I never felt represented by national flags (independent of in which country I resided over the years). To me personally a national flag seems to be somehow a bit ārandomā ā for very abstract and simplified speaking: sometime in rather recent history of human existence some people were fighting against each other, a border was set, a flag was created.
To me personally that feels rather excluding and segregating.
Of course itās a very complex issue and everyone has their own way of thinking and feeling about (national) flags and I by no means want to impose my personal impression on someone else BUTā¦
ā¦I nevertheless thought I might share what I once stumbled upon when doing a research on the internet for a flag that I felt more represented by.
@pinknoodle Itās totally okay to have a complicated relationship with the flag. It doesnāt make you unpatriotic and it certainly doesnāt mean you disrespect veterans.
I come from a family of immigrants and veterans who hung the flag outside our front door every morning. And I get that and celebrate that. Iām proud of their service snd their hard journey to become Americans, and Iām grateful.
But I see both sides of the issue. I know the theft and genocide (against Native people) that founded this country, and the enslavement that built our national wealth and status, and the ongoing systemic racism and colonialism and xenophobia thatās built into our very fabric and isnāt going away anytime soon.
The flag is a pervasive symbol, but not a unifying identity.
To me itās a very complex symbol that reflects a huge range of identities, many versions of history, and many different lived realities today.
Some people like to remove that complexity and replace it with a pride that shames others for pointing out the complexity or for voicing their lived reality. Thatās their right. But it doesnāt stop me from seeing the complexity in the symbol and knowing it hits every person in different ways.
So thatās why I donāt have it next to my name on this site. Because others might see it as meaning something I donāt intend.
Postcrossing is for me almost the only place where I can display the flag of France without it meaning anything else than āI live in Franceā.
If I dared to post it somewhere on a French site/forum, (or worse, at home!) immediately it would be perceived as racist and negative patriotism!
Why? I still donāt understandā¦
I was thinking a few days ago, that I was happy that on Postcrossing the flags regain their true neutral meaning: just the sign of the country where we live, without any particular political mark.
I have my country flag here because like Deo-Gratias said, it means āI live in [the US].ā As someone with equally strong ties to two countries, I actually need two flags if weāre not talking about residency, and if weāre talking about preference, Iād prefer to have my state flag or
(The United Federation of Planets - Star Trek - which to me is a symbol of hope that we eventually all get along with each other and races in other solar systems.)
I still donāt understandā¦