I often drive by an odd little place…it’s got a tall wooden fence around it (not too odd…this is Northern California, in kind of a rural area.), but the owners have also added a few fake “guard towers,” complete with cannon (!) and a Manniquin wearing a Civil War-era army uniform. (UNION army uniform too, it seems.)
Off of the ramparts, they fly a Confederate flag. But, right next to it, they fly…an Israeli flag. (Which is actually a bit bigger than the Confederate flag.)
Puerto Rican (I know, I know, it oughtta be like flying a state flag) and Dominican flags are on a third of all the cars in this town… nobody cares.
I’ve got a St. George’s Cross in one of my apartment windows, and nobody cares. Of course, I’m on the third floor, and 99.9% of all Americans think the Union Jack is the English flag anyway. They probably all assume I’m big on the Red Cross.
The official “flag etiquette” in the US is that in any display of multiple flags, the US flag is always higher (or is otherwise made more prominent) than any other flag in the display.
My apologies to all Australians - this home owner’s association is a bunch of slack-jawed idiots. We all have embarassing family members, I’m sure you understand.
This is actually proper flag protocol. The Confederate flag, being (1) a flag of a defunct country and (2) most likely the military Stars and Bars in saltire (better known as an X), is of lower rank than the Israeli flag, which is a national flag of an extant country. Proper protocol is that flags of equal rank are flown at equal height and of equal area, and superior flags are flown higher and/or with larger flags than inferior flags.
Broomstick is pretty close. The US flag should be the most prominent in any display of national flags, typically at its own right – but it should also be at the same height and of the same area as the other national flags. (Bonus item: The one big exception to this rule is at the flag display outside the UN building in New York, where the US flag flies in alphabetical order. That area is technically UN territory, not USA territory.)
Back to the OP – HOAs are known for having silly restrictions that tend to get ignored by the people on the HOA board. Such rules are a good argument against HOAs, which often exist mainly to sell the houses in the neighborhood. Then there’s the nightmare of HOA organization, meetings, procedure, and so on.
robinc308, I’m amazed. What did people do to let you know it wasn’t thought of as being a good thing? Honestly, I’m sickened by the stupidity and by how much F*CKING nerve someone can have to go to someone and suggest that because they’re flying something else than an American flag…
Agreed that HOAs are generally ridiculous and often way overzealous, but I think the victim in this case is going a little overboard by calling it bigotry. If they let the guy next door hang a British flag, and the guy across the street was displaying a Chinese flag, but they said “Nope, not gonna have that Aussie flag”, then that would be bigotry towards Australians.
Is the HOA right? Well I certainly don’t agree with them, but then again, that’s why I could never buy a home that subjected me to an HOA.
Now if I was going to have a beef, it would be with this quote from the link: (my bolding)
What the hell does her accent have to do with anything???
This whole business is sure nuts alright. As others have said, I see various foreign flags flying here and there around my region without it seeming to bother anybody. And my town is run by jerks but, man, they sure aren’t that jerky.
Thanks for alerting me to this. I always find some interesting topics brought up here on Straight Dope.
My sister’s on her city council. She once mentioned that a gas station wanted to fly a humongous US flag, and the city council was considering not allowing them to, as they wanted to attract attention and business that way. I asked her, “So what?” I saw it as a good thing, even though the business was more interested in promoting themselves than this country. Sis came to see my point of view. The flag did go up. I don’t know what would have happened if the city had actually tried to block it. Heck, when I’m driving down the interstate and I see a truck stop with one of those huge flags, I know why it’s there. That’s fine with me. It would be nice to see an occasional oversized Aussie flag, too.
HOAs are awful. I’d never live in a neighborhood with one. Very misleading thread title. I’m pretty sure that banning any national flag would be a violation of the Constitution.
I live on the edge of a Swedish neighborhood, of all odd things, and there are several Swedish flags hanging from porches on my street, not to mention the water tower a few blocks away with the giant Swedish flag painted on it. It would be a strange day indeed if I didn’t see a Mexican or Puerto Rican flag at least a few times, too.
Hey, it occurs to me that this might be a good place to ask: what is the difference between the Australian and New Zealand flags, and am I extremely dimwitted for not spotting it? Is it terribly confusing for you all, having flags that look so similar?
