Some dude was flying an upside down American flag in his front yard. Cue the media overreaction…

2:02 PM EDT on October 2, 2014

When I was in Cub Scouts, I learned two important things about the American flag. The first is to never let it touch the ground, otherwise you have to turn into a Vietnam War protester and burn it. The second thing is that you only hang the flag upside down if you're stupid, confused and / or in distress

Well, some guy from Warr Acres is either stupid, confused or in distress. Earlier this week, two Oklahoma City news stations rushed to his home in Warr Acres after learning that he was flying an upside down American flag in his front yard – something that is totally legal to do – next to a properly displayed Peruvian flag.

Via a Steve "Crazy Eyes" Shaw report on News 9:

One thing we know about Oklahomans is we don't like anyone messing with the American flag. However, residents on the 500 block of NW 56th Street in Warr Acres got an unwelcome surprise.
A man who lives in a rental home erected two flag poles last Thursday. He flew a Peruvian National flag and an American flag. However, the American flag was upside down.
Several neighbors, including 80-year-old Army veteran Raymond Swart noticed.
"That person that's flying that flag upside down, what has he done to justify living in this country?" He said.

Okay, that's nice and everything, but why was he flying the flag upside down? Was it an act of absent-minded stupidity, civil disobedience or was he distressed from having to live in Warr Acres? Obviously the media wouldn't report this crap if it was just an innocent mistake. That would basically equate to manufacturing controversy for the sake of easy ratings. They would never do that...

We waited all day Tuesday for the man who lives in the home to come home. He never did. Eventually two other neighbors, including a Vietnam veteran, showed up with a ladder, and fixed the flag.
While they didn't want to go on camera or be identified, one of them told me he was tired of "all the attention."

The neighbors were tired of attention... so they decided to march onto the man's private property in front of TV cameras and fix the flag. What could go wrong with that?

KOCO Channel 5 was on the scene as well and got video of the angry neighbors/moonshiners. Here's a screenshot:

Yeah, now we know the upside down flag had to be some sort of distress signal. I bet the dude is still barricaded in his house hiding from his neighbors as I'm writing this. I would get Steve Shaw to check up on the guy, but he's too busy working on a news report that examines why so many people drive around with their fuel doors propped open.

Here's another pic:

Remember kids, flying the American flag upside down is disrespectful, but trespassing on private property and flipping off a TV news camera to make sure the flag flies by your standards is totally okay

Anyway, whether it was accidental or intentional, who really cares how this guy flies the flag. Either way, he looks like an idiot. Just ignore it. I think that's something else I learned in Cub Scouts.

Patrick @okcpatrick

Patrick is the founder, editor and publisher of The Lost Ogle.