In the Bizarro World of Sarah Palin, she is kvetching about Newsweek's cover picture. The former beauty queen seems to think the picture is "sexist" for some unspecified reason. That complaint befuddles me. One reason is she posed for the picture in the first place. After all, this is a woman who exercises tremendous control over the presentation and packaging of her image.
That brings me to a second point that I think is terribly problematic. Why does Sarah Palin have so much disdain for the American flag? This is not snark, satire or irony on parade here. Disrespect isn't cool, even if you are cute.
The Flag Code is represented by laws in United States Code Title 4 Chapter 1, (pertaining to the flag), Title 18, Chapter 33, Section 700 (criminal penalties for flag desecration), and Title 36, Chapter 3 (patriotic customs and observances).
No question, that thing casually draped over the chair that Sarah is leaning on is a flag. Title 4 is very clear what is meant by "flag" (cf §3. Use of flag for advertising purposes; mutilation of flag)
The words "flag, standard, colors, or ensign", as used herein, shall include any flag, standard, colors, ensign, or any picture or representation of either, or of any part or parts of either, made of any substance or represented on any substance, of any size evidently purporting to be either of said flag, standard, colors, or ensign of the United States of America or a picture or a representation of either, upon which shall be shown the colors, the stars and the stripes, in any number of either thereof, or of any part or parts of either, by which the average person seeing the same without deliberation may believe the same to represent the flag, colors, standard, or ensign of the United States of America.
That flag is clearly being displayed. However, Title 4 is very clear about how one displays the flag (cf §6. Time and occasions for display).
It is the universal custom to display the flag only from sunrise to sunset on buildings and on stationary flagstaffs in the open. However, when a patriotic effect is desired, the flag may be displayed twenty-four hours a day if properly illuminated during the hours of darkness.
If there is a pole in that picture, it is hidden from view. I will not hazard a quess as to where it has been hidden, but there is no question the flag is not on a pole. It is clearly draped over the chair. That is a problem. (cf. §8. Respect for flag)
No disrespect should be shown to the flag of the United States of America; the flag should not be dipped to any person or thing. Regimental colors, State flags, and organization or institutional flags are to be dipped as a mark of honor.
The flag should never be displayed with the union down, except as a signal of dire distress in instances of extreme danger to life or property.
The flag should never touch anything beneath it, such as the ground, the floor, water, or merchandise.
The flag should never be carried flat or horizontally, but always aloft and free.
The flag should never be used as wearing apparel, bedding, or drapery. It should never be festooned, drawn back, nor up, in folds, but always allowed to fall free. Bunting of blue, white, and red, always arranged with the blue above, the white in the middle, and the red below, should be used for covering a speaker's desk, draping the front of the platform, and for decoration in general.
The flag should never be fastened, displayed, used, or stored in such a manner as to permit it to be easily torn, soiled, or damaged in any way.
The flag should never be used as a covering for a ceiling.
The flag should never have placed upon it, nor on any part of it, nor attached to it any mark, insignia, letter, word, figure, design, picture, or drawing of any nature.
The flag should never be used as a receptacle for receiving, holding, carrying, or delivering anything.
The flag should never be used for advertising purposes in any manner whatsoever. It should not be embroidered on such articles as cushions or handkerchiefs and the like, printed or otherwise impressed on paper napkins or boxes or anything that is designed for temporary use and discard. Advertising signs should not be fastened to a staff or halyard from which the flag is flown.
Leaning on it, draping it over something, allowing it to be folded over itself...each one of these is a separate disrespectful act towards the flag. Taking this trifecta of disrespect and turning it up a notch by putting it on the cover of a magazine to promote a story -- thus advertising the contents of the magazine -- is just insult to injury on par with other clear violations of the rules for respectful display of the flag.
When you consider Sarah Palin's warm embraceof the Alaska Independence Party, a political party that actively encourages secession as recently as 2006, one has to ask... why is her public disrespect for the flag accepted without comment by the media and her "country first" supporters?
Is Sarah Palin seriously counting on some "cuteness" exemption? Dismissing that behavior because she is a woman, or because she is an attractive woman seems to me to be the worst kind of sexist double-standard imaginable.