I wish there was an Alamo flag you could fly…

    There is this:

    Seawriter

    • #17
  18. Ryan M(cPherson) Inactive
    Ryan M(cPherson)
    @RyanM

    Mike LaRoche (View Comment):
    Burn a Mexican flag.

    That seems a bit … less in the American spirit.

    I’m glad conservatives aren’t like that.  It’s something I don’t respect about liberals.

    • #18
  19. 9thDistrictNeighbor Member
    9thDistrictNeighbor
    @9thDistrictNeighbor

    Doug Watt (View Comment):
    I love it. My life’s dream is to move into a Protestant neighborhood and fly the Papal flag.

    We do it every Easter.

    We used to live in the People’s Republic of Evanston. We would fly the “W” flag when the Cubs would win (a number of years ago when winning was an occasional occurrence). Our neighbor came out and asked if it referred to George Bush…this from a guy who had lived his entire life in the Chicago area.

    • #19
  20. CM Inactive
    CM
    @CM

    Ryan M(cPherson) (View Comment):

    Mike LaRoche (View Comment):
    Burn a Mexican flag.

    That seems a bit … less in the American spirit.

    I’m glad conservatives aren’t like that. It’s something I don’t respect about liberals.

    I wouldn’t do it if I was a guest in Mexico. I would respect that and be a good house-guest.

    Depending on what is personally done to me, I might entertain throwing it on a personal bonfire.

    • #20
  21. dittoheadadt Inactive
    dittoheadadt
    @dittoheadadt

    Front Seat Cat (View Comment):
    I would say that I would rather respect the neighbors as far as politics go

    I suspect the American flag itself would upset quite a number of Democrats and Liberals.  Don’t we see stories all the time on this very subject?

    Since anything and everything can (allegedly) upset someone, I’d not give a RA whether someone was offended by something as benign as a flag.  If they can’t handle something that simple, their problems run quite deep, and I wouldn’t walk on eggshells around them because they have trouble functioning in the real and ordinary world.  Snowflakes deserve derision, not deference.

    • #21
  22. Randy Weivoda Moderator
    Randy Weivoda
    @RandyWeivoda

    Your neighbor does realize that half the country voted for Trump, right? Are they hoping to walk around every day in a fantasy world where Bernie Sanders is president?  Blast you for reminding them of reality!

    Note to self: do not buy a house that is regulated by a home-owners association.

    • #22
  23. David Carroll Thatcher
    David Carroll
    @DavidCarroll

    Call the HOA guy and tell him to ask the complaining neighbor a question and if the response makes sense, tell him you would consider removing the flag.  The question is this, “Can you explain why you do not want to live in a great country?”  Or better, “Do you think Americans should not want their country to be great?”

    • #23
  24. Ryan M(cPherson) Inactive
    Ryan M(cPherson)
    @RyanM

    CM (View Comment):

    Ryan M(cPherson) (View Comment):

    Mike LaRoche (View Comment):
    Burn a Mexican flag.

    That seems a bit … less in the American spirit.

    I’m glad conservatives aren’t like that. It’s something I don’t respect about liberals.

    I wouldn’t do it if I was a guest in Mexico. I would respect that and be a good house-guest.

    Depending on what is personally done to me, I might entertain throwing it on a personal bonfire.

    Well, there is nothing wrong with Mexico, and there is nothing wrong with Mexicans. I know a great many who I call friends. I’m not a fan of entitlement in general, and I want people to respect or laws, but there’s no good reason for us to paint with such a broad brush.  If individuals do you wrong, it’s always better to take it up with them. Otherwise, we have little standing to criticize Al Sharpton for his “white devil” rhetoric, or liberals who do much the same…

    I don’t mean that as a sort of “take the higher ground” preachiness, but more as a reminder that conservatives value logical consistency.

    • #24
  25. Mike LaRoche Inactive
    Mike LaRoche
    @MikeLaRoche

    There is plenty wrong with Mexico.

    • #25
  26. Mark Wilson Inactive
    Mark Wilson
    @MarkWilson

    Microaggressed!

    • #26
  27. JcTPatriot Member
    JcTPatriot
    @

    I like your story, but I have to tell you…

    My mother spent the last years of her life as President of her HOA in a condo complex in southwest Houston. I always encouraged her to tell me her HOA stories, because I didn’t understand HOAs and wanted to learn. She told me at least 100 stories, and I have always felt that I could probably run an HOA pretty well if ever I became a member of one.

    Be careful with that flag, because once you start something, you legally no longer have the ability to stop it. If a bunch of your neighbors decide to fly the Mexican flag, or the Russian flag, or a Hillary flag (yes they sell those) or an anti-Trump flag, you have to shut your yap and live with it.

    Get ready. Your anti-Trump neighbors may already be planning their next move, and I promise you that you won’t like it.

    • #27
  28. profdlp Inactive
    profdlp
    @profdlp

    Randy Weivoda (View Comment):
    Note to self: do not buy a house that is regulated by a home-owners association.

    I am getting the keys to my new home (first-time buyer) in about 12 hours.  I looked at more houses than I can remember and the first question I asked in each case was “Is there home-owners association?  Because if there is, scratch that one off the list.”

    My parents live under one and it is run buy a bunch of geriatric Nazis who live for the moment they can make you repaint your garage door because it isn’t the right shade of periwinkle.

    • #28
  29. Mark Wilson Inactive
    Mark Wilson
    @MarkWilson

    profdlp (View Comment):
    I am getting the keys to my new home (first-time buyer) in about 12 hours.

    Congratulations!

    • #29
  30. Douglas Inactive
    Douglas
    @Douglas

    This kind of thing is why I’d never buy a house governed by a homeowner’s association. Even though you technically own the house, too often you’re at the whim of neighbors.

    • #30
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