Some people are so fragile. Fox News of course is saying feds have banned non US flags, of course lying to their viewers about what is actually happening.

  •  nzodd   ( @nzodd@beehaw.org ) 
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    1 year ago

    imagine this guy will weasel in some kind exception for the Confederate flag and the swastika flag. Republican has become just another word for traitor.

    These are the same people desecrating the American flag, with the theme of factionalism, like that stupid thin blue line. So much for e pluribus union.

  • I used to believe that the state of US politics is down to a shoddy education system. But by now I believe it’s down to so many politicians and their followers over there being on a pure chaotic evil alignment.

    They are just out to screw over the country and the people on purpose.

    • The name of the game is to keep the masses fighting over and focused on ephemeral shit that doesn’t matter. Books, gays, lesbians, queers, trans, wokeness, CRT, religious tolerance, etc., This way the vast majority of the minority in this country are up in arms over what they see as threats to their way of life, as good god fearing christians. The real intent though is to keep them blind to how they’re being used, abused, sold out, turned into a product, stripped of their rights, and incrementally silenced, all so the people they put in power can make a few extra bucks while rat fucking a system that is engineered from the ground up to reward lying, cheating, demogoguery, and inciting division. The worst part is that this busted ass system is so entwined in the essence of what it is to be “'Murican” that questioning it, looking for logic, or even commenting on the hypocrisy in the design is enough to get violently assaulted in some parts.

      Rome 2.0 is burning, and our leaders have convinced us that all of us fiddling is best way to deal with it

      • You’ve basically summarized my thoughts on alk the culture war bullshit lately. None of it truly matters (besides the obvious “being queer should not be a death sentence”). Its all aa distraction while our rulers grab even more power for themselves.

      • I think I agree but from a different perspective.

        The LGBTQ community and trans people in particular(among other minorities) are being targeted because they need something to rile people up in order to manipulate voters. Same goes for abortion. But this doesn’t mean these issues don’t matter. In small, big or very big ways, these issues still can affect people.

        I think it’s possible to do both: defend our rights while not losing sight from the other issues, like proper taxation, delaying global climate change, reducing poverty, achieving free health insurance, etc. And besides, this is anecdotal evidence but the people in favor of LGBT rights, IME, tend to also favor the other issues mentioned.

        • In no way did i mean to suggest, imply, or otherwise push the stance that the LGBTQ/Trans issues don’t matter. They absolutely do. I fully recognize and complete support equality for all. Those communities are absolutely under attack by these closed minded conservative bigots. My phrasing was intended to convey that these communities pose no direct threat, of any kind, to the folks frothing at the mouth for their continued marginalization.

          As you pointed out, they make easy targets to be lambasted in order to distract from the real issues of the day and conflating their cause with anything having to do with social, environmental, or economic responsibility or reform is an easy way to get the electorate to vote against their own self interest. So long as we’re made at each other for things we can’t change and the majority of us don’t understand, we don’t have time or resources to be mad at those actually making life hard for the rest of us.

          • To put your point slightly different: These issues don’t matter to those who aren’t affected by them.

            The ones opposing these issues are almost exclusively not people who have any first-hand (or second-hand) experience with the topic at hand.

            It’s a pure moral panic that is used to distract, at the expense of people who are seriously affected by these moral panic attacks. So of course these people fight back, because it’s their existance that is threatened. And that gives a really nice distraction about the issues that really should be changed (power structures, corruption, screwed election systems, …)

  • First Amendment coming in on a strafing run in 3…2…1…

    I suppose this would also mean removing any religious banners from government-owned buildings and spaces being rented by religious groups.

  • The One Flag For All Act ensures that the American Flag never gets sidelined for culture wars and political points

    then:

    Exemptions are made for: Prisoner of War (POW) flags

    because obviously to virtue signal about the American military isn’t about scoring political points

    Did you know that in 2019 the National POW/MIA Flag Act was signed into law, requiring the POW/MIA flag to be flown on certain federal properties, including the U.S. Capitol Building, on all days the U.S. flag is flown?

  • I really don’t have a problem with this. No government should support any private causes, no matter their nature, with the exception of international treaties and the like, such as NATO or the UN. I think it makes sense to ban flags representing personal opinions from federal buildings. LGBTQ+ rights must be protected by every rational humanitarian government, but it’s rather unprofessional for a government entity to fly a flag of solidarity next to a national flag in my opinion.

    • What is a ‘private cause’ though? Because to me this feels like a very public issue. While it may seem like LGBT rights have only strengthened each year, there is currently an unprecedented level of effort being put towards disenfranchising and stifling queer and trans communities. Even if you’re not part of those communities yourself, it’s a near certainty that somebody you know and care about is. There’s a very large and diverse subset of the American populace who is being targeted by these anti-lgbt actions.

      During the civil rights movement I would have had no problem with the white house flying a flag in solidarity with black Americans, and I don’t have a problem with them flying the pride flag now.

      • Private is probably not the correct word, but flying the LGBTQ+ flag is probably a for of capital ‘S’ Speech, i.e. the thing the 1st amendement of the US Bill of rights is supposed to protect.

        To what extent should government institutions engage is Speech is a question without an easy answer.

        In this case the LGBTQ+ flag represents, in part, common sense civil liberties and protections for a community. Unequivocally a good thing, and to say otherwise is bigotry.

        However the undeniable goodness of the Speech does not necessarily mean it is a type of speech we want government institutions to engage in. One method to illustrate this is to replace the clearly positive flag with a clearly negative one, say a nazi flag.

        I’d expect most people here would have a problem with the dmv flying a nazi flag.

        So we simply say that government institutions can only fly good flags. The problem is someone has to decide which flags are good. It may seem obvious which is which, but unless we put it to a vote, we’ll need a committee or a single person to make the call. And some people are evil, and would falsely claim the Nazi flag is the good one, and now we’re in a bad spot again.

        So like all things there’s a lot of annoying nuance to be dealt with and sucks when it should be easy to just allow good supportive speech.

        • I think that you’re somewhat asking the government to be apolitical when you do that. Every flag is speech, even the American flag is speech. The government constantly speaks to us.

          I’d argue that the government should be allowed it’s speech. Every time the government stops speaking to you is when bad things happen.