To think it's possible they're taking down their own flags?

[Mugfills]

🤣

You can tell I live in a lovely area because the flags have been everywhere.

There's been outrage on SM because the flags keep disappearing. The local council have said categorically they're not removing them.

There are those (like me) who don't like the undeniable racist undertones, but I'm not about to start climbing lampposts to remove them. I don't feel strongly enough to want them removed, although do have some concerns about what happens when they become dirty and ragged (which IME happens quickly to chea flags), if the council have a policy of not removing them.

It has occurred to me, that enjoying the outrage, some of the patriots might be removing them themselves to stir things up?

I doubt it.

Just the flags being up at all seems to cause as much outrage, so what would be the point?

Plus they're not going to risk someone catching/filming them.

Because taking them down causes a different sort of outrage in a different group of people.

Is this really what you spend your time thinking of.

Yeah so they're risk getting their heads kicked in if caught.

I can't see them taking that risk for such minimal additional outrage.

But who knows.

🤣. There's room in my head for more than one thought, but yes, people the things they do and why they do them do fascinate me

I mean it's entirely possible that the people that made the effort to put them up there could be making the effort to take them down. I see flags up lampposts and I think "how on earth did they manage that?" I often wonder if they have cherry pickers or something to get up there or if they are shimmying up the lampposts with their legs.

You might be on to something. I think it's very possible that they are being taken down by the same people who put them up. They might be saving them for later, selling them on eBay "this flag showed our national pride", or saving them from the inevitable fate of looking bedraggled and neglected. Either way, it keeps people talking about them.

As for "risking their heads getting kicked in if they get caught": they took similar risks putting them up. If it's a thug who approaches them, they can say "I'm putting it up". If it's the police, they can say "I'm taking it down".

As for how they got them up there: it's possible they wore a hi-vi and a hard hat, and pretended to be a lamplighter lamp post maintenance person. Apparently, this is a very easy way to do underhand things: wear a hi-vi so that people think you are there officially, and nobody bats an eyelid. Rumour has it that Banksy's disguise is nothing more than an hi-vi, so that he looks like a council official.

Here's a spot of comfort: soon it will be time for councils (or whoever does it) to put Christmas lights up on lamp posts. I'm sure they'll be quietly taking some flags down as well, and by then, a lot of the flag fuss will have died down.

My goodness, does EVERYTHING have to be a conspiracy in the 2020s?

I've seen videos @Mugfills of left leaning, middle class, often older people, going around trying to take these flags down. I've seen plenty of young people taking flags down.

Sorry if this sounds tetchy, but it feels like it is the way of the modern Internet that people have to be "in the know" about "the real angle" on things.

I can't have a discussion with certain old schoolfriends any more because if I'm talking about a perfectly rational subject, they will deflect to say "that's what the MSM (mainstream media) want you to believe" etc.

So yeah YABU.

Wouldn’t surprise me 😂 I’m bored of the “what’s wrong with putting a flag up in our own country” brigade. We all know the undertones are to send a message of “this is OUR country, not yours” and create a divide. The Facebook groups are just another level of delusion 😂

The hi-vis theory is one I fully believe 😂 when was the last time any of us questioned someone in hi-vis? My friend bought me one because of my habit of rescuing injured animals on the road. Found an injured bird last winter and put my hi-vis on and stopped the traffic so I could capture it and all the cars waited patiently. I’d never felt more important 😂😂😂

There were very high winds earlier this week. More likely their DIY skills weren't up to scratch.

There's a reason why real flagpoles have a lot of regulations about placement, fixings etc.

I’m not a conspiracy theorist at all but if you are climbing up lampposts in the night it’s entirely possible that you might take them down again to foment political feeling. It would make some sense actually if this was your agenda. But it’s also possible that someone who doesn’t like the flags is doing it obviously.

This is probably the most likely reason yes.

We've had a couple of left wingers taking flags down in our town.

The foul men who had put them up filmed themselves giving them abuse for taking them down. Nasty thugs.

There’s a post up here (in AIBU) from a lady who took flags down on her way home from work because she objects to them.
I doubt those who put them up are taking them down. More likely conscientious objectors.

I doubt the knuckledraggers who put them up would have any sort of strategy regarding taking them down.
More likely decent people doing the right thing.

Oh yes. At some stations, I’ve seen signs forbidding passengers to wear a hi-vi, in case they are mistaken for staff. Here is another “hi-vi of authority” trick: people who are fed up with drivers speeding along their road will wear a hi-vi, and point a hair drier at the traffic, and at first glance, they look like a cop with a speed gun. Apparently, it’s really effective at slowing drivers down. See also the bird boxes painted like speed cameras.

Similarly, I’ve heard that it’s really easy for elderly people to gatecrash prestigious parties. Nobody dares to question them in case they are distantly related to the host.

There was also a case of two homeless men who saved up to buy dinner jackets, and survived by gate crashing wedding receptions, and similar events, and hoarding as much food as they could. Their thinking was that lots the food would go to waste anyway. Again, almost nobody questioned them, because they looked smart.