When I happened upon this website campaign, my first reaction was to dismiss it as a hoax. After all, in an age when political and civil discourse has been so debased by post-modern neurosis, the art of parody must respond by vaulting the high water-mark of absurdity in order to be at all effective.
But, because we live in such strange and discordant times, I have, upon further reflection, decided that the people behind reFlag are probably deadly serious. In their opinion, our Union Jack is too arcane, vulgar and embarrassing to be tolerated:
A number of countries around the globe have black in their flags to represent the colour of their people. It makes sense for the UK to have black and white in our flag, to represent the different races and cultures which make up the country at the beginning of the third millennium.
We haven’t conquered racism, nor many other forms of prejudice, but by changing the nation’s main emblem, we can reclaim the union flag from those who have hijacked it for their own ends, so that our flag reflects the diversity of the people of the UK.
So it’s out with the racist, old standard and in with the new symbol of ‘diversity’:
I don’t like it. And it certainly is not a flag to which I am going to rally any time soon or at all. Of course, one might argue that flag design is not an issue that should matter to any libertarian and that all national flags are constructs which can, and indeed do, change from time to time.
But that is to miss the point. The cause of my revulsion lies not in the symbol but in the creepy deconstructionist impulse that lies behind it (much of which is dressed up in corporate ‘re-branding’ jargon). The depths of this psychosis can perhaps best be judged by the breath-takingly hypocritical claim that the Union Jack has been ‘hijacked’ and they need to take it back. Take it back from whom, I wonder? From various obnoxious national socialists? From football hooligans? Or from the increasing numbers of quite reasonable and decent Britons who defiantly fly the flag in response to the sordid and sustained attempts of much of the establishment left to demonise it?
It is that latter group who are really taking the flag back and perhaps that is what the people behind ‘reFlag’ really fear the most. Maybe the trend they are so clearly desperate to stem is the growing general contempt for the dangerously balkanising agenda of the cultural marxists and an increased willingness to resist the tools of manipulation and social engineering through which it operates.
I cannot say for sure because there appears to be no indication on their website as to who these people are, who or what is behind them or how they are funded. So maybe it is a hoax and an elaborate one at that. Right now there may be some gang of wags guffawing in ‘ha ha gotcha’ hoots of laughter. But if it is not a hoax then perhaps these people should be flushed out into the open so that we can tell them, face-to-face, that what they are trying to do is not just silly it is dangerous. I think we should leave them in no doubt that they are vigourously fanning the very flames of conflagration that they purport to be seeking to avoid.
Or, maybe, they know full well what they are doing and conflagration is precisely what they want. Who can say?
An occasionaly and unfortunate byproduct of a prosperous and peaceable society is that certain of its members end up with too much time on their hands. This can lead (as it has here) to ridiculous self-parody.
I can’t rouse myself into a state of Daily Mail rage over this one.
Certainly, I dislike attempts to remould the language to “correct” perceived bias of one sort or another: “Chairman” is so much more sensible a term of address than “Chair” (an inanimate object); “postal worker” seems to me to include counter-clerks, but everyone knew that a “postman” could be a woman. “Firefighter” is possibly the only such word preferred by its holders to the traditional title, and that’s because it is more macho.
Similarly, criticism of terms like “blackmail” and “black propaganda” seems to combine foolishness and implicit insult to the black population in equal measure: I don’t associate ‘black moods’ with those of African descent, but those who tell me not to use the phrase must do. David is correct to decry this as “cultural marxism”.
But the Union flag is different. David is quite wrong to say think that it is only “sordid and sustained attempts of much of the establishment left to demonise it”. However regrettable this may be (very), the plain fact is that few Britons do fly the Union flag, and it has sadly become associated with the rascist fringe.
On the question of aesthetics, I find the reFlag effort surprisingly agreeable. If their proposal had been to abandon the Union flag in favour of some British Airways-esque monstrosity, I would find it impossible to support. But this proposal retains (and, by rejecting the option of starting from scratch) symbolicly rejoices in the history and values represented by the Union flag.
