Unbelievable! woman flashing her middle finger at Arlington

[Elley Mae]

• A photo of a Massachusetts woman flashing her middle finger at Arlington National Cemetery has sparked widespread disgust across the web and prompted an online petition to get the woman fired from her job. Lindsey Stone posted the picture of herself making the obscene gesture at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, next to a sign at the military cemetery that asks for 'Silence and Respect,' in October and the snapshot quickly went viral.
  
  
  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...al-Cemetery-posts-photo-Facebook-brag-it.html

https://www.facebook.com/FireLindseyStone

I see lots of "if's" here. If only the word "arlington" or "national cemetery" were not on the sign. If only she had thought before she acted. If she had not taken a picture of the act. If she had not posted it to FB. If she had just not went to arlington at all. If the sign only said (Silence & Respect) and she was there with hand to mouth as if screaming (silence) and the finger to the air (respect). Over all a stupid thought on her part. jmo

 

[~n/t~]

I think it's pretty obvious that she was making a pun about the sign. She's holding her mouth as if she's "shouting" and then being disrespectful. I think she did it as a funny image not in any way to be disrespectful of the people in the cemetery.

It wasn`t obvious to me. I found nothing funny about it and if people on her facebook thought it was funny, they should all have their heads examined. Glad she got fired.

:moo:

 

[otto]

Wasn't there a celebrity that had to apololgize for being a bit too callous with her war remarks? This woman probably represents a prevalent attitude amongst people whose grandparents were born after the world wars ... no real understanding beyond the failures of Korea, Vietnam and Iraq.

 

[otto]

It wasn`t obvious to me. I found nothing funny about it and if people on her facebook thought it was funny, they should all have their heads examined. Glad she got fired.

:moo:

What was her job before she got fired?

 

[otto]

I see lots of "if's" here. If only the word "arlington" or "national cemetery" were not on the sign. If only she had thought before she acted. If she had not taken a picture of the act. If she had not posted it to FB. If she had just not went to arlington at all. If the sign only said (Silence & Respect) and she was there with hand to mouth as if screaming (silence) and the finger to the air (respect). Over all a stupid thought on her part. jmo

I think it would be better if she didn't have an attitude where she would pose for a photo like that.

 

[~n/t~]

What was her job before she got fired?

Stone, who lives in Cape Cod, visited the sacred military cemetery in Arlington, Virginia in October on an outing with the non-profit organization where she works, LIFE organization.

LIFE, stands for Living Independently Forever, and is a community for adults with disabilities.


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...al-Cemetery-posts-photo-Facebook-brag-it.html

 

[Steely Dan]

I think it's pretty obvious that she was making a pun about the sign. She's holding her mouth as if she's "shouting" and then being disrespectful. I think she did it as a funny image not in any way to be disrespectful of the people in the cemetery.

I think it was meant to be a joke. All I ever hear from Americans is how it is a free country, and you have all these freedoms, and that is what makes it a great country, etc. etc. So how come those freedoms aren't extended to this person? If it is a free country, then she can flip the bird wherever she wants. Why should she get fired from her job?

Even if she is making some sort of anti-military statement (which I kind of wish she was!) then where in your Constitution is that prohibited? Wanting to censure someone because they don't toe the line of US politico-militarism? Ugh. No thanks.

IMO
eta the imo since I know this isn't going to be a popular pov.

She is perfectly free to take that picture. She's not being charged with any crimes. She did suffer the consequences of other Americans with free speech to ask for her to be fired.

 

[otto]

Respectfully I haven't found that at all to be true of most Americans, but I also try to avoid making generalizations like that. I just get a lil bit prickly being lumped like that, lol.

She certainly is within her rights to be tacky, and within her rights to post the pic in social networking. And her employer is within their rights to terminate her for behavior that would potentially reflect badly on their non-profit org. And everyone else is within their rights to comment on a photo that she posted...... on the internet.

