February 26, 2007

Speaking of morality...

Let's have some standards!

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As you indulge your taste for ice cream and lottery tickets, we're not asking for much:

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Could you please just refrain from burning down our little store? Show some respect. This is America, and we're proud of it...

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Or are we making fun of it? The flag is in such poor condition, I couldn't tell if it was perhaps a satire. But it didn't seem like a satirical kind of a place:

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In Ithaca, New York.

11 comments:

MadisonMan said...

Ben and jerrys next to shilling for the Lottery. That's great!

Simon said...

"The flag, when it is in such condition that it is no longer a fitting emblem for display, should be destroyed in a dignified way, preferably by burning." 4 U.S.C. § 8(k).

TMink said...

It reminds me of a Boulder, Colorado business that had two stickers on the front window. The first said something like "Absolutely no smoking allowed in this business" and the other said "Legalize Hemp."

I guess they made brownies.

Trey

Anonymous said...

But it didn't seem like a satirical kind of a place:

Looking for irony in all the wrong places.

MDIJim said...

Takes me back to my youth when the only lottery result was the last few digits of the day's handle at Suffolk Downs. Hordes of people would wait outside the local newstand waiting for delivery of tomorrow's paper, everyone of them chain smoking and flipping the butts to the sidewalk. You'd of thought that they were prayerfully waiting for the latest bulletin on Franco's condition. The truck would arrive and throw bundles of paper into the store. People would rush in, pick up a paper, throw coins on the counter (these were god-fearing Catholics, doncha know, who would not steal), walk out, and turn to one of the back pages. Those who really cared about Franco's condition or wanted to know if the Bruins and the Red Wings played to another scoreless tie would fold their paper and trudge home. Others, not seeing what they wanted to see, would mutter words that could only be muttered in those days, but are considered erudite in the blogosphere, and toss the paper. Compared to that the Ithaca store seems quaintly Victorian.

Simon said...

On second glance, I suppose the point could be made that art is intent. If the flag is just tattered, then it's just tattered, but if you have the same frayed and torn flag intended as a metaphor on the fraying, torn nature of our society, then sure, why isn't it art?

To some extent, surely art is expression, is intent.

PeterP said...

"Half the money spent on advertising is vital to sell the product. The other half is so much wasted cash. Trouble is, no one knows which half is which."

Yes they do now. The winning half is surreal signs in shop windows. Ithaca rocks to the tune of scorched paintwork.

Palladian said...

""The flag, when it is in such condition that it is no longer a fitting emblem for display, should be destroyed in a dignified way, preferably by burning." 4 U.S.C. § 8(k)."

Does that apply to all tattered flags?

PeterP said...

Does that apply to all tattered flags?

I'm with the 21% who don't own an American flag - but then why should I?

So how many of you have a Tibetan flag? And if not why not?

Agnostic Monk said...

Who works in the Store - Indians or Pakistanis?

rupaintedpost said...

I live near Ithaca and have been to this convenience store on many occasions. The owners are immigrants and are showing their patriotism to their adopted country in a town that doesn't appreciate patriotism. I applaud their effort.