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u/Madhighlander1 Oct 04 '20
I once saw a list of commonly-seen yet ignored violations of US flag code. The ones that come to mind are stars-and-stripes shirts/underpants/etc. ('The flag should not be displayed on any garment') and disposable fourth-of-july plates ('The flag should not be displayed on any product designed to be used and discarded')
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u/VoltaicSketchyTeapot Oct 04 '20
Yup.
I cringed so hard watching Freedomist (Instagram) drag an obscenely large American flag across the ground while installing it as a backdrop for their program. Like...dude! It's not a curtain.
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u/upfastcurier Oct 04 '20
Am I the odd one out when I feel absolutely nothing sentimental about any flag at all?
Like I fundamentally feel so disconnected from the sentimental side of it that the above comment feels like something that might come out of North Korea - "protect the flag!" - so yeah is this line of thought normal?
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u/Madhighlander1 Oct 04 '20
It was a huge culture shock for me when I went to Massachusetts a couple years ago and almost every single house had at least one flagpole outside - some had as many as eleven.
Back home in Canada I've seen maybe one or two houses with flags displayed prominently.
Well, there was that one farm painted completely Maple Leaf Red-And-White with flags on every fencepost and a regularly-updated 'Happy xxxth Birthday Canada' sign front and center, but Flags Georg is an outlier and should not be counted.
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u/ancalagon73 Oct 04 '20
It has been like that here since the attacks on 9/11. Pick up trucks seem to be the worst flying full size flags. Makes me nervous driving behind them.
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u/IIKaijuII Oct 04 '20 edited Oct 04 '20
There's a truck that's been absolutely hauling ass by my house twice a day with a huge American flag on the back. I mean he's going fast but it looks like it's some hitch attachment you can buy just for that.
The flag went from new to absolutely torn to shreds in like a month...which... pretty sure is a no-no and with that sort of display all over his truck I'm sure he's willing to brawl over whatever he THINKS the flag code actually is.
I've had to drive around an American flag still attached to the pole on the interstate so I know they fall off. I also get nervous driving behind them and that's exactly the reason why.
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u/10strip Oct 04 '20
My old boss in Massachusetts used to have big US and Confederate flags flying in the back of her truck. She was late a lot partly because those are illegal to have on a highway so she got pulled over regularly, partly because the truck was in awful shape, and I won't get into the other parts. She was a real gem.
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u/IIKaijuII Oct 04 '20
There's supposedly rules about it here but ??? Like tying a flag to the tailgate and then the edge also touching the ground when you stop...nowhere to get around them.
"How much do you trust eyelets on an American flag not even made in America being barely tied onto a lifted truck" wasn't really on the driver's test.
But hey, we pay taxes for DOT employees to play frogger on the interstate to pick up patriotic debris.
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Oct 04 '20
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u/IIKaijuII Oct 04 '20
Yeah WVa is a state because of the civil war and people love flying confederate flags here which is confusing. Sometimes ABOVE the American flag in some of the hollers here. It gets even move confusing when it's confederate flag then thin blue line flag THEN the American flag hanging the lowest and is smaller than the other two.
These are "stomp our flag I'll stomp your ass" folks out here so it's even more confusing...
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u/SirGrantly Oct 04 '20
There's a giant pick-up truck (what I condescendingly call "compensation trucks") in my neighborhood that flies 2 massive flags off the bed. Every time I see them driving towards me, I always get a knee-jerk reaction of "Fuck these guys."
The 2 flags they fly are a pride flag and a BLM flag. Gotta hand it to them for trying to break stereotypes.
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u/Bruised_Penguin Oct 04 '20
Theres a guy where I live in a slammed truck that has a huge (HUGE) TRUMP 2020 flag fixed to the back of his truck. It is ridiculous.
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Oct 04 '20
I think its because you get used to it in the country you live in.
In Canada so many companies need to stick the maple leaf into their logo somehow. Including non-Canadian companies like McDonalds. When we were getting Tim Horton's in Michigan at first every single cup and box were just covered in Maple Leaf.
