Stupid act of protest

In the Fort Worth Star-Telegram's Weekly Review section for Sunday (April 6, 2006, page 3E) is an example of what I call a stupid act of protest.

On this page is a photograph of a flagpole at Montebello High School in California. The flagpole has the flag of Mexico above the flag of the United States. Not only that, the U.S. flag is upside down. The flags were arranged that way in protest of the proposed federal immigration bill that has been the center of the protests of recent weeks. Protesting is one thing, but this is an example of stupid protesting, because all that this will accomplish will be to provoke the opponents of illegal immigration unnecessarily. Plus, if you think that these opponents wouldn't listen to these protests before, they're certainly not going to listen now.

I've already spoken previously on this issue before, and I said that illegal immigrants should settle their legal status before they try to ask Americans for anything else. For illegal immigrants to ask for the rights that American citizens enjoy all while maintaining their illegal status is the rewarding of an illegal act.

Schools and other institutions that display such senseless acts as I mentioned above do absolutely nothing to help their side of the issue, and they end up making not only their opponents more resistant to their views, they also end up creating even more opponents. This senseless act demonstrates that these people are too narrow-minded for their own good, and that they are not interested in true discussion and dialogue on this issue. They have become so passionate about their views that they are literally blind to the harm that they cause to their credibility.

A little more clear-headed thinking would have headed off this stupid act of protest before it ever occurred. Unfortunately, clear-headed thinking appears to be seriously lacking at that school; which is rather tragic, since it's supposed to be an institution of learning.