Mike Rowe Stands Up for the Flag

Published: June 21, 2023

Mike Rowe Stands Up for the Flag

By Movieguide® Contributor

Mike Rowe recently reposted a Facebook status from 2016. The status came after a women commented on how Rowe could be “so blindly patriotic.”

That comment came after Rowe posted, “Last night on the tee-vee, as I flicked back and forth between my most trusted sources of cable news, I saw a number a college students setting fire to the American flag. Some of the students said they were ‘angry.’ Others said they were ‘disgusted.’”

Rowe started, “I’ve never thought of myself as ‘blindly patriotic,’ but I am a fan of the United States, the founding fathers, and the men and women who have served on my behalf. I also confess to feeling lucky to live here. Having said that, I think you’re correct about the flag; it’s only a symbol. So too is the Crucifix. And the middle finger. And the Swastika. And the compressed chunks of carbon that millions wear on their ring fingers as expressions of timeless love and eternal devotion.”

“It’s easy to make anything feel small and silly by reducing it to its chemical composition or its various component parts,” he added. “But if you really believe our flag is nothing but a ‘mere symbol,’ equally suitable for flying or burning, ask yourself if you’d be comfortable if the people you work with suddenly started coming to the office in pointy white hats fashioned from bedsheets? Would that be a problem for you? Or how about The Rainbow Flag, favored by the LGBTQ community? Would it be OK if people started burning that? If not, why not? I mean, it’s only a symbol, right?”

Rowe then went on to describe that “mere symbols” are the backbone of “mere humanity.”

“The thing about ‘mere symbols’ Susanne, is that they represent ‘mere ideas,’ and ‘mere ideas’ are the backbone of ‘mere humanity.’ In the case of the flag, we’re talking about ideas that are wrapped into the Constitution – a document that separates us from every other country on the planet,” he wrote.

“Mere ideas are the reason people fight and die,” Rowe continued. “Mere ideas are the reason we’re allowed to speak freely, protest publicly, bear arms, and burn the very symbol that represents those very freedoms. I didn’t suggest that you or anyone else be denied your right to fly or burn whatever flag you wish. What I failed to do, is quietly accept behavior I don’t care for. Which, if I’m not mistaken, is the same compulsion that motivates others to publicly express themselves in whatever ways they choose.”