How much freedom is enough? In the “American Flag Stands for Tolerance”, someone burns the American flag, and is prosecuted for it, but the Supreme Court’s decision fell on the man’s favor. The purpose of the author was to convince people that the Supreme Court made the right decision. The first method to convince people the author uses is a comparison to introduce a worst-case scenario into his argument. The author compares this case in the US to China’s soldiers firing upon protesters several times in the essay. It is used to provide a clear contrast between the extremism in communist governments when people protest versus how the US reacted. It is stated that if the Supreme Court had decided differently, we would be more like China. The author then uses China as a possible future example of what putting many limits to citizens’ freedom will look like. It provides a concrete example of the ramifications of giving official dogma more …show more content…
The author refers to human consciousness as possessing sanctity, while the officials as commanding. The flag, which was at the center of the issue, is described as a symbol, as something so sacred that it’s in par with the Constitution, and the government keeps being portrayed as imposing, and as a class of its own separated from the people whom they are supposed to serve. Controversy is given emotions of its own, and associated with enlightenment, and new commitments. Clearly, the author purposefully placed value on human consciousness, the flag, the Constitution, and controversy while he undermined the government because that was the core of his argument. The tenets of the government should not have a higher place than the people, and the Constitution, even if they are related to symbols like the American flag, and controversy, is the major way in which the official dogmas can be brought into