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[krazykitkat]

Good article on the current flag arguments.

his great achievement transformed into a piece of social graffiti, a toy, a trend, a product, marketed like a Steve Irwin lunchbox, but so much more than that. A symbol. Yes, but of what? It would be simpler to divine the meaning of Steve Irwin. The flag furrows the brow. Love of nation, or rejection of others? Inclusion or exclusion? Patriotism, or its ugly offspring, strident nationalism?

Personally the flag does nothing for me (and my ancestry is mostly English convicts - I feel no loyalty to the Union Jack, my ancestors were essentially unwanted), and the flag worship that's evolved in the last few years makes me uneasy.

Comments

[vanwasigma.livejournal.com]

I'm all for flying flags and sining national anthems... but that's probably because I grew up in a country that's tries to show that they aren't just America junior. Even though they look the same, and sometimes sound the same, and drive on the same side of the road, and have the same brands of food/television etc etc, they have a flag with only red and white, a different national anthem, and a Queen.

We had a flag in every classroom, and we were expected to sing the national anthem every morning until High School where we just had to stand up for it. I've been brainwashed by the Canadian education system ;)

[krazykitkat.livejournal.com]

Definitely brainwashed ;)