Governor Wrong to Have Flag Lowered to Half Staff for Celebrities

http://www.ushistory.org/betsy/news/njl021612.htm ^

[MNDude]

But just as an American serviceman killed in Helmand Province, Afghanistan is not deserving of a Grammy award, musicians and celebrities are not deserving of the lowering of the American flag.

Simply, not everybody gets every honor.

There are few gestures as symbolic and as loud as an entire state lowering their flags at the same moment for the same amount of time.

Seeing a flag at the half staff position should spawn pause and thought. It should make one a bit unsettled but at the same time thankful. It should make one ask, "what happened?"

A flag at half staff gives publicity to courage and nobility otherwise only mildly publicized. For one day, it is an inescapable message announcing to an entire state that tragedy occurred and reminding everyone that the fruits of each free day come with a price.

Expanding this honor only diminishes its meaning and raises the question: where does it end?

Between Ms. Houston and Mr. Clemmons, entire rooms could be filled with the distinctions they have each received throughout their lives.

In the coming months and years they will continue to be given well deserved recognition for their accomplishments.

But there are certain honors that should and must be set aside.

Rifle salutes, aircraft flyovers, and half-staffed flags are among those honors and they should not be on the public menu.

[geege]

I didn’t see any flags at half staff here in Hunterdon or Warren county.....Not even State Police....What a dumb idea on his part.....Boy are we in for it when Springsteen kicks.....

[The Great RJ]

Half staff flags have been declared so often that the symbol has lost all meaning. In my state it seems that flags have been perpetually at half staff for the past year and I have no idea for who or why this tribute has been declared. Let’s be serious about giving this honor and limit it to only those few occasions of real national mourning.

[SaraJohnson]

I think he’s into moral relativity. Who is he to judge the marine who lost his life fighting for his country versus the music industry false idol who lost her career and her life to drug addiction. Humanism is the most ignorant social ideology known to man. Keep it on the coasts.

[firebrand]

He did the right thing. It was for Whitney but also for Newark, which is striving valiantly to come back to being the great city it once was, and was deeply affected by this death.