Rip the flags down! A call for action!

[Ilovemychocolate]

The sudden appearance of the English flag hung on lamp posts, railings etc has absolutely sickened me, and my dd.
I am proud to be British, but the misappropriation of the flag by thugs, intending to intimidate, is absolutely not acceptable in a diverse society.
So tonight myself and my adult dd ripped them down in our area, and tomorrow we will be going on a flag hunt, to rip down any more we find.
I would strongly urge those of you that feel the same way, to also remove them, as long as you feel safe and comfortable to do it.
Posting in AIBU for traffic.

Prove me wrong

Can’t be bothered, maybe have a read of some stuff. I’d recommend avoiding GB News.

My daughter was raped recently by a man of not British descent who in his defence said he didnt understand our culture and that she didnt want his advances. Please defend that and help me understand.

Are you asking me to defend a rapist?

I am genuinely sorry that your daughter, and you, have experienced that. It’s absolutely disgusting.

It’s not representative of every migrant, immigrant or person of non-British descent.

Seeing a red cross messily daubed over my town's roundabout with tyre marks all over it (literally weeks after our council arranged for the road markings to be redone) is not making me feel particularly patriotic.

My dad used to fly the george flag during the world cup, and the union flag during royal or Olympic events, but this is something completely different. The people doing it are deliberately trying to provoke, not bring people together to make them proud, or to celebrate anything.

My brother saw one two of the flaggers yesterday, one was aggressively staring people down as they went past him. Like goading them to say something so he could kick off (phill mitchell style). It's pathetic, not patriotic. Its all performative nonsense.

However I think the flags should stay. Leave them dangling haphazardly all over the place creating a mess. They'll look absolutely awful by the time the rains and cold weather come along. The 'phil mitchells' will be tucked up warm in their homes and will have lost interest in a few weeks. Then we can move on from this nonsense.

I am perplexed by how, in England, people so vehemently opposed the English flag, but don't mind Palestinian flags?

One council, bizarrely, said they would be removing the St. George's flags, but leaving the Palestinian ones, as they would be attacked if they removed them.

You can spell? I'm surprised,. Maybe it's just an inability to read and comprehend.

I’m finding this whole flag debacle so quintessentially British that it’s making me smile.

On the one hand, you have a cohort of people feeling ‘a bit miffed’ at the ‘less than ideal’ situation of thousands of undocumented migrants entering the country and what do they do to protest? Murder? Pillage? No, they hang some flags and paint a few on some roundabouts.

Then you have the other side saying “see here, we don’t like that! This is not ideal!” And going out with their scissors to remove said flags.

It’s quite cute, really. This is the extent of how we will show how disgruntled we are, regardless of which ‘side’ you fall on.

Then there is the irony of being spectacularly unaware that the flag you hate so much represents a culture that is so tolerant, that you’re allowed to hate your own flag. And remove it without fear of retaliation from your government. I wonder what would happen if a citizen of North Korea removed national symbols from public spaces.

That’s Birmingham council I presume. Run by predominantly Muslim councillors.

Are you honestly okay? At no point have I said thats ridiculous long live the English flag nor have I said rip it down. I asked a question to better educate myself & several other posters have answered politely. You seem to have a wierd obsession with me ?pretending that I don't understand. I can't fathom it, you know, being from a different country.

I think that about sums up how utterly fucked we are as a society.

I can’t see a way to row back from it tbh, which is why I’m so relieved to live in Scotland.

A great post, and some welcome context.

I don’t think this will help.

Far better to “take back the flag” as meaning that the UK is a welcoming multicultural society.

Taking the flags down will just encourage people to put more up and make the arguments that have led to the rise of reform etc in the first place (namely that it’s impossible to state that you’re proud to be British/ English or want to discusss immigration without being branded a racist). Plus, as others have said, this will burn itself out once the weather turns shit and people go back to work/ school etc.

I’m so glad you’re able to raise a wry smile.
I’m sure the people of Southport would return your smile, after all the British don’t riot do they?
And if you read my post PROPERLY, when you have finished your little smile, you will perhaps be able to comprehend that I don’t hate the flag at all, I hate the misappropriation by thugs to use it to try and intimidate.

And you are more intelligent are you?
You honestly can’t see where this is heading?

in my mind I would support the Palestinians people (not Hamas) against the illegal war/genocide that Israel are conducting. But I don’t support far right thugs using the England flag as a symbol to support their racism, and vandalising public property in doing it.

Oh and I’ve never see a Palestinian flag anywhere🤷‍♀️

I just said in the parallel flag thread that the middle ground having nobody to vote for is one of the most dangerous things about all of this hard left vs right business.
Theres no centre. And everything is so polarised that it’s now a battle of the extremes - no good can come from it.

My personal where to go from here was Scotland. I’m English but wouldn’t go back. Not that we’re much better. But enough better for me and mine.

Me either, where is this an issue?

England flags on the other hand, I see regularly, and not just recently. I've never seen someone being asked to take a flag down, or being accused of being a racist for a flag. Our town hall flies the union jack all the time.

I'm brown and British so it's my flag too. You're just giving them what they want by ripping it down. The person I know that owns the most England flags is my dad and he's happily been flying them for years. Right wingers don't own the flag, British people do. Lean into it and claim it back.