A narrow black line is a common artistic technique to add definition. Personally, I would suggest using a narrower line alongside the St. Patrick’s cross, and having a corresponding line on the other side – just as has been done with the St George cross.
If this flag were adopted, I think it would cause a brief fuss – as does every novelty. But within a year, I think most people wouldn’t even notice whether they saw the old or new version. But one group of people really would notice – and care deeply: violent, rascist, skinhead thugs.
I do want to be able to fly the flag without seeming to ally myself with the BNP. I don’t want to have to apologise for doing so, as the constant necessity to explain that I am not one of them now does.
There is one problem: adopting the new flag would completely surrender the old one to the BNP. But, for the purposes of practical politics, aren’t we nearly there already?
In short, on reflection, I quite like this idea. Britain has not wanted a prominent flag for many decades; the time is coming fast upon us when we will indeed have need of much flag-waving, for our opponents use their flag liberally. How much better it would be to stand under one that cannot be so misused and abused.
It seems to me a bit odd that if they’re wanting to be truly inclusive or representative of the entire population that they didn’t also have some brown and yellow included in their design. Or is the black stripe supposed to represent all non-white races? Perhaps a poll should be taken amongst the various ethnic groups to determine what colors each of them would like to see added to it. Then there’s the issue of sexual orientation. Maybe they could incorporate a rainbow somewhere in there (or at least a bit of pink).
“cultural marxists”
Never be surprised of what those can do. I loathe them and what they do to Culture in general and Art in particular (maybe I’m biased then in my observation, but this hatred of mine is based on facts, or rather; their abuse of Art). It’s just irrational, and the idea of changing Union Jack is not surprising.
What a brilliant idea… add your own personal “colour” to your flag… if you’re physically disabled lop a bit off… add a mucky smudgy hand print to represent kids… add food stains for FAT people… stick on bumps for blind people… spots for freckled people and those with acne… have a grey section for the elderly (and colour blind)… a sequined section for the actors …there could be a smelly section for dogs and claw marks for cats… an loads of others….but last but not least – a sewn in match to represent the arsonists amongst us… and to light the “wonderful” thing with!!! Then when it has burned to ashes and all thats left is a flagpole – well of course that in itself will represent all the poor souls who feel too afraid to associate themselves with a real flag.
My humblest apologies if anyone feels they’ve been overlooked or left out… this is only caused by limited flagspace…and can be easily corrected by use of InclusiFlag Mk2 – the 3D version 🙂
You go, Joe!
Assuming these “reFlag” people are not just sixth-formers having a joke, their suggestion about incorporating black into the Union Flag is foolish, grotesque, dim, contemptible.
I don’t revere the flag in any sentimental way, but it does help to represent who I am and what I stand for. I might be broadly libertarian but I’m rather conservative and traditionally minded, too. I disagree with Malcolm about the flag’s alleged association with racist thuggery: it never occurs to me to think of this when I see the Union Flag, and if other people do, that’s their problem. Guardian readers, no doubt.
Like Malcolm above, I’m surprised to find it not too bad-looking. Perhaps black-lining only one of the crosses would have been better.
Mind you, the white, black, red cross effect then looks rather Prussian and vaguely Hunnish (in the World War I era Boy’s Own Paper sense), no?
Of course other colours could be included too. I once saw a rather beautiful Union Jack in a visual perception book, entirely redone in greens, blacks and yellows I think. The idea was that you stared at it for a minute, partly exhausting your retina’s colour cones, and then refocussed on a white wall to see, hey presto, the original Union Jack as an afterimage. Except I preferred the complementary-colour redesign.
I think there’s lots of scope for producing many versions in other colour mixes, and that the overall effect is cheerful respect for the original design so robust and clear that it can be radically changed and yet stay so recognisable.
