A question on ethics...

[macwilkin]

I've enjoyed reading all the thoughtful and well considered comments in this thread. To return to the original thought, I don't believe it is a question of ethics, but more of taste. I first saw the Saltire kilt at a highland game in Washington D.C. about a year ago. It was worn by a Scottish entertainer whom I really like to hear. What struck me first was "How did they ever get the pattern to show like that in the pleated back?"

I'm sure the entertainer did not mean any disrespect to his Scottish heritage as he expresses that very well in his singing. However, when he turned his back to the audience and gyrated in a manner to show the pattern swaying back and forth, it was kind of a turn off, and my opinion of him went down a couple of notches.

Flags have always been a symbol of commonality and unity. I work everyday in a military community with a great racial, cultural, and religious diversity but our American Flag gets a lot more respect here than in the general public.
I wouldn't like to see it on anyone's backside so prominently that it was sat on.
I guess in my 60 plus years here I've come to the conslusion that a positive outlook and respectful attitude towards others accomplishes much more than negativity and tearing things and people down.

Bottom line: (pun intended) is that a Saltire Kilt is not for me and I hope it fades away quickly.

This last post reminded me of something that happened to me in the last couple of days.

My DW and I just moved into a new house. On Monday morning I was waiting for the cable guy to come and hook up our cable box, and happened to notice that the neighbours American flag had evidently blown loose from the pole (which fits into a bracket screwed to the porch) and was now wrapped around a heating pipe on the roof. As of this morning, the flag was still there -- they have made no move to get it down. It bothers me, because that flag has meaning, and for 6 years now, I have raised and lowered the flag at the National Battlefield where I work as a seasonal ranger -- a flag that many soldiers fought and died for. I even have a link in my sig line to the Iowa State Historical Society's Civil War battle flag conservation program. They have earned the right, to paraphrase a historian on the History Channel's Save our History program, to be remembered and respected.

As I drive around town, I see all sorts of flags being flown from businesses and residences, and in in various conditions -- some immaculate and almost new, others which have broken loose from the pole, and are flapping in the wind, others dirty and black from smog, or tattered and ragged. Some are accidents, I'm sure, but others are the product of carelessness. Whilst I'm glad we live in a country where citizens can fly their flag, I worry sometimes that it's availabilty has led to apathy about its condition, display, etc.

What does this have to do with kilts, et al? Well, whilst I don't see the saltire flag kilt as disrespectful per se, the St. Andrew's Cross has just as much powerful symbolism as the US flag -- perhaps too powerful to be taken lightly. Yes, there are flag patches and other articles of clothing, but they can be worn respectfully, as Iolaus mentioned before -- but I just don't know about the flag on the back of a kilt. Flying proudly from a pole, yes.

It will be interesting to see if the flag is still on the roof tonight. If it is, I will go over and ask them to recover it. I only regret not doing so earlier.

Sorry for the bit of an OT rant.

**DISCLAIMER: I am not comparing my neighbour's actions to a saltire kilt, just pondering after seing it -- no offence meant towards anyone with such a kilt.

Todd