A flagging culture

Today, I had my towel stolen from the showers at the pool. It was just a basic white towel, nothing special, a piece of fabric stitched together. I wasn't overly attached to it any way but it did make walking to the cubicle a little awkward.

Would it be weird if I tattooed a picture of my lost bath towel onto my arm?

I have wanted to look at this fabric topic for a little while but have been unsure how to approach it as for some, they really like cloth, get really attached to it and start to identify themselves through it.

Generally, of course they don't identify with a bath towel too heavily but many do get very attached to their country's flag. Which is not much different from a towel really, in fact, many towels are printed with flag designs, souvenir shops are filled with them.

So, what is the difference between a towel and a country flag? Well, obviously the meaning that people put into them as they become a symbol to represent a whole range of personal history. I say personal as I do not think it is possible for any two people to have an identical relationship with their flag.

There are 196 countries in the world. 196 country flags. Probably give or take one or two depending on whether they are 'recognized' as countries.

In some countries, desecrating the country flag is illegal but not all however, nearly all have some kind of ritual and etiquette on how the flag should be treated. Perhaps it shouldn't get wet, or touch the ground, most frown heavily upon burning and stomping upon.

For some, their flag is a symbol of strength, for others a symbol of hope. When negative or positive events take place, flags get flown and hung from every surface and souvenir stores do a roaring trade in all things flag based. For others a flag can bring feelings of contempt and rage as they bring to surface a troubled history.

Flags date back a long time, a couple thousand years at least and were likely used predominantly as battle standards to rally troops to a house or ruler's side. A symbol of 'who was who' on the field of battle.

In modern times, things have not changed much as flags are a call to patriotism and are seen by those that call it theirs as the symbol of the side of good, no matter the flag, no matter the side. At international sporting events it rallies the fans together like on the ancient fields of battle and the screams and chants likely sound similar to those of old.

The identification comes when people extend their personal relationship with their country to a symbol that represents it all combined and as a result, an attack on a flag is an attack on the person themselves for they are the flag, the flag is them. The stories they associate with their flag, the narrative they play in their mind and heart are carried in the imagery and livery.

It is a risk to put meaning into something as transportable and replicable as a flag, as it can change at anytime and no one has control over its usage. A flag can be printed or painted on any surface, distributed and attached to any words and its meaning can shift in the collective mind significantly depending on the actions of a few. Although for most, their country flag will out live them, the flag itself will change over time.

For many, a flag is a core part of a culture, a binding force. If one wears the flag of another, is it cultural appropriation? If the postmodernists have their way, it will most likely become so. A flag raises emotions, gets people moved. And when there is something that can bring people together and move them, it has power.

But in this truth their is risk. The flag can becomes a tool to unite, a beacon to fight, and because of this power, it can be manipulated. Wielded to raise the emotions, raise anger, all one needs is the image of an enemy burning the flag, desecrating our culture. It is a personal attack on the identifier.

I find this interesting as most see the symbols of other cultures as quite nonsensical, they are just books, drawings, idols, why get riled up over their desecration? But their own flag is sacred, revered and must be protected. When something is sacred it means that it is worshiped, it becomes an idol itself. And they stand before and bow, pray and salute and feel connection with their home, their country, their history and their future.

For some the meaning can be great, for others near zero. Some see it as a representation of all they hold dear, other as a piece of colored cloth that is no more important than the clothes in a washing basket.

I am an Australian. Not because of a flag but because of my nationality. For me, a flag doesn't hold who I am within nor the history of my country. My relationship with the flag is one of indifference, neither connected nor disconnected. For some, this seems unpatriotic but, I do not see it that way.

What I hold dear cannot be shielded by a colored piece of fabric and a flag's ability to protect is limited to blocking out the sun, or keeping the shoulders warm. The protection does not come from the flag, a nationality nor a country itself. It comes from individuals who come together to stand their ground, protect those who cannot protect themselves from those who look to cause them harm. For this, no flag is needed, just the individuals to do what is right.

The people within a country are the culture, the society, the treasure, the power and it is how each acts that represents who they are as a collective and as an individual. The actions of an individual cannot be bound in a piece of cloth, but for some the stories gets represented that way. For each, the decision is theirs to make but cultural bias is powerful as are societal pressures to conform. In some way a flag carries the stories of the people within the country to those within, but externally, the stories of a centralized government. It is easy to forget that these are not always well aligned.

I carry my stories, my connections and all I hold sacred within. Rather than a flag, I will wear my heart on my sleeve instead.

Taraz
[ a Steemit original ]

I was going to write this with a more polarizing approach but decided not to. I think there is enough in here for most to think about if they want or turn away from if they choose. Often, I think that our culture stops us from investigating our culture and why we do certain things. We become culturally blind to ourselves and start to rely on the collective to tell us how to behave, think and believe and when it can all be put behind a standard like a flag, it can become a weapon used in all manner of actions.

Often, the flag of a country represents freedom for the people within, which is a strange concept since it also looks to unite and generalize those same people under the one banner and then decides who is worthy and who is not to be in the group. There is a lot to think about for me when it comes to complex things like this. How about you?

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