Options
Flags
Hypnodisc
Posts: 22,728 Forum Member
✭✭✭
Isn't it funny how flags have such charged meanings?
It does seem to be 'flavour of the month' at the moment, and there are flags which offend almost everybody.
A flag which may seem innocuous to one person, may bring out 'horror' in another.
Case in point examples: Confederate, England, Islamic/Flag of Muhammed (NOT ISIS), Israeli Star of David, European Union, Jolly Roger, Communist (Red/Hammer & Sickle), American Stars & Stripes, Ulster Banner in N.I etc.
Is it just me, or are flags almost more divisive than some of the ideas they represent?
Why do we allow complex ideas to be boiled down into something which grossly oversimplifies politics, religion, statehood/lack of it and philosophical ideas?
It just seems odd to me, looking at it really logically. Do we as humans not help ourselves when it comes to 'sectarian' and political territory marking?
It does seem to be 'flavour of the month' at the moment, and there are flags which offend almost everybody.
A flag which may seem innocuous to one person, may bring out 'horror' in another.
Case in point examples: Confederate, England, Islamic/Flag of Muhammed (NOT ISIS), Israeli Star of David, European Union, Jolly Roger, Communist (Red/Hammer & Sickle), American Stars & Stripes, Ulster Banner in N.I etc.
Is it just me, or are flags almost more divisive than some of the ideas they represent?
Why do we allow complex ideas to be boiled down into something which grossly oversimplifies politics, religion, statehood/lack of it and philosophical ideas?
It just seems odd to me, looking at it really logically. Do we as humans not help ourselves when it comes to 'sectarian' and political territory marking?
0
Comments
― Banksy, Wall and Piece
I think there's a bit of an obsession everywhere at the moment, hence the thread really.
It just strikes me as interesting human behaviour to create and display flags to show our allegiance to one particular 'side' of anything. In the end we seem to all be collectively harming each other with such ardent 'tribalism'.
What do you find interesting about it? It strikes me as quite logical because of the concept of a picture displaying a thousand words. For example if you were a communist who wanted to express those views to the world you could do so far more effectively by waving the hammer and sickle flag than you could waving around a 10 page document explaining why you believed in communism.
Because you can't box peoples specific beliefs into one symbol or image.
I would consider myself an anti-nationalist socialist, but I certainly don't believe that the Hammer & Sickle represents me any more than a Confederate or England flag would; ie. not at all.
Flags create a shocking oversimplification of very complex ideas and ideals.
Flags aren't meant to be an oversimplification of the beliefs behind them they are just meant to serve as the "logo" something that people can recognize or associate with it. You could say the same about company logos because they exist for the same reasons flags do. The world famous yellow M arch of McDonalds isn't meant to be an oversimplification of the business model of fast food it's just meant to be a short and simple visual logo that people associate with the company.
http://www.polyvore.com/cgi/img-thing?.out=jpg&size=l&tid=13237461
'Oi! you can't claim this, we already live here!'
'Ahhh, but do you have... a flag..?'
Eddie Izzard.
BIB: Probably sums up Northern Ireland in a nutshell.
Yes the M is a logo for a food business, but a flag can represent ideas, it can stand for a broad range of ideas, but if a group use it to represent them all, then it becomes a simplification of their ideas. If McDonalds represented a broad range of ideas, and people used it to represnt them than the M would be an simplification of their ideas. As it is it is just a fast food chain....people try to use company logos negatively, but I'm not sure it works.
Here's a use of the M in a negative way:
http://creativeoverflow.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/logo-parodies-01.jpg
http://www.sutherlandsurvey.com/Images/Logo_Script_parody.jpg
Just image google " logo parody"
Logos do represent things, ideas POVs...etc.
The M represents McDonalds and everything they stand for and that includes some business practices a lot of people consider unethical. But someone using the M logo doesn't mean they are agreeing with everything behind that logo it is just they are using a logo to associate/reference McDonalds. Whenever someone waves a UK flag it doesn't mean they agree with everything the UK has ever done they are just expressing their support towards the country using a visual representation that everyone associates with the UK. I don't know why people get antsy about it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MI4clvkTf7E