I think in the end someone actually told them that they thought it was in poor taste to fly a non US flag after everything that has happened. Neighbours would also look at the flag and tut-tut and shake their heads, or make comments such as “I wouldn’t be advertising my foreign nationality at this time”. Pretty petty stuff really.
So the flag came down out of respect for the neighbours and my parents just let it go - it wasn’t worth getting worked up about.
Firstly I must apologise for the misleading title, I should have put more thought into a suitable heading. Thank you also for all those who have replied. I have a much better idea now of what’s going on with HOA now and how the average person feels.
Flying flags in ones front yard is not common in Australia or NZ. Occasionally you might see one here or there but it’s rare.
The Australian and NZ flags are very similar. They both have the Union Jack and the Southern Cross. Australia has 5 stars within the Southern Cross and another larger one underneath the Union Jack, the points of which represent the states.
New Zealand has only 4 stars in the Southern Cross which are coloured red with white outline.
if you want odd, the Singapore govt bans the flying of any flag by an individual outside of the month surrounding August 9th (I don’t have the actual statute). And you cannot fly the flag of any other nation!
Apparently there’s a belief that letting folks fly the flag at any time of year will detract from ‘that special time of year’. The funny thing is, this is somewhat true. Apparently they actually had to actively tell folks (years ago) to wash the flag separately from other laundry, not because of respect or anything, but because people were washing with coloured laundry. the colours would run and the flag would come out these amazing rainbow hues. The people flying the flags didn’t seem to care, they’d still hang these threadbare, holed, multi-colour flags out to ‘celebrate’.
Further, back in 1997, I went to Hong Kong two weeks before the handover to China. It was a wierd, exciting time in this part of the world, and I brought back a row of Chinese flags (more like bunting than real flags) which I hung in the office. I was told to take them down within about two hours, and was told someone had complained to the Internal Security Department (like the FBI). I don’t know if the reporting thing was bullshit or not, but I was summarily TOLD to take the flags down, ‘or else!!!’.
Twas all VERY wierd! (apparently there was a fear that flying the chinese flag- and it wasn’t, it was bunting with flags on it- implied we were ‘all communists’ and this was ‘a very bad thing’).
How in blue blazes do HOA’s help sell houses? Jeepers, if I found out a house I was looking at was connected to a HOA I’d run for the hills and not stop until I found 'em
Keep in mind I live on the Great Plains and the nearest hills of any significance are several hundred miles away.
Far as I’m concerned a HOA is a deal-breaker for a real estate deal.
They’re not all neo-nazi freedom crippling agencies.
My dad is the treasurer of a HOA and it’s a wonderful organization. They don’t place any rules on the residents, the dues are 100% voluntary and they use the money to plant flowers in the neighborhood.
They also have a easter egg hunt and a halloween party every year that the kids absolutely love.
I actually wish my neighborhood had the kind of HOA my parents have.
We have an Australian flag flying over the local Napa auto parts store. I tend to shop there before going to Autozone so I can’t say the flag offends me or bothers me in any way. My reaction would certainly be a lot different depending on what nation’s flag it was.
Odinoneeye: As I’ve said, I don’t live in a house controlled by an HOA. But I’ve talked to enough people and have read enough to have an opinion.
For example: A former co-worker is not allowed to have a chiminea in her back yard. Someone else was restricted as to the kind of drapery they can have in her windows. There are restrictions as to what colour your house can be, what kind of plants you can have, how high your grass can be and when you can mow it. In all cases that I’ve personally heard about, dues are mandatory. You signed a contract when you bought the house, and failure to pay dues can legally result in the loss of your house.
Now, I can understand that people want to live in a “nice neighbourhood”. Who wants tattered couches on their neighbours’ porches? Or derelict cars on their neighbours’ front lawns? Less extreme, if your next door neighbour’s lawn is overgrown, it might, in your mind, detract from your well-manicured lawn.
But I don’t think that a person should have to pay tribute to a bunch of busybodies, just to live in a house he owns.
That’s good; but I suspect this HOA is an execption, rather than the rule.
I’m sure no offense was intended, but this is a breach of flag etiquette. As I understand it, by flying the Danish flag under the US flag, it’s like saying the US has conquered Denmark.