Yesterday, the brass at ABC News issued orders forbidding reporters to wear lapel pin American flags or other patriotic insignia. Their reasoning was that ABC should
remain neutral about "causes".
Since when is support for preventing our death & destruction some sort of a “cause”? Since when is patriotism to be discouraged. I urge you to boycott ABC and its sponsors and affiliates.
We are slowly losing everything our country stands for, and everything our men and women fought and died to preserve.
To check authenticity go to....
http://www.snopes.com/rumors/noflags.asp
DelMarVa's Premier Source for News, Opinion, Analysis, and Human Interest Contact Publisher Joe Albero at alberobutzo@wmconnect.com or 410-430-5349
Remind me again what ABC stands for?
ReplyDeleteEveryone should boycott ABC, I rarely watch network TV anyway, no big deal I can live without them.
ReplyDeleteI Pledge Allegiance to the Flag?
i sure hope the companies that buy advertizing on the "american broadcast company" stand up and pull their ad dollars, what an un-patriotic stance, i will not purchase any item that is advertised on a b c anymore.
ReplyDeleteoh......
ReplyDeletemy god..........
There are no words.
it would be nice to have a list of companies that advertise their products on abc, joe stay on this one please, its important, rip them a new ass-hole on this one please.
ReplyDeleteI just went to the ABC.com website and pushed the "contact us" button. After I got a pop up ad (grrrrr) for Netflix I was able to write them a 500 word submission. I think that if they get enough of them, it might do some good. Any word on that list of advertisers? I will do some research and if I find anything I will post it.
ReplyDeleteI think it's strange, but didn't ABC decide to ban the flag pins after 9/11? Why the sudden uproar when it's not anything NEW?
ReplyDeleteCokie Roberts wears an eagle pin since she's not supposed to be wearing the flag pin.
This has been their 'policy' since 2001. Why are we just now getting upset?
ReplyDeleteBilly D.
Email addresses to contact ABC corporate:
ReplyDeletehttp://abc.go.com/site/contactus.html?lid=ABCCOMGlobalFooter&lpos=CONTACT
Go here to contact ABC local:
wmdt@wmdt.com
Give'em hell.
11;46, i believe its about the freedom of expression. the right to free speech. the right to show patriotism for the your country that so many have died to protect. its about censorship of the american people. its about the constitution of the united states. its about the bill of rights. you just dont have the i.q. to understand that do you? never mind youve already answered that.
ReplyDeleteI don't care if it was a policy 100 years ago, it still isn't right and everyone should boycott ABC, WMDT and its advertisers.
ReplyDeleteIf anyone is against this than kiss my proud American Ass.
By the way we are talking about the USA, not Canada.
Wilkerson, so this is about free speech, censorship, the constitution and the bill of rights. If that's so then when can an employer enforce a dress code or grooming standard? Once again we have a paper tiger for all the box top patriots to stand for. By the way, honest debate does not include personal attacks. But I'm sure you alrady know that considering your ultimate wisdom.
ReplyDeleteSince when did wearing a flag pin become required attire? Get over it and focus on the real issues facing this country. Vote for McCain if you think we are going in the right direction, vote for Obama if you think we are not.
ReplyDeleteYou people who are jumping up and screaming about losing your rights, should be p*ssed about the SBY city council squashing freedom of speech last night. Now THERES something to be mad about.
ReplyDeleteI know this will make you guys mad, but truth does that sometimes:
ReplyDeleteYou know someone else who does not wear an American Flag Lapel Pin?
John McCain.
Why? It does not matter. (And that is one of the few things I agree with him on.)
This isn't about who wears one by choice, its about who can not wear one by choice.
ReplyDeleteDitto anon 12:34
7:13 right on the money! It not about anyone "Not" wearing one, it's the ban against them that gets my hairs twisted.
ReplyDeleteABC is Obama's best show he loves it im sure
ReplyDeleteThanks to WMDT blocking me,I do not get ABC of any kind on my satellite-dont really miss ABC its all primetime "fluff"
ReplyDeleteone word ... BHO.
ReplyDeleteif you think yuo're gonna be able to salute our flag, say the Lord's Prayer or have freedom of speech and any other rights, wait until the ignorant elect self serving individual president...
