Clarification
I have nothing against protests. If you need to burn a flag, go ahead. I may not think it’s the coolest thing ever, but it’s your right (although burning the symbol of your right to burn the symbol of your right is a bit like the snake that eats itself, but I digress).
No, my problem is that people are co-opting a legitimate distress signal into a protest symbol. Now if there’s a ship at sea that’s taking on water and lost its radio and its only option for a distress signal is an upside down flag, is it going to get ignored?
How often do you pay attention to car alarms anymore? How abouy the winshield cardboard that says “Need help, call police”? To me flying the flag upside down to protest a war is akin to calling 911 and saying, “Help! Help! The president’s talking about war!”