g in their front yards and on front porches. "From the huge 90-pound, 20-by-38-foot Army garrison banner to the tiny flag clutched in a child's fist, Old Glory celebrates holidays and ordinary days" (Sedeen 165).
             With all of the patriotism and love for the American Flag, how did flag desecration become such a volatile controversy? According to Sedeen, it started with a counterculture during the 1960s. This counterculture was a group of young people who resisted the current values of mainstream society. They wanted to make a statement and found that taking the American Flag, the most beloved symbol of the mainstream society, and making it there own was the best and most visible action they could take. One activist of this counterculture, Abbie Hoffman, blew his nose during numerous public presentations in a "flagkerchief". Bits and pieces of the flag were also used as patches on clothes (184).
             Americans were enraged at what this counterculture was doing to their revered national symbol. Soon thereafter several states enacted flag desecration laws. One such law passed in New York made it illegal to "mutilate, deface, defile, or defy, trample upon or cast contempt" upon the American flag "either by words or act"(Miller 44). These laws did not stop the flag desecration activities. If fact with political upheaval and the Vietnam War these activities skyrocketed (42).
             People started to protest against the Vietnam War and used the flag as part of their message to the government. During an anti-war, flag burning rally in, New York City's Central Park on April 15, 1967, almos
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