By the way Malcolm, I couldn’t agree less on the rejected British Airways rebranding. Those one-off aeroplane redesigns were wonderful, richly-coloured, totally distinctive and head and shoulders above all other airlines worldwide. A stroke of genius having each plane painted differently yet immediately recognisable as part of the brand. A squandered chance for BA to ally itself with variety and actual attractiveness among all the other tired airline liveries – to literally make “every plane/flight/passenger is different” part of the brand.
Wouldn’t it be dreadful if we adopted a kind of flag idolatry of the kind some Americans now have? The Union Jack is a great flag (only the US, Saudi (yes I know, but I’m only talking about flags here) and Catalan flags match it for sheer boldness and distinctiveness, I reckon. Let’s be pleased anyone even cares enough about Britain’s flag to want to do redesigns of it.
I think MB has a much more sound and logical view on this than Malcolm. The pink stripe comes next. Then a grey stripe for senior citizens. Then a dashed line for disabled. Maybe a cut out bit for stupid, sorry, ‘intellectually challenged’ people. Do you oppose that Malcolm? Probably not.
What this ReFlag represents is not a colour blind inclusive nation but rather an obsession with colour and identity politics. Malcolm is credulous to put it as mildly and politely as I can if he cannot see what this ReFlag is about.
There are groups like that in the US as well. Here, they’re on a holy crusade to stamp out any trace of the Confederate battle flag. Stories like this one crop up several times per year.
Wot? No yellow for our Chinese immigrants (who, lest anyone start protesting, I greatly value)?
The last I heard, immigrants made up somewhat less than 10 per cent of the UK’s population.
The casual observer from Mars, watching TV, listening to the radio, or reading utter rubbish like this banal proposal to tamper with the Union Flag, might reasonably conclude otherwise.
And, anyway, who are these red and blue people, so over-abundantly represented on it?
I think we should be told!
Ken Hagler writes:
“Here, they’re on a holy crusade to stamp out any trace of the Confederate battle flag.”
I don’t suppose this will be much comfort to you, but the Confederate flag is a great favourite over here in the UK. I never fail to be impressed by how often I see it displayed by bikers, hot-car fans and the like.
G Cooper writes:
“I don’t suppose this will be much comfort to you, but the Confederate flag is a great favourite over here in the UK.”
That’s interesting (if not comforting). In the US, contentious racial issues now have so little substance or import that we are reduced to squabbling – mostly one-sided – over ancient and arcane symbols. I suppose that’s progress.
An observation from a non-flag idolator in the (somewhat) United States.
Firstly, the Union Flag is splendid, and would be tragic to change out of political correctness.
But I have to wonder, in my primitive Yank way, what happened to the Welsh? The English, Irish, and Scots are represented in their national crosses.
What happened to the Cross of St. David? The Welsh are the only major group left out. Poor form, seems to me.
Cheers.
I sincerely hope this a joke. If it isn’t it has to be one of the most moronic ideas I have seen for a long time. If its serious it may be a trial balloon to see if you can get the cultural marxists to call for all new flag. Of course, the way the EU is going it will all be a moot point since at some point they will try to ban all images that denote “nationalism”.
I think mark almost has it right. When I saw it, I thought it looked like something from a distopian movie set in England; 1984 or something. It looks fascist.
That black-red combo will never work.
Hey, Joe! You’re a star! (We’ll need to sew on a little star for you!)
BTW, I’ve travelled in Muslim countries and lived in one. All Muslim flags have green in them, yet I have never, I can absolutely swear, run across a green person in any of those countries.
Once y’all ratify the EU constitution, you won’t need the Union Jack at all. Blue with gold stars will be your flag. (All the stars will be equal, but some will be more equal than others.)
The Union Jack will go into a museum, along with trial by jury, freedom of speech, and the ability to vote for those who rule you. They’ll be relics of a bygone age collecting dust in a museum case, fit only to remind you of a worse time in the past before the establishment of the new European Socialist Worker’s Utopia.
