They are hung from skeletal trees denuded of leaves and bark, stuck in the doors of cars turned upside down and draped over pieces of twisted metal embedded in the ground.ADDED: That prose is a far cry from "A View From Mrs. Thompson's."
The shot of red, white and blue flying in a landscape of ashen brown is startling and powerfully defiant, seeming to embody the mettle of the national anthem.
May 24, 2013
The Washington Post endeavors to explain the flag-displaying behavior of tornado-stricken Oklahomans.
"The flag-raising seemed to hearten the neighbors, as if to assure them they would emerge triumphant from this disaster...."
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Oh great. The media seems to be back to the point before 9/11/2001, where they acted like any displays of patriotism were foreign to the American character, or indicative of right wing fascism.
If the reporter stays very still and very quiet long enough, he might be able to catch them grooming one another.
I cant open pdf urls but this is doing the job.
TerriW, that was subtle. Bravo.
Flags. How so very gauche.
Fools. When you put your hope in a piece of cloth, especially today's American flag, you are putting your hope in the system of Barack Obama, you are putting your hope in the Congress, you are putting your hope in the Supreme Court (HA).
Flags. How so very gauche.
You'd never catch the Europeans doing that.
Not nearly as disapproving as these pith-helmet pieces usually are. The apolitical nature of the disaster probably helps.
Just like New Jersey after Sandy. Oh, wait ....
Denuded sticks out like spats.
Oh the Code of the West
When you’re drinkin’ tequilla
The Code of the West
Toast the Red White and Blue
The Code of the West
Be kind to your neighbors
Your new northern neighbors
Remember they’ve been awfully good to you!!
~Roger Miller, "The Ballad of Waterhole #3"
I remember my father put out an American flag. The next day. He hung it down from the second floor's front porch, like they did in Wall Street, just not as big.
Screw all of them and perhaps you also.
I love our flag, I've folded it after it has been draped over coffins of better men than I...
Gorillas in the mist.
Amurikkans in our midst.
America will save us from the Great Tornado!
If the reporter stays very still and very quiet long enough, he might be able to catch them grooming one another.
But reptiles don't groom each other...
The comments at WAPO on this article are instructive. There is genuine contempt for the rubes of Oklahoma.
I did not catch the whiff of contempt from the reporter. Maybe he was surprised by this. Apparently he and his editors felt it was worth an article. But he was respectful.
The commenters are another matter.
If they need to explain it, they're too stupid to get it.
Ritmo emphasizes the point.
Leftists are some of the dumbest human beings to grace the face of this earth. Do they not realize that a banner is used to strengthen and embolden those that follow it? For all of the majesty that leftists can muster for the yearning of symbolism from their Marxist leadership, they can't for the life of them understand that others use these standards for their purposes as well. Standards for me, but not for thee. Fucking idiots.
The self-deception is strong in the comments. And let's hope there are no open flames about because the strawmen will go up like a torch.
In the meantime, look at the implied world view:
We don't exist without the Federal government. It provides for all our needs. It shows up to help us like it's our kind Aunt Edna. Therefore there's no limit on the power and authority to run our lives that we should give it. Carte blanche is the only option. You know, because it helped us out (with our own money, mind you) during that little tornado incident that one time.
Washington Post?
We no longer expect folks in our nation's capital to understand the patriotic feelings of those in flyover country.
But I agree the Federal government is very generous. You know, it must have worked awful hard at that after-school job to save up enough money to just give it to other people. What a nice thing to do.
yikes, what a moral cesspool in the WaPo comments. The sneering condescension directed at the tornado survivors is at 11.
Ah, the enlightened NYT reader.
This oped doesn't show up in the paper's most-viewed articles: http://www.nytimes.com/most-popular-viewed?period=1
Doesn't show up in the most e-mailed articles: http://www.nytimes.com/most-popular-emailed
Doesn't show up in the most-blogged articles: http://www.nytimes.com/most-popular-blogged
David said...
The comments at WAPO on this article are instructive. There is genuine contempt for the rubes of Oklahoma.
When the civil war starts, I'm putting my $ on Oklahoma to defeat DC or any other liberal metropolis.
Dumbass @ 6:09
The American flag represents a great deal more than the federal government.
So sorry this comes as news to you.
Hmmm.
Maybe someday America can have an American journalist class again?
Yeah, I just checked the comments section for the WaPo article and it's full of stupid. Some of which seems to have overflowed its banks and landed here. IblameBush.
Methadras said...
Leftists are some of the dumbest human beings to grace the face of this earth. Do they not realize that a banner is used to strengthen and embolden those that follow it? For all of the majesty that leftists can muster for the yearning of symbolism from their Marxist leadership, they can't for the life of them understand that others use these standards for their purposes as well. Standards for me, but not for thee. Fucking idiots.
Back in the 60s, Lefties the world over, used Mao's Little Red Book for the same purpose.
They're not in any way superior, just hypocrites and, therefore, inferior.
I see a flag with fewer stars in our near future.
Sad and a little repulsive.
One thing you can always count on when flyover people are discussed by the coastal libs is a kind of baffled contempt overlaid with a wistful longing for enough power to suppress it entirely.
It means that if you have a million victims, you have a million helpers.
It would be interesting if the comments at WAPO could be tracked to the users address. How many would be government agencies?
A far cry is the distance separating a sheepdog from its handler when the dog's responses take one second or more after ... Oh dear, apologies, did it again. Wrong thread.
