Of course words are merely symbols; only a fool would assert otherwise. Furthermore, the power of all symbols to inspire and affirm, offend and decry cannot be argued against. However, words are, if you like, the scalpel to the scythe of those less subtle organisers of ideas – flags.
I’ve never really got flags. Perhaps I can’t see past the gaudy, often facile imagery they offer (is there an aesthetically pleasing national flag anywhere in the world?) and the shorthand, blunt idea they purvey; namely, “This is us; we are different from you; and frankly, we like it that way”. But perhaps it’s more than that.
It denotes to me the most grievous of sins that can be perpetrated by the animal with the best-developed brain on the planet: lazy thinking. Indeed, the kind of lazy thinking that asserts, in the phrase ascribed to Carl Shurtz “My country, right or wrong…” without going on to quote the second clause in the sentence: “…if right, to be kept right; and if wrong, to be set right."[170]
This is where words get in the way of ideas. Don't analyse; don't see beyond The Colours; just wrap yourself in the comforting symbol that stands for all those ideas you don't want to be bothered with; because the only one that matters to you is belligerence.
I get no glow of pride when seeing a Union Flag fluttering on a flagpole; in fact, the phrase that comes most readily to mind is Samuel Johnson’s oft-misused assertion that “patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.” Johnson has nothing against patriotism per se but is aggrieved to see it resorted to when an opponent has legitimately and effectively despatched all rational argument.
Rational argument and Protestant Loyalism. I leave the two phrases hanging there, unremarked.
I’ve never really got flags. Perhaps I can’t see past the gaudy, often facile imagery they offer (is there an aesthetically pleasing national flag anywhere in the world?) and the shorthand, blunt idea they purvey; namely, “This is us; we are different from you; and frankly, we like it that way”. But perhaps it’s more than that.
It denotes to me the most grievous of sins that can be perpetrated by the animal with the best-developed brain on the planet: lazy thinking. Indeed, the kind of lazy thinking that asserts, in the phrase ascribed to Carl Shurtz “My country, right or wrong…” without going on to quote the second clause in the sentence: “…if right, to be kept right; and if wrong, to be set right."[170]
This is where words get in the way of ideas. Don't analyse; don't see beyond The Colours; just wrap yourself in the comforting symbol that stands for all those ideas you don't want to be bothered with; because the only one that matters to you is belligerence.
I get no glow of pride when seeing a Union Flag fluttering on a flagpole; in fact, the phrase that comes most readily to mind is Samuel Johnson’s oft-misused assertion that “patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel.” Johnson has nothing against patriotism per se but is aggrieved to see it resorted to when an opponent has legitimately and effectively despatched all rational argument.
Rational argument and Protestant Loyalism. I leave the two phrases hanging there, unremarked.
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