FLAGS: Don't Fly Them!

    

   I thought I might begin with a softer title rather than the one above and considered, “Let’s Fly the White Flag of Surrender,” but even the colour ‘white’ is controversial these days. There has been both a lot of flaunting and flouting about flags and enough red flags have been raised to let us know that flags now symbolise mainly disunity. They are currently used as a way for signalling values, the way semaphore was developed  for sending messages, but the values being transmitted often differ and are not well received by some who see them. The flag poles have become performative poles and, like statues, flags should be removed. 

   As an admirer of “free speech” (another divisive subject) I will add that I am only calling for their elimination in displays by government entities. As a private citizen you should be able to  fly whatever flag you wish, at your own risk, or if your condo manager permits it,  and you should  even be able to desecrate the flags of others as the Canadian Charter allows. Too much time and effort is devoted to the issue of flag flying and most of the efforts expended by even the most well-meaning and righteous are counterproductive. 

Vexillography is Vexatious

   While there are arguments over flags here in Ontario, proof about the energy spent on flags (not to mention false ones) is found in this article: “This is Utah’s New Flag - and Here’s Why More States are Mulling Designs,” (Washington Post, March 25, 2023), which is where I learned the word, “vexillography” and its variants. There are a lot of vexillologists who care deeply about flags for aesthetic reasons and there are many citizens who do so for political ones. The Utah flag was selected by a committee from 7000 choices and not everyone was happy with the final one. A compromise was made to allow the old flag to be flown over the new one in the Capital and on holidays and still there is a referendum to overturn the new flag law. 

   The legislators in many other states are spending hours debating the designs for new flags for both artistic and ideological  reasons. People, images, colours, etc. now are being removed or changed to make room for ones more acceptable. This is a global phenomena as this headline indicates: “New Zealand Spent $17 Million on a Failed Flag Referendum. Now It Wants Australia to Change Its Flag Instead.” Note the word - “FAILED.”

   Here in Ontario, one community has been shamed because their solution to fly only government flags was unacceptable to some who want to fly their own. Although that does not seem to be an unreasonable arrangement, perhaps it is better just to eliminate them all. Even the government flags are likely to be attacked at some point, just as the statues were. (As this is being written,  other symbolic artefacts are being altered: religious imagery is being removed from the Canadian Crown and replaced with fleur-de-lis for maple leafs and a snowflake; and whether the King’s likeness will be on our bills or the Fathers of Confederation on our passports is being considered.)

   While the number of ardent vexillologists may not increase, the diverse number of people wanting to display their own flags certainly will. To consider just one ‘category’, here are some of the other flags now related to the Pride one, the displaying of which, caused the dispute here in Ontario: PRIDE FLAG - GENDERQUEER FLAG -  GENDERFLUID FLAG -  PROGRESS PRIDE FLAG - LESBIAN PRIDE FLAG - TRANSGENDER PRIDE FLAG - BISEXUAL PRIDE FLAG - PANSEXUAL PRIDE FLAG - INTERSEX PRIDE FLAG. If you don’t believe me, or want to bone up on flag lore before a PRIDE MONTH, see: “”What Do the Colors of the Rainbow Flag Mean? A History of How the Flag Came to Be,” Olivia Munson, USA Today, April 28, 2023 or, “Diverse Gender Identity Flags: Learn the Genderqueer, Nonbinary, Gender Fluid Pride Flags," Clare Mulroy, USA Today, April 28, 2023.

      Patriotism is now mostly personal and civic pride has been replaced by the heraldry of DEI, which seems to have served only to increase divisiveness and exclusion. 

Sources:
   Apart from those provided, there will be one. A search about "flags" generally yields results that relate to controversies over them. I will provide a rather benign example which simply shows how long flag arguments have been raised.