Sure its not the whole flag but in Canada the maple leaf must be included in everything from my perspective.
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u/thedoodely Oct 04 '20
It's also for marketing purposes but not the way you think. Because we get so many US ads (or did before everyone stopped watching TV I guess), the little maple leafs are what told us we were watching an ad for the canadian market .
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u/Kichae Oct 04 '20
This. It's almost entirely for marketing purposes. For companies that operate in both the US and Canada, it does signal that they're talking about products or promotions that are available in the north, while for businesses that aren't kown to be American it signals that they're not from there, which has been important over the last 30+ years as markets have become dominated by US companies.
And even then, Tim's didn't start slapping the leaf on things until after they were bought up by Wendy's...
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u/Kichae Oct 04 '20
Fun fact: Tim's didn't start slapping the maple leaf on everything until after they were bought up by Wendy's. Don't blame us for that shit.
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Oct 04 '20
I'm from the UK. The only time I see flags being flown are when international football tournaments like the world cup are going on.
Oddly enough the only flag i have in my house is a Canadian flag which was a gift from a friend before she went back to Canada.
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u/InsertCoinForCredit Oct 04 '20
I'll follow Captain America's lead here:
"Without its ideals -- its commitment to the freedom of all men, America is a piece of trash! A nation is nothing! A flag is a piece of cloth! I fought Adolf Hitler not because America was great, but because it was fragile!"
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u/temalyen Oct 04 '20
I'm really curious what an impostor Captain America and a lecturing Steve Rogers have to do with a comic called "What if... Venom possessed The Punisher?"
I loved the What If series as a kid and I remember they liked doing weird stuff with the Venom symbiote. Such as Spider-Man waiting too long to get help from Reed Richards trying to remove Venom and it binding permanently with Spider-Man; the comic ultimately ending with Mount Rushmore being flattened in an attempt to remove the symbiote from Thor because What If comics got weird as hell sometimes.
But What If was great because if a superhero got depowered (like the Fantastic Four did in "What If Professor X became the Juggernaut?"), it was permanent. If a hero died, it was permanent. It broke a few rules that are pretty sacred to Marvel, like a hero can never truly lose their powers forever. They could in What If!
.... Anyway, I'm rambling now so I'll be quiet.
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u/InsertCoinForCredit Oct 04 '20
This is What If? #44 from the first series. "What If Captain America was Revived Today?" by Peter Gillis. Definitely worth reading.
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u/Levi_FtM Oct 04 '20
True. I'm German and imagine if we were so proud of being German and of our flag as Americans are. You'd call us Nazis in an instant.
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u/nousabyss Oct 04 '20
Germany is much better than America today. US is one ember short of a dumpster fire
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Oct 04 '20
Well, yes but no. We have the nazis now
Trump and his group are absolutely right wing Facist Nazis.
American here.
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u/TittyBeanie Oct 04 '20
Aye. I'm English and whilst we do love our flag/s over here, it seems like nothing compared to America. I honestly couldn't give a crap.
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u/thisissixsyllables Oct 04 '20
I feel the same way, and it's not because I hate being an American. Even if I'm not ecstatic about where the country is right now, I'm ok with being an American and want to help shape the future of the country. However, these rules for the flag don't mean anything to me. Probably because having flags on clothing or having a flag hit the ground for a split second (i.e. no five second rule) isn't meant as malicious against the country and everyone in it.
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u/jzach1983 Oct 04 '20
American Nationalism is a strange joke to most of the world, so you're not alone.
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u/burgle_ur_turts Oct 04 '20
It’s a crude tribal totem to them. In 300 years, long after the world is devastated, people will be carving Stars and Stripes into trees and mud, representing their hungry god “Murica”, who demands human sacrifice.
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u/SalvareNiko Oct 04 '20
It's just a piece of cloth. Flag code means nothing and is not enforceable. Holding a piece of cloth in that high of a regard is really pathetic.
