Now getting OT.... (was:Re: New Confederate States)

>On Mon, 29 Nov 1999, Laserlight wrote:
>
>> >Be careful... The stars and bars of the Confederacy is now
considered
>> by
>> >some African-Americans to be a symbol of racism and
institutionalized
>> >slavery.
>>
>> So?	Just about any symbol you care to name can be misinterpreted by
>> someone who wants to be offended; the fact that someone has an
opinion
>> doesn't mean that opinion is based on fact or has any value.
>
>I'm sure the Union Jack is as well. Just be careful how and where you
fly
>it.

Mmmmm.	A rather sore point for us English, as even in our own country
it
seems to be politically incorrect to be proud of being English (as
opposed
to British). Fine for Scots, Welsh etc. to fly their own flags, but the
Cross of St. George (red cross on white field, the English national
flag),
and to some extent the Union flag itself, is now sadly synonymous with
football hooligans and extreme right-wing thugs....  :-/
BTW, though everyone (Brits included) generally calls it the Union Jack,
AFAIK that is technically the name for it when flown as a naval ensign
(ie:
on the jackstaff of a ship). In non-marine use it is correctly just the
Union flag.

Jon (GZG)
>
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