About two years ago we had instruction in flag etiquette for my Cub Scout pack, from staff at the First Division museum (Cantigny, IL). For the shoulder patch display, the instructor explained that the US military, and only the US military, has a special dispensation to wear their shoulder US flag patches that way, for reasons roughly the same as the sheriff quoted says ("charging toward an enemy army") . Although I've always found the military patch strange (and it apparently only started in 2003), I'm at least moderately comfortable with the reasoning. And, by that token, I'm quite uncomfortable with law enforcement, or anyone else, wearing their flag patches in that fashion. I really wish better flag code discipline was encouraged, especially among anyone at any level of the government.
And it's not the implication that police are "charging into battle" that I'm most uncomfortable with. That I'm sort of ok with. It's the implication that they are charging *toward the enemy*, which the instructor also emphasized. When worn by cops, it has the same nasty vibe as those "thin blue line" flags, that divide the flag specifically *in half*.
After the telemarketing call from my local "police benevolent association", during the George Floyd protests, I can't ever think of that sort of symbolism as innocent again... :-/
Agreed, Brian! I see the union-forward flag on police uniforms as part and parcel of the “warrior policing” training and ethos championed by people like Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, who coined the term “killology” to describe his particular field of study. Police officers, Grossman says, are “the frontline troops in that war. You are the Delta Force. You are the Green Berets. It's your job to put a piece of steel in your fist and kill those sons of bitches when they come to kill our kids.”
Needless to say, this is not how police officers should think of themselves, and certainly not how they should be trained to think of themselves.
Let me add a wrinkle to your garden flag argument. You write: "Given that this flag is meant to be seen from one side — i.e., from the sidewalk or street . . ." That assumes that the flag is facing (i.e., parallel to) the street. I don't have an American flag garden flag, but I put my flags (and, in season, political signs) perpendicular to the street, intended to be equally seen from both sides -- whether cars are coming from the east or the west. I agree that the flag in Ocean City is "wrong" in that it should have the union at the free end, not the pole end. But when you're whizzing by in a car, you can't really see those skinny poles, you just see the flag -- and inevitably, one direction of traffic will see a flag hung "correctly," with the union at the upper left, but the cars coming the other way will see it "backward."
Fortunately, my UVA flag has a simple "V" which looks the same both ways! And political signs have the same words and design correctly displaying on both sides. The best solution regarding an American flag, it seems, would be two have two flags, stitched together, so that both sides "look" right -- though that might violate some protocol/etiquette regarding stitching flags together. But given that I grew up in a day when many in my generation were stitching flags to their asses on their jeans, that might not be such a big deal!
Interesting additional wrinkles, Mark! Here’s my take: In the absence of other criteria, if a garden flag is vertically displayed to be perpendicular to foot or vehicular traffic (so as to b equally visible to people approaching from left or from right), it seems to me it should be aligned *as if* from a flagpole projecting from the buildings, i.e., union facing away from the buildings and into traffic! If the garden stand actually has a projecting horizontal bar, then that bar should face outward, away from the buildings and into traffic. Even in the case of a nondirectional garden stand, as in note 9, this alignment should be preferred!
Yes, absolutely agreed on that point. I'm just saying that as you're whizzing by at 35 mph, you don't see those poles, barely thicker than a pencil, and you only see the flag, so from one direction, the union will "appear" on the "wrong" side. When a flagpole protrudes from a building, even if you don't see the pole itself, you intuitively "see" the pole anyway and it just "looks right."
Yes, I suspect that after driving past enough buildings with vertical flags on horizontal flagpoles, the “blue field away from the building, projecting into traffic” idea seeps into the subconscious and “looks right,” whether or not people can explain it! :-) I think this would apply to flags on garden flag stands too!
Another conundrum regarding the flag, at least for me: During the first Trump term, and especially with this one, I have not said the Pledge Allegiance in public settings. I will stand up as a courtesy, but I don't put my hand over my heart and I remain silent. This isn't merely, "My allegiance is to Jesus, NOT a country -- or a piece of fabric!", though that's certainly a small part of it. It's that the country described in the flag no longer exists. I could go phrase-by-phrase, but I don't have the time right now. But "with liberty and justice for all" has been obliterated, to use one of Trump's favorite terms, and I just can't recite those words with any conviction any more. YES, I'm still allegiant to that country *as described,* and I hope and pray that nation returns sooner than later. But as long as we're not that nation, I ain't feelin' it.
As a high school teacher, I don’t have this luxury, but you can bet I find a way in the first weeks of class to talk about the Pledge, the flag, the ideals of America, the gap between the ideals and the reality, and what the flag means to me.
I honestly didn’t know about the union being in the upper left when the flag is hanging downwards in front of a closed door until I saw the All in the Family episode “Archie Is Branded”.
For anyone who hasn’t seen that episode, I won’t spoil it, but I’ll mention the relevant part here:
The Bunkers wake up to discover a giant swastika painted on their front door—only theirs, and no one else’s. Archie calls the police about it, and while they can’t tamper with evidence and so must leave the swastika alone until the police arrive, Gloria points out that, until they do, everyone else can see it.
So in the meantime, Archie covers the Swastika with his American flag—but he hangs it up with the union in the upper right corner. This later gets the attention of a Boy Scout who informs Archie that the flag is hung incorrectly and offers to correct it for him. Of course, in the process, the Boy Scout sees the swastika….
