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Editorial: There is room under the flag for many views One thing is for sure. Old Glory touches a nerve like few other topics do. That nerve was hammered by many this past week, stemming from the dispute at Willow Wind Community Learning Center over the placement of a flag on the center's grounds. Because the building is publicly owned, the decision to raise a flag is an easy one. It's the law, it must fly. That's the correct decision of the Ashland school district. Still, a few people within the Willow Wind community spoke out against the flag being raised. We took this position to task in an earlier editorial. We said that the flag is the very symbol of the freedoms that allow us to rightly criticize our government, our country and yes, even our flag. And, it's the law of our land to fly flag, so let it fly. We stand by that position. However, in recent days, comments have poured in from across the country with a strong majority in support of our position. The problem is that many of those "supportive" comments have been derogatory and attacking. We ourselves were guilty of this in our editorial, quipping that much of the debate was, "typical liberal jabber," an unfortunate phrase. Some felt we wanted to attack people for their views and wanted to join the attack. Many sought to make those who oppose the flag into villains. On the other side, many leapt to conclusions, erroneous ones, about who wrote this editorial and what it meant for the direction of the paper. It seems knee-jerk reactions were the norm for this issue, which can be expected with such a passionate debate as Old Glory. Like we said, it touches a nerve. The problem is that the nature of the debate has quickly digressed into little more than name calling. Debate is what makes America great. Rational, reasoned and tolerant debate. We welcome good debate. We will continue to participate in this debate. While others throughout the country may find this debate interesting, we prefer to keep it local. We will not run any more letters to the editor about this issue from those outside of coverage area. We also will be asking that opinions and letters say more than what has already been said. The flag is an institution, one Americans feel strongly about. Many think the flag is an important, perhaps even hallowed, symbol of a great, but flawed nation. Others think it is a symbol of oppression. Nobody should forget however, that both views are welcome to be shared under the flag of the United States. LINKS: DAILY TIDINGS: Main | News | Sports | Obituaries | Opinion | Columnists | AP News | Subscribe | Archives | Weather | Classifieds | Contact Us | Privacy REVELS: Main | Calendar | Dining | Movies | T.V. OTHER: Road Cams Copyright 2003 Ashland Daily Tidings 541.482.3456. 1661 Siskiyou Blvd., Ashland, OR 97520. Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. - Advertisers -