But of course ... freedom of speech law in the United States agrees with mysogenists and homophobics protesting at funerals ... how could anyone forget. Freedom of speech in many other countries has the caveat that the freedom of speech must respect the autonomy of others ... not so in the United States. Of course, US freedom of speech includes defacing the symbols of freedom efforts and sacrices of 18, 19, 20 year olds that gave up their lives to ensure that people in North America and Europe had rights.

Yes, a photo of this woman being a complete assh_le on the internet has been circulated and at the same time she can legally say and do what she wants ... but if society doesn't set standards at some level ... like, before homophobs are protesting funerals, and ignorant imbeciles are defacing tombstones ... no one will.

 

[Confusion]

I can understand why people are upset with her for posing for that picture, but I find their reaction to it much harder to accept. She does have the right to pose for a stupid picture, and others do have the ride to object to it. Where I have problems with the whole thing is when people (not here, but I've seen it in many other places) not only insisted on her being fired, but are also making threats to her physically. I've seen people threaten to cut her finger off, torch her, shoot her, break her arms, and a number of other things, if they were to ever meet her. I've even seen a couple of people say they think she should be deported, but are we going to kick out every American who doesn't show due respect to the people we feel deserve it? If so, then who would be the "we" to choose those deserving of respect? Who would decide what is disrespectful? In the end, who would be left?

I personally think the whole thing is ridiculous. She acted foolishly, and was disrespectful to the memories of the fallen heroes of many Americans. I don't think anyone would deny that. She lost her job (as did the photographer) and publicly apologized, but people are still calling for a lynching. I've personally seen and heard much less respectable things from politicians, but I won't go into that. :twocents:

 

[Steely Dan]

I can understand why people are upset with her for posing for that picture, but I find their reaction to it much harder to accept. She does have the right to pose for a stupid picture, and others do have the ride to object to it. Where I have problems with the whole thing is when people (not here, but I've seen it in many other places) not only insisted on her being fired, but are also making threats to her physically. I've seen people threaten to cut her finger off, torch her, shoot her, break her arms, and a number of other things, if they were to ever meet her. I've even seen a couple of people say they think she should be deported, but are we going to kick out every American who doesn't show due respect to the people we feel deserve it? If so, then who would be the "we" to choose those deserving of respect? Who would decide what is disrespectful? In the end, who would be left?

I personally think the whole thing is ridiculous. She acted foolishly, and was disrespectful to the memories of the fallen heroes of many Americans. I don't think anyone would deny that. She lost her job (as did the photographer) and publicly apologized, but people are still calling for a lynching. I've personally seen and heard much less respectable things from politicians, but I won't go into that. :twocents:

It would be funny if it weren't so sad to hear people saying she should be deported for exercising one of the fundamental rights of this country. Too many people in this country think that it should be run the way THEY want to run it and anyone who doesn't agree is anti-American.

 

[FrayedKnot]

I honestly think that if she hadn't done this in a National cemetery nobody would care.

If this were in front of the library, no biggie. But I think most societies have a general sort of reverence for the bodies of the dead and for places of burial, regardless of personal or religious beliefs. You know, being respectful.

And I do understand and totally agree that with the RIGHT free speech there should be the RESPONSIBILITY of not allowing your freedoms to tread upon another person's rights.

I just don't think as tacky, tasteless (IMO) and disrespectful as Ms. Stone's actions were that they infringed upon anyone else's rights. But I totally get being offended by it. Being outraged? Not so much.

And I think her employer was well within their rights (legally and ethically) to fire her. Given the nature of her job and the fact that she took the picture while on an outing for the organization. It seems they have handled it and moved on.

All JMHO of course.

 

[Sonya610]

What that woman did was repulsive. I like to think standards of behavior still exist, but apparently that is an outdated concept. That obscene and highly disrespectful act has NOTHING to do with free speech.