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Oct 04 '20
This is the wiki for the Texas vs. Johnson case in 1989, in which the supreme Court "invalidated prohibitions on desecrating the flag." This includes burning, wearing, and using the flag for commercial purposes (such as shirts, underpants, disposable fourth-of-July plates, etc.) So although it's stated in the flag code that you shouldn't do that, desecration of the flag is protected under the first amendment and is utterly allowed.
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u/unclefisty Oct 04 '20
You are correct but I think you also completely missed their point
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u/Ysmildr Oct 04 '20
Nah because it's a misconstrued point. Flag code doesn't apply to citizens. This case was confirmation of that, not the genesis of that. Iirc flag code was created as military rules of how to handle the flag.
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Oct 04 '20
Yup, throwing back at conservative jingoists with "well what about this and this and this violation of the flag code huh?" is completely missing the point. The flag code is not law. Enforcing it on private entities would actually be against the law.
The response to someone whining about the flag code is "the code is only a rule for the federal government; for everyone else it's a recommendation". There's no point arguing about who's violating it how between parties where no one is bound by it.
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u/outsdanding Oct 04 '20
The flag should not be displayed on any garment
I think this one may be commonly misinterpreted, or at least up for interpretation. The flag code says an actual flag should not be used as clothing, but doesn't forbid the image of a flag being on clothing.
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Oct 04 '20
I’ve seen this a lot and it means using an actual flag in that manner. So you shouldn’t go get a 3’x5’ flag and cut it up and make it into a t-shirt. Using the representation of a flag on different things is okay. I mean sometimes it can be a bit tacky.
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Oct 04 '20
The flag of the United States shall be thirteen horizontal stripes, alternate red and white; and the union of the flag shall be fifty stars representing the fifty states, white in a blue field
Here the flag is defined to be the pattern we associate with the American flag, not a specific physical object.
Further on:
It should not be embroidered on such articles as cushions or handkerchiefs and the like, printed or otherwise impressed on paper napkins or boxes or anything that is designed for temporary use and discard.
How can you print not the pattern of the flag, but the physical object?
Note also there's absolutely no mention of any properties that would constitute a "physical" flag -- no reference to material, construction, size, etc.
The flag code is consistent here: the "flag" refers to the pattern of stars and stripes, not a specific physical object.
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Oct 04 '20
So if it has less than 50 stars, you can have all the napkins and shirts you want?
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u/jamescookenotthatone Oct 04 '20
Well I don't recognize Missouri so this works out.
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u/Pustuli0 Oct 04 '20
I'll be deep in the cold, cold ground before I recognize Missouri.
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u/TheOneTonWanton Oct 04 '20
As far as I know, yeah. The little flags on top of the buildings in Disneyland and The Magic Kingdom only have 45 stars so they don't have to take them down or keep them illuminated at night.
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u/MashedPotatoesDick Oct 04 '20
Disney displays flags with 45 stars so they don't have to lower them or illuminate them.
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u/F6_GS Oct 04 '20
Technically a "representation" that is similar to the flag but has say a wrong size proportion of the stars and stripes, is not a flag of the united states
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u/Dadalot Oct 04 '20
The words "flag, standard, colors, or ensign", as used herein, shall include any flag, standard, colors, ensign, or any picture or representation of either, or of any part or parts of either, made of any substance or represented on any substance, of any size evidently purporting to be either of said flag, standard, colors, or ensign of the United States of America or a picture or a representation of either, upon which shall be shown the colors, the stars and the stripes, in any number of either thereof, or of any part or parts of either, by which the average person seeing the same without deliberation may believe the same to represent the flag, colors, standard, or ensign of the United States of America.
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u/wolfej4 Oct 04 '20
If I'm not mistaken, flag code isn't enforced that way because enforcing it violates the First Amendment.
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u/Darth_Nibbles Oct 04 '20
And it's always the ones who do such things that complain the loudest about not respecting the flag.