To anon 8:06, get a grip. There are no black helicopters hovering. I believe the case study for your theory has come to pass 2000 & 2004.
ReplyDeleteIt's the 527 media at work for Obama
ReplyDeleteOh, by the way, according to Snopes, this is not the first time ABC has put the ban in place. They did it just after 9/11 to do two things: 1. maintain an image of partial neutrality, and 2. to avoid making American journalists targets for assassination and kidnapping abroad. You guys just assume that ABC did because they're lefty, pinko commies that hate America without even trying to find out what the real truth is? Come on people, have a little common sense. You know darn well that the flag lapel pin is NOT a neutral symbol. Whether you like it or not, many people interpret it is a political statement. YOU might not think so, but many others DO. Plus, journalist of any nationality are not meant to be mindless mouthpieces of their government. They're not meant to be cheerleaders for their government, just to report the facts where they fall. Sure, of course journalists often fail to be objective (liberals AND conservatives both), but let's give ABC credit for trying. Didn't we invade Iraq to save the Iraqis from that kind of sheep-like obedience from a pliant media, by the way?
ReplyDeleteBy the way, the following is an excerpt from a Time magazine article on the history of the flag lapel pin: "Short of wearing a stars and stripes onesie, the flag lapel pin is the quickest sartorial method for a politician to telegraph his or her patriotism. The origin of the flag lapel pin is murky, though it is by necessity linked the history of the American flag as a commonly used symbol. According to Marc Leepson's Flag: An American Biography, the "near religious reverence many Americans have" for our national symbol dates only to the Civil War era (not back to the Revolutionary War, as many assume) . Prior to that, few private citizens possessed or flew their own flags — it was limited to military and federal facilities. When the Confederates started winning battles early on in the War Between the States, Northerners began to fly the flag as a sign of pride.
ReplyDeleteSince then, flag imagery has been intricately tied to moments of crisis or conflict. Over the past four decades, Kit Hinrichs, one of the nation's top graphic designers, has collected more than 5,000 pieces of stars and stripes–related memorabilia. He says the flag lapel pins in his collection don't really date back before mid-century. "I don't think it was a common thing for men and women to wear before the Second World War," he says. "I certainly have jewelry from before then with flags on it — cufflinks and stick pins and tuxedo buttons and brooches — but not [many flag pins] before the '50s."
It was during the culture wars of the late '60s and early '70s that the flag lapel pin truly took off and became the simultaneously uniting and divisive symbol that it is today. Republican candidates in the 1970 congressional race wore them as a symbol of patriotic solidarity against anti-Vietnam protesters like Abbie Hoffman — who donned a shirt made of the flag — or others who stitched the flag onto the seat of their pants. But it was Richard Nixon who brought the pin to national attention. According to Stephen E. Ambrose's biography Nixon, the President got the idea for sporting a lapel pin from his chief of staff, H.R. Haldeman, who had noticed a similar gesture in the Robert Redford film The Candidate. Nixon commanded all of his aides to go and do likewise. The flag pins were noticed by the public, and many in Nixon's supposed "silent majority" began to similarly sport flags on their lapels. Over the next few decades, the pin sporadically surged in popularity. During the Gulf War, they sold briskly alongside flag patches and yellow ribbons.
Then came 9/11. Taking a page from the Nixon Administration, George W. Bush and his aides all donned pins. So did many anchors on Fox News, though not Bill O'Reilly, who said at the time "I'm just a regular guy. Watch me and you'll know what I think without wearing a pin." ABC News, on the other hand, prohibited its on-air reporters from pinning on the red, white, and blue, citing a desire to maintain journalistic credibility.
As befits a tradition that reached its height during the Nixon years, flag lapel pins have — fairly or not — become to many a shibboleth of America's War on Terror, and a symbol of the "either you're with us or against us" ethos that has often prevailed since September 11, 2001. And while the country hasn't yet reached anything close to a consensus on what a flag pin says about its wearer, Barack Obama seems to have discovered that symbols matter — even if one doesn't agree with the way they are used."
Many people deny that the flag lapel pin makes a political statement. I think this ignores the history of its use. It very much does make a political statement.