Flags

The flood of email responses I've had to my Arbiter article--all from people outside of Boise State and Idaho--has made me want to amplify a few subtle points that I made in that original article. I've been posting their responses as comments to the article below and even though these people don't read my blog I want to say something that I had wanted to say in the original article but didn't feel like it quite fit.

I don't like flags. Any flag. I think that any representation of nationalism on a small or large scale can be dangerous, alienating, and excluding. Many of these confederate folks have a point. The U.S. flag has always represented imperial or colonial interests in violent ways. If I were Iraqi right now I would feel like an American flag were a symbol of terrorism. I think that depending on your point of view any flag can elicit such responses. If I were Palestinian I'd be afraid of an Israeli flag.

Even further: I often feel as afraid and suspicious when I see people sporting American flags--especially the really large ones that take up entire back windows or bumpers on SUVS. Or the current student body president of Boise State's flag which takes up one entire office wall. I see this as a marker to international students or people who are opposed to the Bush regime as a keep out warning. As Bush says, "either you're with us or you're against us." What else does that flag represent then?? The enforcing of democracy at gunpoint?

Salam--