Uproar Over Desecration of the French Flag

The French have a different relationship with their national flag than Americans have with ours'. While the French can be just as patriotic as the most red-blooded American, the Tricolor flag is not nearly as ubiquitous as the Stars and Stripes are here. It is almost unheard of for the French flag to be displayed on private homes, bumper stickers, t-shirts, or lapel pins. This has nothing to do with national pride, just with where the French draw the line between the state and the personal. Still, the flag has a lot of historical and emotional significance as is evident from this story about a man who apparently wiped his backside with the flag.