What kind of drongo wants a black flag?

October 5th, 2014

I’m amazed that it has taken an Aussie news report to bring into MSM (Stuff) the simple reality that ISIS has killed the slim chance that NZ would choose a black flag. Someone pointed that out around our family table months ago, shortly after first seeing an ISIS flag procession.

I want a new flag. I expect that it will have a silver fern somewhere. I want it because I find it hard to remember which is ours, and which is Australia’s.

But getting a new flag does not mean we need to dump the old one. The new one can be flown by the organisations and people who want it, and over time the flag that most of us prefer will be adopted.

But I’ve never expected we’d be stupid enough to choose a black flag. Flags, like all titles and brands, have power because of their associations acquired in use. Usually it requires a long time. There is a very long history of the use of black flags by ghastly people. The rest of the world will not decide to like and respect a black flag just because we think it is cool, and speaks of us.

We are pushing enough up hill at the moment with the over-frequent use of the haka on foreigners.

Filed under Arts, Constitutional, Foreign Policy

Comments

Steady on, I thought John Key liked the idea?

Although I totally agree with you. We shouldn’t have a flag the same colour as how most Kiwi’s dress. Aside from Pirate Day, nothing wrong with keeping the blue background and working from there.

The thing about progressives, is they like change, they frequently ignore history (probably oblivious to it) and cannot distinguish between culture and fashion – one is enduring and the other is an exercise in bad taste not usually discovered for exactly one decade.

Not all progressives, you understand. Just the drongos. A few galahs. And far too many morons.

Shows just how little commonality New Zealand has with Australia. Tony Abbot and the Liberals have been moving furthur and furthur from contemplating a flag change for the last decade. There very similar jack and southern cross is now the core of liberal and Aus bogan identity.
Key looked just a smidgeon out of place at the naval escort celebrations in Albany- because where more different than realised even from those in Perth and Brisbane (real Aus is the coast from Newcastle to Adelaide) because Australia has genuine military fears from the North and the potential force of its own citizens militarism. Here Anzac days is more a conservative traditional values identity parade, without many of resonances of it in Aus.