How about a UN flag, if you don’t feel like putting up a US flag?
A friend on the cartoon doll making circuit made a really nice banner, for four people holding hands with the UN flag in the backdrop that says “United We Are…” I like it…it’s like, we’ll get through this, together.
I disagree that “peace” is the “whole point of this war.” I imagine you can have “peace” in a country that doesn’t recognize women as equal to men if the meaning of “peace” is no fighting. IMHO, some of the things we are fighting for are certain freedoms. Not just “peace.” I seriously doubt there will ever be “peace on earth.”
Where can I get one of those “Don’t Tread on Me,” coiled snake flags? Seems a whole hell of a lot more appropriate than some of the alternatives suggested here.
I don’t see the millions of Americans (including me) flying the American flag as a rubber stamp for unwavering, uncriticizing support of everything the government and military does.
IMO, the flags are a statement to the terrorists. Their actions on Sept. 11 were an attempt to drive us into disarray and chaos, to tear us down. The flag is a symbolic way of saying Sept. 11 forged us into an even greater unity than we had before. (And it was pretty damned great then.)
The U.N., such as “it” is, was not attacked.
The U.S. was.
The buildings and planes were U.S. buildings and planes.
Most of the people killed …and most of the surviving victims, friends and families are Americans.
The response, both diplomatic and military, is being led by the United States…our friends are supporting us because of our friendship, not because of the U.N.
I don’t really see or understand the significance of flying a U.N. flag in reponse to the events of September 11.
I note from the author’s bio that she counts Susan Sontag among her “vocal fans”.
Big surprise, that. :rolleyes:
The snake flags are on eBay.
It depends how you view the attacks.
If you view the attacks as an act of terrorism designed to intimidate the United States out of Saudi Arabia and its support of Israel, then fly a US flag. A perfectly valid perspective.
If you view the attacks as an act of terrorism against freedoms and values shared by people across the world, irrespective of their nationality, then fly a UN flag.
I’m not an American. I owe no loyalty to the US flag. I’m horrified by the events of 11 September. It happened on American soil, but it could have happened in London or Beijing. I consider the attacks to be a declaration of war against democracy, freedom and the rule of law, values which I cherish and which millions of non-Americans cherish. My country is sending Special Forces troops to fight in Afghanistan. People from nations across the planet were killed in the WTC attacks. I respect your decision to fly a US flag, but I’ll fly a UN flag.
At first I was going to suggest you read Pollitt’s full article because you clearly had completely misunderstood her. However, then I realized that you had completely misunderstood even the quote that was provided to you (or else you wouldn’t have written the last two paragraphs of nonsense that you did here).
Go back, read the paragraph, read the article, read Pollitt’s subsequent articles on this subject:
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20011105&s=pollitt
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20011022&s=pollitt
and then see if you are still capable of making ludicrous attacks on one of the more intelligent columnists on the scene today.
**
If I’m not mistaken a lot of nations such as China, the Sudan, Libya, Iraq, and Iran are all members of the United Nations. How anyone can tell me the UN stands for freedom and the same values as the United States or Great Britian is beyond me.
What role does the United Nations have in this whole thing? I haven’t seen any UN troops or planes in or around Afghanistan.
Marc
The reason why the UN isn’t involved in this is because the United States doesn’t want it to be. Do American forces really want to be under the command of, say, a Norwegian or Belgian general? The UN Security Council has made two resolutions, imposing sanctions -1267 in 1999, and 1333 of 2001, which reads in brief:
The UN doesn’t stand for freedom? You’ve never read the UN Declaration of Human Rights?
Yes I know that rogue nations are members of the UN. Democratic representation entitles everyone to express their views, no matter how stupid, cruel or evil. I think you even allow that in the US. The UN is “…a centre for harmonizing the actions of nations…”(UN Charter 1945). It would be a mistake to think it is a reflection of US or UK interests. The US flag is not representative of the hopes of a non-anarchist world (international relations are anarchist, of course, outside of the UN) of enduring freedoms and liberties to people outside of the US. The UN flag is.
Like interpreting any symbol, the interpretation says more about the person doing the interpreting than it does about the symbol.
Heh. Very true.
I saw how a U.N.-style decision-making process in a military operation worked in the former Yugoslavia.
Thanks just the same, but I think we’ll continue this operation led by the people in that building with the big, black, charred hole in it, in suburban D.C.