Carrying a Flag in Parade Horizontally

[Mikemenn]

Good points.
And it is often done at baseball games, football games and in other places.
No one throws their hats, even if they have them.
We have a lot of observers in buildings as we pass as well as a camera crews mounted on buildings.
My thinking is, if you can carry it vertical, do so. Otherwise, do what needs to be done to get the colors out there for all to salute and clap to!

[flagnazi]

Robin: Thank you for your very thoughtful, researched, analyzed approach to this question. It is clear that things are not a simple as they seem and can you imagine how this question might be addressed in a revised Flag Code, or maybe not at all.
As someone who likes to reference the flag code, and at times it seems that some folks are violating, "the unenforced Law/Code" (previous enlightening discussion), most are only trying to show respect to their country, their flag, their servicemen and their sacrifice and not intentionally trying to violate the "law". I would hate to squelch this, as I feel it is being lost. To me the dignity it is shown is what is important. If done slovenly, I would have some heartburn. And, of course, there are those, who also say we are not military and we don't have to be real formal. You can take that with a grain of salt.

Mike D.
Lava Hot Springs, ID 83246

[Peter Ansoff]

Respect for the flag does not mean slavishly following an arbitrary set of rules. It means treating our national symbol in a way that that the average observer would interpret as respect for the nation that the flag represents. Obviously, perceptions change over time and depend on context. Take, for example, this 1898 print:

Uncle Sam 1898 LC sm.jpg

Clearly, this was intended to be a patriotic picture of Uncle Sam holding a flag. However, the flag is dragging on the ground. In 1898, this was not considered to be inappropriate, while now it probably would be -- the flag code says that the flag should not touch the ground.

Similarly, displaying the flag flat was not considered to be appropriate when the flag code was drafted in 1923, but it is now -- even the American Legion has said that there's nothing wrong with it as long as it's done respectfully. The flag code is out of date, and, ideally, it should be revised. As I've said elsewhere here in the forum, however, I think that trying to revise it would be a hopeless task, because it would become mired in political grandstanding.

Peter Ansoff