To give some background, we Americans are (or at least were when I was a kid in the 1960s and 70s) indoctrinated that the flag is far more than just a piece of cloth - it is an important symbol of liberty and justice that deserves great respect. As a Girl Scout I was taught a great deal of flag etiquette, most of which I still remember. Fun fact for those who escaped such an education: if even a tiny bit of the flag touches the ground, the flag must be burned. (With proper ceremony - those unwashed hippies burning flags in the streets were pinko commies for sure!).
I don’t know how Indonesia teaches its young citizens about the flag, but I think there is at least a little bit of the same dynamic in that country. On Independence Day (August 17) it is REQUIRED to fly an Indonesian flag. The additional bunting is optional but highly approved of. (When I say “required” I don’t know if this is just a community standard or an actual law, but I know that every single home and place of business puts flags up for the occasion, without exception.)
I wonder where this belief started. I had a teacher who indoctrinated us with this when I was in elementary school (in the mid-90s, though she was pretty old). It’s way past what the Flag Code says, and groups like the American Legion endorse the washing of dirty flags.
I recently walked across north England, and in every populated area (okay, just Carlisle and Newcastle) I went through, I saw as many Union Jacks as I do in the US. I did notice that they, in general, were in a much worse state than most American flags I see flying in the States.
While the US and Britain have their special relationship and a fair amount of cultural bleed, it’s not like with Mexico where the northern English and Americans visit each other’s countries on a routine basis.
Fascinating, thank you for sharing. I did think, as I wrote my post, “that’s a really weird rule that doesn’t make sense.” Now I know it’s not just weird, it’s fake. But I was taught that at Girl Scout camp.
So did you ask the Facilities Manager for the status? 3 weeks in a large company isn’t a long time for something to get done. First the Facilities Manager would have to find out where to buy a new one, and then process the Requisition. Procurement would have to select a supplier and place the order. They could be backordered and it might take 2 months until this is done or more.
Ask the Facilities Manager if you purchase a replacement flag yourself could this expedite its replacement?
If I see that a business has a tattered flag I don’t do business there.
And at one time I did start shopping at a particular grocery store because, during a sudden rain storm, I saw the manager come tearing out the front door to take the flag down.
I recall traveling in Toronto, Windsor, and London some years ago when my son was small and it seemed that every few minutes he’d pipe up with “CANADA FLAG!” from the back seat. Maybe they’re less common today, I dunno, but I surely remember them being everywhere from my own observation as well. In addition to Canada, Switzerland also gives the US a run for its money in terms of numbers of flags displayed, in my recollection. That was not the case in Austria, Ireland, or the UK, in contrast, and was certainly not the case in then-West Germany, where flags were just about nonexistent.
There are also small “flags”–decals and sew-ons and the like. They’re common in the US of course, but again they seemed pretty frequent in Canada and Switzerland. For a time there in the eighties it seemed that every Canadian traveler had a Canadian flag sewn onto their backpack…
Flags (and flag stickers, decals, sew-ons, etc.) of a few other nations are actually fairly common in my US city–Jamaica, Mexico, Puerto Rico (I know it’s not an independent country…), Italy. Not sure if the flag-flyers are bringing flag-flying customs with them or adopting the flag-flying customs of the US.
I have an American flag decal on the back of my car. It’s actually two crossed flags — the American flag crossed with the Marine Corps flag. The proper way to display flags this way, is that the American flag should be on the left as seen by the viewer, and the staff of the American flag should be in front of the other flag’s staff.
Surely this was so that strangers knew that they weren’t Americans. I remember a conversation with a North Korean in Moscow in 1988. After denouncing the U.S., he asked if I were an East German. Since we were drinking his vodka, I said, “Yes.”
FWIW, I share this atavistic flag etiquette thing. My political beliefs are pinned far to the left end, but it pisses me off to see a torn flag flying. You’re not doing it right! I can’t understand why it matters, but there you have it.