I've asked myself recently whether I feel more fealty to the flag with 50 stars or the one with a lone star.
I assume you're talking to me, Amartel, since I have the only comment at 6:09. And all I can say is read it again, Dumbass. Of course, I say that lovingly since it's obvious the meaning sailed right over your head. Try it again with that in mind.
Ritmo calls suburban/rural Oklahomans reptiles. He doesn't even know any of them.
And while we have Christie and Obama parading around in New Jersey, the folks in Oklahoma will start to put their lives together again. The state will use its "rainy day" fund to start the process. Any bets on whether or not New Jersey has a rainy day fund? Folks in Oklahoma don't sit around waiting for someone to help them out. They have no pretensions that OKC will be the next New York City. It's a pretty straight forward, self reliant place. It would be a wonderful thing if this attitude was contagious.
How many of your flyover-based commenters know any of these supposedly elitist coastal people, EMD?
I know a few Kansans. Nearby Oklahoma is a bit smaller. Some fit the stereotype and some don't. But to have allowed such an intellectual monstrosity as Sam Brownback to represent them both as governor and as senator is both concerning and informative. As is, apparently, this popular book.
It's the WaPo. Clues, they have none. Understanding, even less. Empathy, waaaaaaaay negative.
The Stars and Stripes waiving over the wreckage has always been a rallying cry of encouragement for survivors of a storm. That began with the storm of the invading British Monarchy's rockets aimed at Ft McHenry and was enshrined after the storm of Japanese steel and artillery fire aimed down at the Marines ashore on Iwo Jima's beach until Mt.Suribachi's peak was taken on day 5 of that 40 day slaughter that had American 30,000 casualties.
Leftists are some of the dumbest human beings to grace the face of this earth. Do they not realize that a banner is used to strengthen and embolden those that follow it? For all of the majesty that leftists can muster for the yearning of symbolism from their Marxist leadership, they can't for the life of them understand that others use these standards for their purposes as well. Standards for me, but not for thee. Fucking idiots."
Methadras they get it completely. It's what the flag symbolizes that they don't like. Now if the Oklahoma rubes were to display the hammer and sickle the progs would be down with that.
Methadras they get it completely. It's what the flag symbolizes that they don't like. Now if the Oklahoma rubes were to display the hammer and sickle the progs would be down with that.
Please explain this mystical power of a flag to ward off evil tornadoes, and the damage they cause. I was not aware of it. And does a hammer and sickle flag really work better?
Does the power of the American flag to cure and heal work in operating rooms too, or just when it comes to weather calamities?
For a people that loves the government so much, they sure disdain any symbol representing said government . . .
I just can't help myself. This is one of the comments:
"There are many things to do when a tornado hits, perhaps least of all, look for survivors. Yet this tornado has seen, apparently, more flag waving than any other such disaster. And, if respect for a fluttering flag will cause individuals not to look underneath it to see if someone is perishing, that seems to be considered a small price to pay for what seems a burgeoning totemism. Not so very strange in the New World Order controlled age of impotent diversions in place of real, substantive action. Instead of responding to anger against the U.S. with calls to investigate wholesale violation of human rights by America, instead, a plurality if not the majority have been brainwashed into simply raising the flag, screaming “America can do no wrong!' and calling for more Muslims to be killed."
IF this is what passes for educated these days. . .
What a great idea for a post! Thanks for sharing I really enjoyed it.
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Rhythm and Balls said...
If the reporter stays very still and very quiet long enough, he might be able to catch them grooming one another.
But reptiles don't groom each other...
You would know.
Rhythm and Balls
What a sad, sick life you must lead. Please do engage in some self-post-birth-abortion.
You put the flag out to show your neighbors that your alive.
If you need help or not.
etc.
Every scout knows this.
I guess in Balls case he/she displays a urine soaked bed sheet.
"For a people that loves the government so much, they sure disdain any symbol representing said government . . ."
This sort or categorical error says more about the author's worldview than it does about anyone else.
How many of your flyover-based commenters know any of these supposedly elitist coastal people, EMD?
MY flyover-based commenters?
I don't have any. If you'll notice, I rarely cast aspersions on a group of people because of where they live. There are smart and stupid people everywhere. There are nice and mean people everywhere. There are considerate and ill-tempered people everwhere. We have become so encased in our own provincialism that we fail to see that human beings, by and large are the same the world over.
Please explain this mystical power of a flag to ward off evil tornadoes, and the damage they cause. I was not aware of it. And does a hammer and sickle flag really work better?
That's not the point of raising the flags AFTER the disaster and you know it.
Don't be so coy.
I read somewhere that the flag in American culture is what the royal family is in other cultures. There are portraits of the king in most Thai homes, and of the queen in many British homes. It's something we all have in common, regardless of our differences. It's important that it has a star for each state and a stripe for each original state. It's like a history lesson on cloth.
How many of your flyover-based commenters know any of these supposedly elitist coastal people, EMD?
I cannot speak for anyone else.
But, having lived all over this country, I can say that elitist coastal types, though more commonly found in their native habitat, also display an annoying ability to appear within flyover country and simultaneously heap scorn and contempt on the local yokels while bidding the locals to change their ways, such that their dismal locale might one day be 'improved' to the point where those same coastal elites feel the need to flee to points elsewhere.
The Californication of Arizona and Idaho being but two examples I've witnessed.
Merica. Fuck Yeah.
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