This is precisely what freedom is not. It is the complete opposite of freedom, it is slavery. Censorship through the use of threats of violence? Controlling what one does with
one's own property, in this case a piece of
fabric,
on their own soil? That's freedom? If that is the US then hell I'll burn 50 flags.
Flag desecration is often used to express one's dissatisfaction with one's own government laws, policies, or leaders. It's a sad day in America when it's youth have been warped to believe that being "American" involves an undying loyalty to one's government and it's policies, and that the enemy is anyone who happens to disagree with and oppose their government and express this dissatisfaction.
If I were to own a establishment which prided itself in conducting business in an honest and respectable fashion, and it were later hijacked by outside forces which turned into a disgusting practice, but kept my name and logos intact, I would desire to destroy it's symbols.
I'd burn a US flag not because I consider myself "un-American" but because I felt that the American government, it's laws, it's policies, and the current general direction the nation itself is heading towards are themselves unrepresentative of
my ideal of what the US
should be and what the should be stand for. I'd burn it because the nation doesn't
deserve to call the flag it's own because what it has become is an
abomination of it's supposed ideal. It has become a sham, and to be content with it is a spit in the face to people to who have sacrificed so much.
But it's okay. If you want to stand behind a dead flag and nod your heads at a TV screen while your leaders lie to you left and right, injecting fear and xenophobia into rest of the masses, have at it.