To think England flags are intimidating?

[Nikki7506]

Let me start by saying I LOVE MY COUNTRY!🥰🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿
I am an Army veteran. I fly a tonne of flags for St Georges Day, major sporting tournaments, Royal occasions because I love the monarchy!! I'm the only person on my street who bothers to get the flags and bunting out, although, there is one other house on the next road who does too👍
Woke up one morning to find England flags all the way down the street. They were well high up on the lamp posts. I couldn't reach them so I complained to the council. I feel like I'm living in an EDL rally. The council finally sent an email saying they had removed the flags but they hadn't. They were still there.
So I decided to fly two pride flags from the lamp posts opposite my house. Before the end of the day an angry GAMMON 😡 ripped them down with such vigour I thought he might have a heart attack.
It made me really sad because to me the pride flag is a symbol of acceptance and kindness to everyone LGTBQ+, disabilities and everyone who is neither white nor English!!🏳️‍🌈
So I have to look at their flags (and its not the flag, the reason they're flying them is because Nigel wants everyone to hate immigrants and they are happy to use the England flag as a dog whistle ) but I can't fly mine😡
Am I being too upset by this? I'm seriously thinking of using a water gun with food dye in it. We have a diverse community here💖 The other day a man said hello to me in mandarin with his little toddler on his shoulders and it was lovely🌈 I don't just want to cut my neighbours loose and keep quiet😔 they are lovely people who deserve respect.
This feels like a Trump/Farage takeover😡
This sudden display of patriotism (Flag shagging) from folks who don't normally bother is a worry😬

A lot of them being put up are by groups rather than local residents though have funding via residents.

However the only way to claim the flag back from racism is to use the flag rather than hide the flag and be offended by it. If everyone treated it as just another flag like any other country it wouldn’t be able to be held captive by those who use it for racist reasons.

So on that basis I’m all for the flags. Fly them high and proud (not the round about shit) have them as bin stickers and painted rocks like the Welsh and Scottish and don’t let it be an offensive item let it just be a flag.

If people want to fly flags in their own garden no one can stop them. No one has any business putting them on lamp posts. If someone climbs up on road bridges to drape them they should be prosecuted if they are identified. There's a crudely drawn red cross painted on a road sign near me. I've reported that as vandalism and presumably money will have to be spent removing the paint.

In some cases I believe can be I am not going to deny the growing antisemitism in this country and those who will hide their feeling behind the flag

but I am also aware of the genocide of the people in Gaza and that people are showing recognition of this

No, I don’t find any countries flag offensive or intimidating especially when it’s flown in the country it represents.
I saw many Slovenian flags when I was in Slovenia last week. Lovely sight and not at all intimidating.

I know right?!

And why we all take notice and rave about it - they're achieving their aim.
Best ignored especially by the media

Both terms get used, I would say that 'vets' is the older of the two, in my town there used to be the Vets Club, a social club for ex servicemen.

So you accept some political use of flags if it's something with which you agree! MN hypocrisy at its best,

I very much disagree with ‘best ignored’
Why is that a better way to deal with racism?

Best disagreed with as publicly as possible, and that way also to show solidarity with the many groups that racists are trying to send an intimidating message to.

Good point, especially bearing in mind the first paragraph from that poster.

I do not agree with any flag being used as a way to intimate people

nothing hypocritical about that

No, it doesn’t bother me but stopped reading when I saw gammon. Grow up!

The Palestinian flag has been used to intimidate Jewish people.
Obviously you and many other people on here will vehemently disagree with me, but I'm concerned about how and where it has been flown
Note: I am not supporting genocide or any war crimes before I am accused of this.

Have I said it hasn’t ever been used to intimidate Jewish people

maybe re read my previous post

Showing solidarity also applies to finding the cause of the problem and addressing it - not assuming that all protesters are bigots and all asylum seekers are genuine.
I find it staggering that so many people seem to think racism is confined to white indigenous brits. It isn't.

Good 👍. Perhaps it's not always flown with the most noble of intentions.

👏 👏 👏

As a brown person, born and raised here, I do not find the flags intimidating or offensive. I have no reason to believe that I do not belong here so do not find them intimidating. I cannot see any situation why I would feel intimidated/offended by the flag of a country I am in.

The problem seems to be the lack of flags flying beforehand. So, just let them be and they will blend into the background.

Whereas you're really doing the Armed Forces proud. I dread to think what it's like if you're representative of the aggression and nastiness.

I think this is a good point actually, although I have seen the England flag fly, particularly for the Lionesses, which is great.

No they look good!

🙄🙄

And the Pride flags in Regent Street, London. Intimidating - and, I think, intended to be.

Horrible.

In my view, you are only going to be intimidated in you dont consider yourself English, or dont consider you belong to this country. Its a flag of a country, not a flag of a white racist person. It needs to be owned by everyone who considers themselves English, and not made to be allowed to be seen as some sort of a far right symbol.