Would it bother you if someone burnt your national flag?

[shaunbhoy]

Am I the only one who is bothered by someone wanting to burn ME?

I am more bothered by the fact that nobody has yet managed it, you boneheaded racist clown!

[Doggy Styles]

I can't speak for other countries in the UK but people from Scotland have enormous pride in their country. The belief is visible and strong for everybody to see, ask our neighbours. To say we don't have any pride in our country because of what someone is willing to do to a flag is shortsighted and dangerous.

Well said. And I'm not even a Scotchman.

[Mich the Tester]

The people who burn your British flag also would burn YOU if they could.

bla bla

Am I the only one who is bothered by someone wanting to burn ME?

Yes, because you are the only one assuming that if someone burns a symbol they want to burn a person. In Britain, every year, there is a ritual burning of a puppet of a chap called Guy Fawkes, a catholic who attempted to blow up the houses of parliament and was burnt at the stake for doing so. Up until quite recently not only Guy Fawkes puppets were burt, but also puppets of the pope, to represent catholicism. Not really a very nice thought at all, and happily the whole thing seems to have lost a lot of that sectarian symbolism, but I ask you this; does the burning of a puppet mean that the millions of British people who celebrate November 5th actually want to grab the nearest catholic and set fire to him? Were they about to do that when they burnt pope figures on the bonfire, right up until the first half of the 20th century? No, it doesn't. They are burning a symbol. Some don't understand the symbolism, and of those that do I'd wager, on the basis of the last 30-odd years that I've been to bonfire nights, that about 0% of people in Britain really want to set fire to any old catholic who happens to be watching the fireworks.

[SupremeSpod]

Well said. And I'm not even a Scotchman.

Oh... What do you drink then?

[shaunbhoy]

Some don't understand the symbolism, and of those that do I'd wager, on the basis of the last 30-odd years that I've been to bonfire nights, that about 0% of people in Britain really want to set fire to any old catholic who happens to be watching the fireworks.

Yes, it is great to see that there has been a huge tailing-off of sectarian pyromania. But what will fill the void I wonder?

[SupremeSpod]

Yes, it is great to see that there has been a huge tailing-off of sectarian pyromania. But what will fill the void I wonder?

New class hatred.

The jobless masses will arise!

[Mich the Tester]

The jobless masses will arise!

...and go down the social to pick up their dole before drinking it all away in a tulipe pub.