These American flags…
I see them everywhere, on cars, on houses, on T-Shirts, everywhere, this American bloody flag…
It reminded me of something I read in ‘The Power of the Powerless’ by Vaclav Havel a while back. (Please do excuse me as all my books are boxed up ready for the move to WhiteTrashVille, so I am going to be a little vague as I attempt to use this rotten thing called memory as I talk about this.) He talked of the sign in a greengrocers window saying, “Workers of the World Unite!” and that the sign was less of a statement of the greengrocers belief in solidarity and more so as a conscious support of the hegemony, in that the greengrocer wanted the authorities to believe he was a good citizen. More than likely he was too, but the sign was just a signifying practice and a way to ensure his safety. A way to ensure that the powers that be did not interrogate him.
So these bloody American flags…
They were there before 09/11/01 for sure. Especially in certain neighbourhoods, they were there. Then though, it seemed to me like a certain white citizen flew these bloody flags and, to be honest, from my perspective, I always was rather nauseated by these people. Or perhaps wary is the correct word. I pretty much assumed that the people flying these bloody flags were generally patriotic (read: racist or xenophobic) whitebred Americans. I used to avoid those streets like the plague and walk down the rainbow flag ones…
But now I see this flag everywhere, I cannot avoid it and I wonder what it means to people. I wonder what, precisely, the purpose is of flying the flag? I wonder what the person is saying? What do they believe in?
Are they saying, “This is an atrocity, I fly this flag for the people that are lost.” Or are they saying, “This is an atrocity, I fly this flag because I want to kill the terrorists (read: Arabs, Muslims) that did this.”
I ask because I see a lot of tan skinned cabbies flying this flag in place of their usual Muslim paraphernalia. Instead of the crescent and the star I see this bloody, American flag…
I wondered if they were like the greengrocer, displaying this sign so as not to be attacked by the hegemony. So as not to be interrogated, so as not to be lynched, to be left alone and safe…
And then I thought of the supposed meaning of this flag, this Liberty, Freedom and Justice for all. These great values this bloody flag is supposed to represent. And then I realised how it doesn’t represent these values at all if people are forced to fly it, forced to replace that which they believe in with it, out of fear of being harmed…
This is a bloody flag indeed. It symbolises conformity of a Borgian nature, blood shedding bullies and the self-righteous arrogance of a teenager…