About two years ago we had instruction in flag etiquette for my Cub Scout pack, from staff at the First Division museum (Cantigny, IL). For the shoulder patch display, the instructor explained that the US military, and only the US military, has a special dispensation to wear their shoulder US flag patches that way, for reasons roughly the same as the sheriff quoted says ("charging toward an enemy army") . Although I've always found the military patch strange (and it apparently only started in 2003), I'm at least moderately comfortable with the reasoning. And, by that token, I'm quite uncomfortable with law enforcement, or anyone else, wearing their flag patches in that fashion. I really wish better flag code discipline was encouraged, especially among anyone at any level of the government.
And it's not the implication that police are "charging into battle" that I'm most uncomfortable with. That I'm sort of ok with. It's the implication that they are charging *toward the enemy*, which the instructor also emphasized. When worn by cops, it has the same nasty vibe as those "thin blue line" flags, that divide the flag specifically *in half*.
After the telemarketing call from my local "police benevolent association", during the George Floyd protests, I can't ever think of that sort of symbolism as innocent again... :-/
Agreed, Brian! I see the union-forward flag on police uniforms as part and parcel of the “warrior policing” training and ethos championed by people like Lt. Col. Dave Grossman, who coined the term “killology” to describe his particular field of study. Police officers, Grossman says, are “the frontline troops in that war. You are the Delta Force. You are the Green Berets. It's your job to put a piece of steel in your fist and kill those sons of bitches when they come to kill our kids.”
Needless to say, this is not how police officers should think of themselves, and certainly not how they should be trained to think of themselves.
That's pretty high up the list of the most horrible things I can imagine coming out of a cop's mouth.
Yes. And not just a cop, but a trainer of cops!
Let me add a wrinkle to your garden flag argument. You write: "Given that this flag is meant to be seen from one side — i.e., from the sidewalk or street . . ." That assumes that the flag is facing (i.e., parallel to) the street. I don't have an American flag garden flag, but I put my flags (and, in season, political signs) perpendicular to the street, intended to be equally seen from both sides -- whether cars are coming from the east or the west. I agree that the flag in Ocean City is "wrong" in that it should have the union at the free end, not the pole end. But when you're whizzing by in a car, you can't really see those skinny poles, you just see the flag -- and inevitably, one direction of traffic will see a flag hung "correctly," with the union at the upper left, but the cars coming the other way will see it "backward."
Fortunately, my UVA flag has a simple "V" which looks the same both ways! And political signs have the same words and design correctly displaying on both sides. The best solution regarding an American flag, it seems, would be two have two flags, stitched together, so that both sides "look" right -- though that might violate some protocol/etiquette regarding stitching flags together. But given that I grew up in a day when many in my generation were stitching flags to their asses on their jeans, that might not be such a big deal!
Interesting additional wrinkles, Mark! Here’s my take: In the absence of other criteria, if a garden flag is vertically displayed to be perpendicular to foot or vehicular traffic (so as to b equally visible to people approaching from left or from right), it seems to me it should be aligned *as if* from a flagpole projecting from the buildings, i.e., union facing away from the buildings and into traffic! If the garden stand actually has a projecting horizontal bar, then that bar should face outward, away from the buildings and into traffic. Even in the case of a nondirectional garden stand, as in note 9, this alignment should be preferred!
Yes, absolutely agreed on that point. I'm just saying that as you're whizzing by at 35 mph, you don't see those poles, barely thicker than a pencil, and you only see the flag, so from one direction, the union will "appear" on the "wrong" side. When a flagpole protrudes from a building, even if you don't see the pole itself, you intuitively "see" the pole anyway and it just "looks right."
Yes, I suspect that after driving past enough buildings with vertical flags on horizontal flagpoles, the “blue field away from the building, projecting into traffic” idea seeps into the subconscious and “looks right,” whether or not people can explain it! :-) I think this would apply to flags on garden flag stands too!
You got me going down a google rabbit hole . . . This is fascinating:
https://emflag.com/blog/heres-why-the-american-flag-is-backwards-on-military-uniforms/
Another conundrum regarding the flag, at least for me: During the first Trump term, and especially with this one, I have not said the Pledge Allegiance in public settings. I will stand up as a courtesy, but I don't put my hand over my heart and I remain silent. This isn't merely, "My allegiance is to Jesus, NOT a country -- or a piece of fabric!", though that's certainly a small part of it. It's that the country described in the flag no longer exists. I could go phrase-by-phrase, but I don't have the time right now. But "with liberty and justice for all" has been obliterated, to use one of Trump's favorite terms, and I just can't recite those words with any conviction any more. YES, I'm still allegiant to that country *as described,* and I hope and pray that nation returns sooner than later. But as long as we're not that nation, I ain't feelin' it.
As a high school teacher, I don’t have this luxury, but you can bet I find a way in the first weeks of class to talk about the Pledge, the flag, the ideals of America, the gap between the ideals and the reality, and what the flag means to me.
I honestly didn’t know about the union being in the upper left when the flag is hanging downwards in front of a closed door until I saw the All in the Family episode “Archie Is Branded”.
For anyone who hasn’t seen that episode, I won’t spoil it, but I’ll mention the relevant part here:
The Bunkers wake up to discover a giant swastika painted on their front door—only theirs, and no one else’s. Archie calls the police about it, and while they can’t tamper with evidence and so must leave the swastika alone until the police arrive, Gloria points out that, until they do, everyone else can see it.
So in the meantime, Archie covers the Swastika with his American flag—but he hangs it up with the union in the upper right corner. This later gets the attention of a Boy Scout who informs Archie that the flag is hung incorrectly and offers to correct it for him. Of course, in the process, the Boy Scout sees the swastika….
All in the Family made a lot of viewers smarter about a lot of things!