Quote:
Originally posted by Adelie
I think a lot of people simply do not want to see non-members who have no affiliation with the organization owning something that is such a treasured symbol of their organization. It’s sort of like seeing someone from another country disrespecting an American flag-- I think it is similar in emotional resentment.
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I think there is a difference between
owning and
disrespecting. Someone from another country can own 10,000 American Flags....maybe they think they're pretty. Hell, if they burned all 10,000 of them I would probably just look at them and say "Well, that was a waste of money wasn't it?"
But this is just my opinion.
To me, a symbol is just an object that represents something special. Sure...I love my badge, and I would cry if I lost it. But I know that I could purchase another one and never lose that meaning. And if someone else wants to purchase an AST badge because they think it's lovely and wants to display it, well....I'm not going to freak out about it unless it's a VIP Badge (which I don't think we have any being sold recently that's identifiable). Even then, it may not rank real high on my radar...just depends on my station in life I guess. I have purchased badges off of Ebay...one was loaned to a sister and never returned to me, the other I paid for and it never got shipped (the b*&$tards!). And I bought one at a flea market for $5....that one I wear.
As someone else said "Different strokes for different folks".
PsychTau