It’s Just a Symbol….Until It Isn’t

A Valley Viewpoint Narrative

There’s a certain crowd these days that loves to flatten everything into nothing. Break it down to molecules, atoms, fabric—reduce anything meaningful until it becomes meaningless. The American flag, they argue, is no different. “Just a symbol,” they say. Nothing sacred. Nothing special. Fly it, burn it, stomp on it—who cares?

How would you react if your coworkers walked into the office tomorrow wearing pointy white hoods made out of bedsheets?

But if symbols are so trivial, here’s a simple Valley Viewpoint question:

Still “just a symbol”? No discomfort? No meaning attached?

Or take the Rainbow Flag—beloved by the LGBTQ community, flown proudly over parades and storefronts. If someone torched that in the town square, would the defenders of “it’s just a symbol” shrug that off too? If not, why not?

It’s only a symbol… right?

Years ago, artist Andres Serrano presented a warm and uplifting piece called Immersion—a Crucifix dunked in a glass of his own urine. Critics swooned. Christians, predictably, didn’t. They failed to appreciate the enlightened view that mocking what people find sacred is simply “art.” Silly Christians.

And in a twist of artistic courage, Serrano never submerged Mohammed in the same glass. Must’ve been an oversight. Or maybe courage has a very selective beat.

Here’s the thing most people pretending to be above all this don’t want to admit:

Symbols matter because ideas matter.

And ideas—“mere ideas”—are why people fight, die, sacrifice, build nations, protect freedoms, and yes, burn the very flag that symbolizes those freedoms.

I never suggested anyone lose the right to fly—or burn—whatever flag they damn well please. That’s America. Have at it.

What I refused to do was silently applaud behavior I find contemptible. And somehow, that is the problem. My expression bothers the people who insist their expression must be tolerated, celebrated, and protected at all costs.

Funny how freedom works until someone else uses it.

Because the irony is unavoidable:

The very people who preach that a flag is “just a symbol” are the same people who march, chant, wear, wave, post, and promote their own symbols everywhere they go.

Expression for them. Silence from you.

Sorry—wrong show, wrong state, wrong century.

This is the Valley Viewpoint.

Where freedom cuts both ways.