 

[Confusion]

I haven't seen anyone say they don't think that what she did was disrespectful, I think that's a given. As I said, my problem with it comes in when people move on from discontent and verbally harassing the girl for a dumb, disrespectful, but totally legal action to basically calling for a lynch mob, causing her to lose her livelihood, threatening to kill or grievously injure her, and asking for her to be deported. The girl didn't commit any crimes that I've heard of, and she seems to be guilty only of disrespect, lack of common sense and poor decision making. If they're crimes then I'd guess that most of us should be punished equally for the same crimes. :twocents:

 

[Perodicticus potto]

This woman's an idiot. I honestly don't think she intended to be malicious, she's just dumb as a box of hammers.

It seems she pulled this stunt at a time when she was supposed to be representing her employers. If that's true, then they had every right to fire her. However, if she had done it on her own time, in a way that did not make any public connection with her job, then IMO it would be none of her employers' business. And I agree that the lynch-mob mentality that has developed in response to this is scary.

 

[Sonya610]

As I said, my problem with it comes in when people move on from discontent and verbally harassing the girl for a dumb, disrespectful, but totally legal action to basically calling for a lynch mob, causing her to lose her livelihood, threatening to kill or grievously injure her, and asking for her to be deported.

She deserves all she gets. She won't be lynched (people are too timid these days, Casey Anthony and Michael Vick are prime examples). She won't be deported...lol.

As far as being fired, most companies and governmental agencies have policies stating if you do something embarrassing online and it gets linked back to them they can fire you.

That was pretty bad. She works for a charity that depends on donations and she does that? Uhhhh....donations are going to drop drastically and people will not trust that group anymore. They can probably change their name though.

 

[STEADFAST]

I can understand why people are upset with her for posing for that picture, but I find their reaction to it much harder to accept. She does have the right to pose for a stupid picture, and others do have the ride to object to it. Where I have problems with the whole thing is when people (not here, but I've seen it in many other places) not only insisted on her being fired, but are also making threats to her physically. I've seen people threaten to cut her finger off, torch her, shoot her, break her arms, and a number of other things, if they were to ever meet her. I've even seen a couple of people say they think she should be deported, but are we going to kick out every American who doesn't show due respect to the people we feel deserve it? If so, then who would be the "we" to choose those deserving of respect? Who would decide what is disrespectful? In the end, who would be left?

I personally think the whole thing is ridiculous. She acted foolishly, and was disrespectful to the memories of the fallen heroes of many Americans. I don't think anyone would deny that. She lost her job (as did the photographer) and publicly apologized, but people are still calling for a lynching. I've personally seen and heard much less respectable things from politicians, but I won't go into that. :twocents:

More and more people react that way to just about everybody who does something they wouldn't do or disagrees with them nowadays. Everyone's got to be outrageously dramatic about everything. Whatever happened to a shrug and, "Guess it takes all kinds"?

 

[Nova]

What that woman did was repulsive. I like to think standards of behavior still exist, but apparently that is an outdated concept. That obscene and highly disrespectful act has NOTHING to do with free speech.

What does then? If only UNoffensive speech is free, then we don't really have freedom of speech, do we?

 

[catswhiskers]

Sheesh, she worked with adults with disabilities (no kids to scar with her scandalous gesture!) - just how horrible can she be??? A quick scroll through some young people's fb friends and it's obvious that many can't pose for a photo without a sneer/pout and their middle finger raised.
Silly woman for posting the photo on fb. Shame on every person who shared it hoping to cause the outrage it has. I hate being part of this world that loves to demonise the little things - yet then shrug and turn blind eyes to all of the true wickedness and injustices happening in our own backyards.

 

[Nova]

Well said, cats! I agree the employer has the RIGHT to fire her, and they probably depend on donations and felt they had no choice. But what a tempest in a teapot!

 

[Sonya610]

What does then? If only UNoffensive speech is free, then we don't really have freedom of speech, do we?

Our founding fathers (can I still refer to them as that???) gave us the right to free speech so we could share important opinions regarding the laws and the government.

Screaming "God Hates F*GS" at a soldiers funeral is offensive. Flipping off the graves of dead soldiers at Arlington Cemetery is likewise just plain offensive.

She wasn't charged with a crime so why is everyone crying about it? Her employer fired her and they had every right to do so. If someone lynches her then that can be a new thread!