Why do people burn the flag of the nation that they have left everything to be part of, yet parade and wave the flag of the country that they are resisting going back to?
I don't know if I can answer that question without referencing Tom Wolfe, who said that "you can never really go home again".
Sure, you can return to a former place you lived in but once a certain amount of time has passed, it's never the same.
As regards the flag burning issue, when I worked for the Russian language cable TV show here in LA back in the Eighties we would deal with a steady flow of guest artists
from the USSR and one night I was ferrying a performer back to his hotel after a shoot and the subject of flag burning came up on the radio during a news break.
I couldn't resist asking him about it because his English was really good and this was his sixth visit to our West Hollywood studio anyway, we all knew each other.
His response:
"I would rather live in a country where it is legal to burn the flag and hardly anyone wants to, than live in a country where it is against the law to burn the flag and almost everyone wants to."
Personally I consider burning the US flag an ass kicking offense most of the time and my reason is, that flag belongs to US, the American people.
It does not belong to the government, or a president, or Congress or the military. It is OUR flag and if I am angry, my beef is more with a situation or with the way the country is being run.
If I was going to burn a flag it would be flags that belong to the White House, or Congress, or a state flag if the issue is state specific.
Old Glory should not be burned because it is our flag.
But even as much as I consider it an ass-kicking offense I still respect that it is legal to do so.
It's just that in most cases you might not sell me on the reasons why.