Video of Child Ripping American Flag From Yard Goes Viral [WATCH]

A video showing a child ripping an American flag from a yard has gone viral.

“Children are being raised to desecrate the flag,” wrote one woman who shared the video on Twitter. You can watch the video below.

According to Fox News, the boy and woman are not identified. The video does not have any audio.

The video was first shared by a page on Twitter called RickyLee, which is filled with pro-Trump and conservative commentary. “The Brainwashing of America is almost complete,” he wrote on July 8, 2021, sharing the video.

The flag video started its viral spread the following day, after writer Marie Oakes, senior editor of Canadian and U.S. news site Westphalian Times, shared it on Twitter. More than 3,000 Twitter users have retweeted her post of the video, and more than 11,000 tweets have quoted her post.

Here’s what you need to know:

The Child Was Passing by on a Scooter When He Saw the Flag

The video shows a young child riding on a scooter next to an adult woman on a bicycle. Suddenly, the boy sees a small American flag planted in a yard and stops. He pulls the flag out of the yard and tosses it back down. The woman does nothing to intervene.

The woman and child then leave the scene.

The video’s origins are not known, including where it was filmed, when it was filmed, and who filmed it.

The Video Sparked Debate on Twitter

Reaction on social media was swift and varied, as some people condemned the actions shown in the video while others wondered what the fuss was all about or even cheered the boy’s actions. Here are some of the comments left on RickyLee’s tweet:

“So sad and the mother let him do it. What ‘s wrong with these f’ng people.”

“This looks incredibly staged. Random flag just stuck at the end of the driveway? If real, this mother has a hell of a lot to be concerned about.”

“Shame on the parents. As if teaching hate isn’t bad enough, not respecting personal property is high on my list too.”

“If my kid did that he would be apologizing and then mowing that family’s grass the rest of the year.”

Another user shared a 2019 video showing a related — but markedly different — scene: a little boy caught on doorbell camera showing respect to the flag.

But others were just upset by the video of the boy ripping the flag out of the yard.

“Maybe it’s just me, but right now, my blood is boiling,” wrote one commenter on Lee’s thread.

“Wow his mom let him. Disgrace! I hope they get called out for it. Even the child in a constructive way. Where else they gonna have a nice leisurely ride at their convenience? So upsetting.”

“This kid can’t be more than 5 or 6 yrs old. Same age as my son…we’re clearly teaching our kids differently.”

“Trespassing, destruction of private property and contributing to the delinquency of a minor all are good starters.”

“What these parents don’t realize is they will reap what they sow.”

“Find them, take them back to the house make them put the flag up and salute it.”

“Honestly…that’s just incredibly sad.”

Not everyone was outraged, based on Twitter responses. Some people saw the video as a doorway to discussion.

One person on Twitter wrote in response to Oakes’ tweet, “Your side has done everything it can to undermine and overthrow the result of a democratic election and even attempted to commit an insurrection. Prior to that u spent 8 years claiming the President was a Kenyan Muslim. You don’t get to cry about a child throwing a flag.”

Another user objected to the video for a different reason, writing, “People are being raised to think having facial recognition equipped surveillance doorbells is normal.”

Others doubted the boy’s actions had anything to do with the flag at all.

“Or.. And hear me out here Parents aren’t disciplining their children to not mess with other people’s property? Working retail i see this shit all the time. Kids just trash whatever and their parents will just watch em do it,” another Twitter user wrote.

Still others seem to think the whole thing was being blown out of proportion, such as one who wrote, “Oh boo f****** hoo. All he did was take it off the grass. Grow up. If he burned it, then complain” and another who said, “small children causing a mess and knocking s*** over, what a f****** tragedy.”

Offering a perspective from outside the U.S., another person on Twitter said, “I’ve never understood this mindset but I don’t live in the US. We have a flag but like if a kid picked it up and threw it I wouldn’t care. Kids do dumb s*** like that. Doesn’t mean they’ll be a terrible person like this thread thinks.”

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