(Sob)
Hmmm, if you wanted black in the flag and you wanted to represent vegetarians, animal lovers, new age types, those who disire to unify Europe, and those who wish to show solidarity with the Palistinians, then a swastika would be appropriate.
George Peery: That’s interesting (if not comforting).
The Confederate Flag has entirely different connotations in Britain that have nothing to do with racism, the Old South or, quite frankly, the Confederacy…
It is a symbol here of Rockabilly music primarily and to some extent Bluegrass and a nebulous ‘rebel’ counterculture vibe.
Talking about discredited images. Does not the black colour in reFlag make it reminescent of African flags? Tin-pot dictators, autocratic regimes, etc…?
The last time I saw blue, black, red, and white together was the last time I saw General Burkhalter (blue uniform) and Major Hochstetter (black, red, and white swastika armband) standing in the same room.
Malcolm,
Please think more deeply before you misuse the word, racist. There is a mechanicity about the application of PC over conscious thought tjat I dislike intensly. Surely, libertarians should be making efforts to promote open debate on all subjects – with no exceptions. PC is designed to do exactly the opposite.
Racist is a word, like liberal, that was stolen by the activists of the “Frankfurt tendency”, first in America then in Europe. In truth, the word need have no negative connotation. Racism is completely natural. All peoples prefer their own kind. It is immature and immensely self-destructive to profess otherwise. The Chinese don’t. The Arabs don’t. The Jews don’t. Only whites in Europe and America think they have to debase themselves in this way.
Naturally, we have to extirpate hate on the right (and self-hate on the left) because these things are self-destructive. They reduce us as individuals and as a people.
As regards the BNP, it is a party of white nationalism and, therefore, racist. It is not a party of hate, though. Doubtless some BNP members are filled with that emotion but unless you, Malcolm, are wise enough to look into their hearts you cannot assume too much. To mechanically allow PC to make assumptions for you is to be a victim of the culture war.
As regards a PC Union Jack, the re-Flag folk should take the (very) long view. If whites are indeed doomed one day to extinction there could be a popular will for a new design of flag. Black, though, is the colour of mourning and might be too controversial for the PC pushers of the day.
Oops, that’s Schultzie in the pic. Both do wear blue uniforms.
Malcolm, most committee heads that I know have their level of energy and accomplishment perfectly captured by a title that insinuates they are, in fact, inanimate, so I long ago became quite comfortable addressing them as Chair. I particular enjoy asking the chair to table something; one half expects the fork to run away with the spoon.
The proposed flag sucks. The fascist overtones created by adding the black striping are probably unconscious, but nonetheless appropriate.
The whole thing reminds of the kerfuffle over the memorial statue to the heroic firemen who died in the Trade Center on 9/11. Thee are very few black firemen in NYC, but nonetheless their had to be a recognizably black one in the statue. There are even fewer women, so of course a hue and cry went up to add women. I wouldn’t be surprised if the statue wound up with an Asian lesbian making out with a Polynesian.
I’ll never understand the multiculturalists’ insistence on ‘black and white’ as a descriptor, since the very existence of such extremes of skin color is indication that they haven’t succeeded. Surely, if they’re right, within a generation or two, all true citizens of the world will be some variation on a beige-mocha-caramel-cafe au lait-milk chocolate sort of thing.
Mmmm-mmm. That would make a flag good enough to serve for dessert.
Thanks for the link, David…
Ironically, their suggested design with the black added to UK flag looks like something the Nazis would have done , if they managed to conquer Great Britain.
T. Hartin wrote:
Malcolm, most committee heads that I know have their level of energy and accomplishment perfectly captured by a title that insinuates they are, in fact, inanimate, so I long ago became quite comfortable addressing them as Chair. I particular enjoy asking the chair to table something; one half expects the fork to run away with the spoon.
