[Closed] Flag poles

There is only one thing you can do.

Go back in time and make sure it’s not used by an imperialist regime as a sign of its (occasionally genocidal) power?

I can't undo the mistakes of our imperialist past. And I'm not responsible for it either. I'm more than happy to keep trying to educate blinkered racists about it though.

I’m proud to be British, and English, and a bunch of other things (I actually designed my own flag and everything). But I’m ashamed to be sharing this little island with a bunch of ****ing racist Neanderthals who give no shits for anyone but themselves and lust for the glory days of the Empire. This is not my England, this is not my Britain, this is not my United Kingdom,

Absolutely agree. This country has educated me, kept me healthy, kept me safe and supported me when I've needed it. But do we abandon the flag to the idiots and like it forever? Get a new flag, with all the division that will create?

You sound like people who want to reclaim the confederate flag. Not saying you're wrong, just pointing out that sometimes symbols are hard to, or simply can not be, reclaimed or their symbolism wiped clean. The marches will continue. Anti-foreigner campaign groups will always embrace the flag more than the rest of us, even more than people who live for sports and national competitions. Look at the Labour party... do we honestly think that they can reclaim the Union Flag for people across the political spectrum? Or do their attempts to do so just get them labeled as re-alligning themselves with those that already embrace the flag the loudest?

But do we abandon the flag to the idiots and like it forever? Get a new flag, with all the division that will create?

Why do you need a flag at all?

One of my neighhours put up a flag pole the other day. Expecting some of kind union jack / diana / queen based embarassment, it turned out that it was so they could fly the jolly roger when the grandkids were round. When I enqired about how piracy was working out for them I was told that the grandkids made the pug walk the plank into the paddling pool.

The only answer is a big EU flag, just (in true tosspot neighbour fashion) slightly bigger than his.

Or get some frozen sausages.

Oh dear my little flag in the geranium pot next to the front door makes me racist and a football fan. Learn something new about yourself everyday.

Obviously it doesn't, and no one is saying that it does.

That's not what I (or anyone else) said.

But do we abandon the flag to the idiots and like it forever? Get a new flag, with all the division that will create?

Honestly, I don't know what the answer is. Reclaiming things is hard.

It’s an interesting thought though. Is the England flag the motif of racists (and football fans), or rather do the racists believe that they’re just being loyal to their country by dripping flags about whilst the rest of the country doesn’t really see a desire to do that in the first place?

A bit of both but they end up with the same result in that people associate flying the flag with hooligans and racists.

We have a similar issue here in South Wales with our flag but to a lesser extent. There was a fashion roughly 20 years ago for boy racers to have one covering their parcel shelf (which was already groaning under the weight of 6x9's) with it or have a giant dragon sticker on the rear window. That lead to it being associated with ASBO-type behaviour and that stigma still hangs around even now. If you see a Welsh flag any other time than an international rugby match day it's seen as a sign of idiots by a lot of people. Thankfully anywhere in mid it North Wales it's still seen as just our national flag but that is changing with the rise of the likes of Yes Cymru.

As for the OP I'd say that the flag pole may be annoying but what is flown on it and the purpose behind it is the major issue. Did start a thread about the Union Jack and it's connotations abroad a while back that had some interesting viewpoints here so understand your concerns.

I was told that the grandkids made the pug walk the plank into the paddling pool.

Thanks. Now I have the Captain Pugwash theme in my head for the rest of the day.

I'm more interested in knowing where they got the postcrete for that hole. Must be about 1 cubic metre to support that size of pole.

Why do you need a flag at all?

Most countries seem to manage to have one quite happily, including countries with nasty nationalist elements in their society.

Maybe their solution is to be broad minded enough to accept that a flag represents different things to different people, and not jump to conclusions about why someone is displaying it.

Three pages and no Finbarr Saunders-style fnarring about your neighbour's massive flag pole spoiling the view?

Maybe their solution is to be broad minded enough to accept that a flag represents different things to different people, and not jump to conclusions about why someone is displaying it.

Sure. This angled cross is a millennia-old symbol of peace, why jump to conclusions as to why someone might want to fly it on a flag? Maybe they're a Buddhist.

Captain Pugwash.

Chapeau Sir !!

Sure. This angled cross is a millennia-old symbol of peace, why jump to conclusions as to why someone might want to fly it on a flag? Maybe they’re a Buddhist.

OK, there's an extreme example as a starter for 10....🤔

Loads of flag poles going up near me, mostly GB flags. Very conservative area, local councilor semi-regularly writes xenophobic articles in the local magazine (latest one was that its foreign drivers who can't read the English signs and drive dangerously through the village - to which I complained, only she was let off by another crusty old tory and they wouldn't look into it without me raising a judicial review or something).

I'm in the 'people who fly flags are dicks' camp. They're distracting and don't really serve any purpose. We all know where we are, and we don't need to know that the residents of number 34b are patriots. You can be a patriot without waving a flag around.

Then again I don't really get patriotic people either. As someone else said, its luck where you're born. Why do I have to love this bit of land more than the bit of equal land over the other side of an imaginary line? I certainly wouldn't be prepared to kill someone or fight for it.

I for one welcome our new Russian overloads, at least it'll be a change of scenery on all these flag poles...

Oh dear my little flag in the geranium pot next to the front door makes me racist and a football fan. Learn something new about yourself everyday.

A true patriot would only have red roses.

The council stole my flagpole mounts and refused to replace them. Bastids. I was going to fly all sorts of interesting flags from it