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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

About flags?

35 replies

grimewineandslime · 04/07/2012 13:10

I'm sure most of us thought the jubilee was great, waving, boats, bunting etc. We all started to believe that England would rise to glory in that football game. It's wonderful when even for a few weeks a nation reclaims its flag from the idiots on the far right and we can be proud of being proud of this great nation.... However the football and the jubilee are long gone and everytime I've walked past a house with a tattered old England flag in the window I have assumed the occupants to be vile racists.... A I b u ?

OP posts:

squeakytoy · 04/07/2012 13:11

lazy bastards, but not necessarily racist...

And we do have the Olympics coming up next... so they are probably saving them for that..

WorraLiberty · 04/07/2012 13:12

Not UR

Just a fucking loony

HTH

Emandlu · 04/07/2012 13:13

There has been the football, wimbledon is currently on and then the Olympics follow shortly. I foresee an abundance of flags until the end of summer I'm afraid. They are not necessarily racist though.

WorraLiberty · 04/07/2012 13:14

And actually, the most wonderful part wasn't just that the Nation reclaimed its flag from the far right...it was (for me anyway) seeing the Union Flag and the St Georges's flag being proudly displayed by people without idiots thinking they were vile racists.

Didn't last long obviously....

DiscoDaisy · 04/07/2012 13:14

I didn't realise that flying the Union flag automatically made somebody racist.

Trills · 04/07/2012 13:15

I thought that the Jubilee was all about Union flags, not George's cross flags?

Ditto the Olympics (Team GB)

Ditto Wimbledon (claim Murray as our own)

So YANBU to think that anyone with an "England flag" has probably had it up for a while and has it up for other reasons.

cocolepew · 04/07/2012 13:15

Theyre just lazy. Our streets are covered in flags for the marching season. Unfortunately they arent as quick to take them off the lampposts as they are to put them up.

UnChartered · 04/07/2012 13:15

yup

i've got a union flag on my door because i'm racist

not because yes to all the reasons stated by Emandlu or because DD likes it

catus · 04/07/2012 13:17

YABU. Why assume the worst like this? Very depressing, and I'm not even british!

girlpancake · 04/07/2012 13:17

I am really glad the union flag has been reclaimed by the majority, it made me sad when the bnp seemed to own it.

Trills · 04/07/2012 13:18

The OP is talking about England flags, not Union flags.

I have no clue where she saw England flags for the Jubilee though.

WorraLiberty · 04/07/2012 13:18

So YANBU to think that anyone with an "England flag" has probably had it up for a while and has it up for other reasons.

Yeah but the other reasons (from my neighbours anyway) are that they may as well leave up the St George's flags because everyone else has left their Union flags up for the Olympics.

It's just nice and shows patriotism and as soon as we can move away from people assuming anything about racism or ulterior motives the better.

If I went to any other country in the world, and spotted their national flag on someone's house, I wouldn't assume they were racist at all.

fluffyraggies · 04/07/2012 13:20

I hate that our the union and the st.georges have become symbols of hatred instead of pride.

We put our st.george's up for the jubilee, left it up through the footie (:() and now - same as our neighbours - have decided to leave it up through Wimbledon and the olympics.

Our village still has all its flags up in the high st. and it looks good.

Americans can fly their flag with pride for no particular reason. Why cant we?

freddiefrog · 04/07/2012 13:20

YABU

Where I live, quite a few people have flag poles in their front gardens or on the front of their houses and fly England or Union flags all the time

I'm pretty sure they're not vile racists, the ones I personally know aren't at any rate

5madthings · 04/07/2012 13:23

so if you like your national flag and display it your are a racist? nice leap their op? with what basis in fact?!

gabsid · 04/07/2012 13:25

Patriotism is nice, but I do feel uneasy if I see the England flag.

The Irish are patriotic and like their flag but that seems fine, some other nations too, however, I do make assumptions when I see a window with a huge England flag in the window - not sure how reasonable I am though.

fluffyraggies · 04/07/2012 13:25

Yep there's 3 or 4 flagpoles in front gardens round here and they fly the union all the time. It changes to the cross when there's a big sporting event going on.

One of these families is in fact Japanese. The others are a mix of elderly people and families with little kids who aren't members of the BNP.

sherbetpips · 04/07/2012 13:26

interestingly the people down the road who still had there flags up from the royal wedding only took them down a week before the jubilee - weird. They have also stuck bamboo sticks in the ground linked together with shiny silver tape to form some sort of 'fence'. Have no idea what that is.

PrettyPrinceofParties · 04/07/2012 13:27

This really annoys me actually. If someone displays a Scottish or Welsh flag and shows pride in either of those two countries then that's all fine, but the minute it's St George's cross, then clearly it's a show of bigotry by some jackbooted skinhead.

YABU. You can be proud of being English without being a racist.

EnjoyResponsibly · 04/07/2012 13:29

I wasn't remotely aware we needed to reclaim the flag from vile racists in order to display it. I just went along to Asda and bought a load.

FYI OP, yes they are still up. I have really enjoyed this summer thus far with the Jubilee, the various games and the upcoming Olympics.

Frankly, I feel its more likely I'll have more in common with your neighbours than I would with you.

Good luck getting those judgeys out of your arse.

MissFaversam · 04/07/2012 13:29

Never thought about it to be honest.

Bit of a heavy assumption there though OP.

WorraLiberty · 04/07/2012 13:34

While I'm on my soapbox and clearly irritated .....

Can I just add that unless the OP fears something in her post will identify her in RL (doubtful) it pisses me off when people abuse the name change function like this.

If you're going to post something provocative, at least have the balls to stand by it in a name most posters will recognise.

Otherwise it could very well be seen as shit stirring

fluffyraggies · 04/07/2012 13:36

The more we all get used to seeing our flag/s in general use year round the less it will be associated with racism perhaps?

Rather than only flying them when we're 'against' other countries - ie: sport.

More reason to leave them up this summer then

alana39 · 04/07/2012 13:37

I don't feel very patriotic by virtue of being brought up in a family of celtic immigrants but I'm very pleased to see the St. George's and Union flags being reclaimed by people who aren't racists.

YABU.

Original poster

grimewineandslime · 04/07/2012 13:39

I don't remember a time when you were ever off your soapbox worra

OP posts:

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