The next time somebody (preferably a woman) insists on calling herself the “Chair”, why don’t you try sitting on her lap? After all, that’s what chairs are for! 😀
“conflagration”
How punderfully punny. (I’m such a child.)
. . . . .
But, S Weasel – I must agree with you: I have often wondered why people distinguish themselves as black or white when quite clearly they are neither, just various shades of peach and brown.
Malcolm,
I think you mistake local conditions for national ones when you say that practically the only people flying the union flag are BNP-ers. There are still quite a few flags left flying round where I live after the sea of them (St George’s crosses too) visible during the world cup/ Jubilee period. I know some of the people flying them. Not racists.
But actually, that wasn’t the point I wanted to make. Here it is: do you *want* your response to racists to be that of surrender? When I was still a left winger I figured out that the communists and the fascists had a *mutual* interest in pretending that ordinary patriotism was indistinguishable from rabid hitlerism.
Surely all that counts is the appeal of different flags. If the Union Jack no longer retains its appeal then we should allow alternatives to compete until one design gains a dominant position.
I suspect that in the cultural marketplace, the Union Jack faces competition from national flags and, the only way, reFlag, would be able to compete, is with govt. support.
If there’s blacks, whites, and reds in Britain, who are the blues? Smurfs?
Excuse me, but this seems to have an obvous hint that it’s a joke. “A number of countries … have black in their flags to represent the colour of their people.” Er, no.
My country (S Africa) has black in its flag. But the heraldry people who designed it say none of the colours actually “mean anything”.
I suppose you could say the blue in the Union flag stands for woad, the colour of ancient Britons. But are Orangemen really orange?
Weren’t red white and black the colours of the Nazi flag?
More importantly, the blue in the Union Flag is from the St. Andrews cross emblem of Scotland, and if you take it out you might as well stop pretending there’s a Union.
Not that anyone in Scotland would care; up here they see the Union Flag as a badge of occupation, to be scorned and derided.
at 1st glance it strikes me as something that the SS/GB would have. The colors are too similar to that of the Swastika and/or American Nazi/KKK fringes.
Liberty Belle: All Muslim flags have green in them, yet I have never … run across a green person in any of those countries.
I dunno, have you seen Khatami’s face lately? 😉
Look, the Union Jack is a fine and distinctive flag. It ain’t broke; don’t “fix” it. And certainly don’t “fix” it for reasons of identity politics.
Oh, and if, as reFlag argues, the purpose of a nation’s flag is “to represent the colour of their people … the different races and cultures which make up the country,” then logically the flags of the world should be 191 barely distinguishable pie charts with slightly varying mixtures of blurry brown, peach, and olive. And all 191 indistinguishable flags should be changed frequently to reflect shifting demographics.
Grrr. They don’t tolerate stupid shit like this in Islamic countries — someone get me a scimitar.
In following this flap, I’ve been amazed to learn that the Union Jack is not even displayed outside your government buildings and schools. Such would be unheard of here. I understand far better now, the unique nature of American’s pride in the flag. Your flag only represents a nation, little more than a few rocks in the Atlantic ocean. But ours represents something far more profound: an ideal.
The “reflag” looks like it would make a good book cover for some “alternate history” novel in which the Nazis successfully invaded England and installed Oswald Moseley as their puppet.
If I saw a flag like that live, without context, I would expect it to belong to a member of a British Fascist party.
Is the black part supposed to represent black people ? I just wondered as I haven’t seen many red and blue people around lately.
The truly sad thing is that even if it -is- a hoax, the politically correct ninnies may just latch onto it as a good idea. The lack of ability of the ideologically blinkered to get a joke is legendary.
To Kevin Connors: the Union Jack represents more than a “few rocks”, it represents the birthplace of the very ideals that made America possible. If the thirteen colonies had been anything other than British, America probably wouldn’t have been possible. It would at least have been very different, and given the political systems of France, Spain, etc. at the time, probably a hell of a lot less free.
I’m proud to be an American, but proud of my nation’s British heritage as well.