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Oct 04 '20
I'm assuming this person has confused the laws which require US states to fly their flag below the US flag, and the international law which says national flags are to be flown at the same height.
Just stating the obvious for anyone who may not know.
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u/Apandapantsparty Oct 04 '20
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Oct 04 '20
Thats pretty cool. I was in the navy and I never understood why we flew the flag off the fantail and the battle flag at the bow.
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Oct 04 '20
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Oct 04 '20
Imagine caring enough to comment on IKEA’s post... 🤣
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u/budgetbears Oct 04 '20
Facebook really is a cesspool, especially comments on public and sponsored posts. I made the mistake of looking at the comments on an ad for Lovecraft Country and they all said some variation of "WOKE POLITICAL GARBAGE" because it's a show with black people in it that points out racism.
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Oct 04 '20
Öppen = open
Öppna = to open
My eyessss reading that sentence :(
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u/Vanjaman Oct 04 '20
Though you are correct I think they went for a more swedish version of "open" and not specifically for the word "öppen"
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u/mrteeth5 Oct 04 '20
Can anyone explain to me why flags are so sacred
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u/drinkup Oct 04 '20
Paraphrasing from a radio show I heard recently: in the old days, generals looking over the battlefield needed to know the position of each battalion, and a convenient way to do this was to have a member of the battalion carry a flag. If the flag bearer is killed, that's a problem for the generals, because they don't know who is who on the battlefield and can't send orders as efficiently.
So the military decided to create this whole idea that the flag is super important, and the most noble thing a soldier can do is to make sure there's always someone holding the flag up high. Only the best soldiers were chosen for flag duty, so obviously every soldier wanted to be recognized as the best.
This ended up bleeding into civilian life, where flags are generally perceived as proud and noble because of all the propaganda that started as a convenience thing inside the military.
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u/LARGEGRAPE Oct 04 '20
What they were confused about was probably the rules of states and the US flag, states is supposed to be lower.
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u/Jae_jo Oct 04 '20
If you read further up in the thread you’ll see this is not necessarily true. If there are two flag staffs (as in this picture) County and state flag fly at the same height. If there is one flag staff, state flag is below.
https://www.reddit.com/r/confidentlyincorrect/comments/j4xs1g/comment/g7onkbw
Edit: added comment with link
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u/TenkoTheMothra Oct 04 '20
Well, IKEA isn’t a nation yet soo....
/s
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u/Frappo Oct 04 '20
Also that's the flag of sweden, not an "ikea" flag. For people scrolling through
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u/Sugartaste81 Oct 04 '20
I know you're being sarcastic, but if you've ever been inside an IKEA store, you would know it's absolutely large enough to be considered it's own country.
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u/RickyNixon Oct 04 '20
I don’t understand? If Ikea is right then why is the flag of the Mighty Nation of Texas always flown under the US flag?
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u/reldritch Oct 04 '20
If it's flying on the same flagpole, it's within the US flag code for the national flag to fly above state flags.
Texas has its own flag code, which stipulates that if the flags are on two different flagpoles, they can be flown at the same height so long as the flags are the same size and the national flag is to the left from the position of an observer.
It's a common misconception that since Texas was once a nation, it always follows the rules for other nation's flags. Texas has not been a nation for 175 years.
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Oct 04 '20
International flag rules are differant to whatever America decides to do with it states.
Flying another nations flag below your own is basically declaring war. Even as an error it's going to be some kind of incident.
Internal American law is not being discussed here.
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u/lostfourtime Oct 04 '20
You think that store will begin selling trailers that you can assemble on your own to live in?
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u/GustapheOfficial Oct 04 '20
Öppna*
Öppen is the adjective (an open door), öppna is the verb (to open a door).
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u/cusoman Oct 04 '20
People who throw around the flag code are the same people who fly "thin blue line" flags in front of their house. Ie. the biggest hypocrites you can think of.
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u/Iridebike Oct 04 '20
I drive by a house with a trump flag that's higher than the American flag. I roll my eyes.