I feel stupid even asking this question. I got this pack of vintage cards off Ebay because flag cards seem to be a common request. Is the flag in the upper right hand corner considered offensive now? I can be a bit oblivious to what is going on in the world and absolutely don’t want to send anything offputting. What say you all?
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I don’t see why it would be. I think its a really cool card with all the flags.
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Wikipedia has an article of this flag, and as somebody who has no other knowledge of this one, I would probably not send that card. It seems to have rather complicate symbolic meaning (although in historic point of view it got an interesting one) so I would just avoid it or be extremely careful to who I would send it. But I am giving an outsider’s point of view and I have no idea how somebody else would take it.
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When I bought them I tought it had something to do with maybe the U.S. Marines. Then I read the Wikipedia entry so now I don’t know. The card does have the histories of all of the pictured flags on the back. I mean if it were the Confederate flag I would just toss them but I’m not sure about this one? Is this now tied to a hate group or something? With the last 4 years here in the US nothing would suprise me.
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I think it would depend on the context. If you’re sending this card to someone who is interested in history and/or flags, this would probably be okay. If you’re just planning on sending it to random people, I would say no, since it has a certain political connotation that’s really a hot button issue.
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I don’t see anything wrong with it, not racist or use of foul/rude language. Read some, not all of the article as mentioned by @Kompis-Ninna which gives more info for you to decide. If I got the postcard, it would not offend me. And as @syaffolee says better to give to someone who would be interested in it, perhaps a direct swap rather than an official postcard. 
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If you’re worried about offending someone with that card that much, I’d be happy to trade you for it.
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If you send it to someone interested in flag history and choose your words on the card in a nice way, you should be fine. I wouldn’t send it to someone who isn’t clearly interested in history, as it might be misunderstood (not too likely, given the explanatio on the back, but you never know). Or accept a trade with those who have already shown interest - there you know for sure the recipient will be happy. 
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I like the card a lot and would be happy if I found it in my mailbox.
Maybe it depends a bit on where you send such a card to. It might not be suitable for a country that is in “tense relationship” with the US (although, of course, there is a difference between official and personal views).
I generelly assume that nobody sending a postcard intends to offend the receiver. Yes, there is no “One fits all”. Someone may dislike a card I find adorable, and I may no be super enthusiastic about a certain card the sender picked for me. But I would never suspect anybody to willingly make me feel bad.
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Funnily enough, this article popped up on my Google feed.
I wouldn’t have a problem sending it.
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That was a good read, thank you!
I’m going to keep the cards and send them to people who ask for flag cards in their profile.
Thanks so much everyone!
If you feel that you would be uncomfortable sending that postcard to someone then you can send it to me if you’d like. Send me your address and we can arrange a swap. Thanks.
I can’t believe how sensitive, prickly, and ready to be offended some people are thought to be. Assuming that’s a regular sized postcard, that flag would be what? about 1" square, on a card with 13 other flags!
Is it really, seriously, likely that one random recipient would scrutinise the card and jump on that one, angrily shouting I AM OFFENDED! And even if they are, what can they do about it? They can’t have you punished, fined, disciplined or banned. The worst they could do is try to ‘complain’ and if such complaint were taken seriously (which I honestly doubt), all that would happen is that the image of the card would be deleted from your sent page - if you scanned it before posting.
You cannot possibly pre-empt all possible causes of any offence-taking when sending postcards to random strangers. Well, if you do, you’ll end up just sending bland boring views. But even they might “offend” someone who hates trees or buildings or bridges or rivers, as in (just wildly surmising), my brother was killed by a tree how could you be so insensitive to send me a card of a tree!
It’s only a postcard. Send it to the next address you get. Then forget about it, would be my advice, for what it’s worth.
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I wouldn’t worry–it’s true that some people have been using it the last few years with particular political connotations, and if I got a card that was just the Don’t Tread On Me flag I’d be kind of wondering if the person was trying to say something political. But if someone’s profile asks for flags and/or history, they should get that this is just a collection of historical flags.
I don’t think it’s a stupid question, though!
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Just keep the postcard for the right user - trust me, it will come! One day you will get this address and this person will have a profile and you will look at your postcard stash and think, this is perfect! And it will be one of those great Postcrossing moments. I held on to some postcards for more than 10 years, I just did not find the right users and when I did, that moment was glorious.
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Hahaha. Oh, sailingby, I laughed so many times when i read your message. You are 100% correct. I’m now middle aged (41!) and it does seem to me that, yep, this is what America has turned into, the land of the perpetually offended, PC and oversensitive.
Yes, somewhere out there some American is probably on Twitter up in arms about the whole “a tree fell on my brother HOW DARE YOU” hypothetical situation. It’s exausting.
I bought a pack of 10 of these cards and will send them out to flag collectors. Everyone can deal with it.
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Would you have the same reaction to someone asking if a Nazi flag card was offensive to send?
The Gadsden flag, like it or not, is now associated with white supremacist terrorism in the United States. It is perfectly reasonable to think carefully and check whether the recipient is open to receiving such symbols.
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Its part of history. You’ll find a history buff eventually. I’ve sent a Confederate Navy Jack before. I’ve also explained the history on the card, too.
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Don’t fall for the propaganda… the “Don’t Tread on Me” flag is very historic, and WAS historic before the Tea Party movement adopted it.
There is a similar design with the snake cut into parts, symbolizing each state, with the motto “join or die”. The snake is an ancient symbol of wisdom, which appeared in Benjamin Franklin’s Pennsylvania Gazette in 1754. Franklin wanted each colony to unite while still retaining their individual rights.
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I would not put much stock in what is written in wikipedia. It has become common knowledge that the site is biased politically.
My opinion is late to the party, but I think that the flag is perfectly fine. Anyone can take offense for any one of an ever-growing, endless list of reasons.
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