
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, July 20, 1990                   TAG: 9007200554
SECTION: EDITORIAL                    PAGE: A/8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

THE FOUNDERS WANTED AMERICA TO BE DIFFERENT

G.F. SNYDER'S letter on flag-burning June 25 asks that "someone . . . explain how and when speech and expression became synonyms." Later he asks, "Would someone please explain how burning this proud nation's flag become a vocal or oral expression?"

In my opinion, "speech" and "expression" have always been synonyms. When you express yourself through any action - be it playing a musical instrument, writing a book, painting a picture or burning a flag - your own personal beliefs, opinions, values and emotions are "speaking" through that expression itself.

Expression can be vocal or oral, of course, but it goes much deeper than that. A non-vocal or oral expression is a type of inner "speech" that allows you to convey how you feel through some sort of meaningful or symbolic action.

So when someone burns the American flag, he is "speaking" to the American public, through this very reactionary political "expression," that he is in some way not in favor of the doings of the U.S. government. In my opinion, flag-burning is a form of political protest (free speech) that is protected under the First Amendment of the Constitution.

If flag-burning is outlawed, this will chip away at the First Amendmemt, which gives us our most basic freedoms that we as privileged Americans often take for granted. We haven't touched the First Amendment in 200 years, so why should we now?

Our Founding Fathers wanted America to be different from any other country in the world because here would be tolerance of any opinion against the status quo, no matter how vile, perverse, or disgusting that opinion was in the eyes of the mainstream.

JASON GNAU\ ROANOKE

by CNB