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Flag waving

TheCatWoman

It seems that the English flag is being used again as a symbol of nationalism, being paraded around the streets by those wanting rid of asylum seekers and placed in gardens.

Do you feel comfortable with it? I don't, for me it's tainted by Neo Nazi's and other fascists, or for football.

In Britain we've never had a habit of flag use and worship like some other countries, mostly seen in America and I wouldn't like us to acquire the habit. 

Am I the only one to find it ironic that St George was a Turk? He supplanted St Edmund as Englands national saint on a whim of Richard the Lionheart, we have lots of native saints to choose from, St Alban, St Edward, St Thomas A'Becket, St Hilda, and so many more often more obscure ones like St Petroc or St Willibrord.

I also feel uncomfortable that as a non Christian the flag is a blatently Christian religious symbol, at least in Wales we have Ye Ddraig Goch, The Red Dragon, nice and mythological and non religious.

Parents

  • In my opinion, as long as things stay peaceful people should express themselves how they wish. 

    I do take issue however when people misuse symbols and flags for nefarious means, which does always seem to happen, eventually.

    I think freedom of expression and perhaps speech is at risk of they are told they cannot put them up, this will only embolden the racist part of the movement, which, if you keep up with the US politics is happening right now and they are heading for autocracy.

    I'm not saying do nothing but it's a delicate situation that cannot be handled with sweeping rules it has to be debated and all parties listened too.

    Things are infinitely more complex than just one issue, usually. Just my two cents.

  • in reply to Gadfly

    I agree, but I wish we were all more responsible and knew how our freedom of speech and expression can make others very miserable (including refugees dying at the sea.)

    When there is hatred, and disregard of veracity, legality, or humanity, we do become quite dangerous.

    Sadly, these days you barely see any statistics or detailed report on the media, you see outrage and quick thinking.

  • in reply to Deleted User

    It would seem that many advocates of free speech want the freedom to be nasty to others and the freedom to cancel the speech of those they disagree with, oftn violently. The thought that with freedoms comes responsibilities never enters their heads, we can all have freedom of speech, but we also have to have the responsibility to speak wisely and respectfully, even to those we disagree with fundamentally. Saying all that though, if Farage or his supporters turned up on my doorstep spouting thier nonsense, they'd probably get told what to do with themselves in plain Anglo Saxon, unless I was in the mood and had time to play with idiots.

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  • in reply to Deleted User

    It would seem that many advocates of free speech want the freedom to be nasty to others and the freedom to cancel the speech of those they disagree with, oftn violently. The thought that with freedoms comes responsibilities never enters their heads, we can all have freedom of speech, but we also have to have the responsibility to speak wisely and respectfully, even to those we disagree with fundamentally. Saying all that though, if Farage or his supporters turned up on my doorstep spouting thier nonsense, they'd probably get told what to do with themselves in plain Anglo Saxon, unless I was in the mood and had time to play with idiots.

Children
  • in reply to Trev

    If anyone does that Trev, they are not worth talking too.

  • in reply to Gadfly

    Sounds like my worst nightmare - having a bunch of people shouting lies at me and shouting over me whenever I try to speak.

  • in reply to TheCatWoman

    Haha I'd relish the opportunity to talk to Farage and his band of sicophants too. I do agree, free speech has to be used with respect and often those who shout the loudest about it are not respectful.

    Again as we see in the US at the moment, they are very outspoken about free speech when they want to tell women what to do with their own bodies but not so much when they are called out on rubbish data or facts or even having their own speeches played back and scrutinised then all they want to do is cancel people, Steven Colbert Jimmy Kimmel etc.

    My post was an idealist view really but I am only too aware of how it would play out in the real world.