200 Words of Wondering: Defacing the American Flag
When did it become accepted to regularly deface the American flag? This is done most by those claiming great love for our country. Our flag is singular—we all recognize it, and it’s beautiful. Now we see flags with added blue or red stripes, black and white flags, flags with bullets, our former President’s face in place of stars, the Punisher skull, and countless other variations. Most are products that make their creators a hefty profit. Maybe I’m naïve to think the American flag, other than in its true form, would be exempt from marketing and sale. Historian Timothy Snyder argues that such defacing signals rising fascism or authoritarianism, as the symbol which unites all becomes the exclusive marker of a radical few. In the last Presidential election, I watched our former President speak in Wisconsin; his backdrop was the defaced “Blue Lives Matter” American flag. Any alteration to our flag makes it not the American flag—full stop—but we seem comfortable with this now. It goes unnoticed. I own one flag, which was draped on my great uncle’s coffin; he fought in World War II. It’s our true American flag: red, white, and blue with stars and stripes.
I'm old enough to remember when Abbie Hoffman was reviled for his alleged criminal disrespect for the flag because he often wore a Stars and Stripes shirt, in direct violation of the flag code. Or so claimed various patriots who also were extremely disturbed by the length of Hoffman's hair. These days, those same "true American" rednecks not only violate the flag in far worse ways than Hoffman ever did, they also usually have longer hair than he ever did. The irony is almost crippling, but is not too far removed from those "true" Xtians who aver that Jesus was maybe just a little too "woke."