I just returned from a 3 day backpacking trip in north central Arkansas. My brother and I were in the Ozark National Forest a little ways south of Jasper which is on the Buffalo National River. It is a very rural area, a very scenic area, consisting mainly of national forests and cattle operations, sparsely populated would be an accurate description.
I have written before of how I felt my beloved American flag has been hijacked by the conservatives, especially the extreme right. That has resulted in my having mixed emotions whenever I see the flag being displayed on someone’s house or vehicle. The other flag that as a young person I had affection for was the Confederate battle flag. Back then I saw it as representing a rebellious nature, aka a free spirit. I also saw it as an expression of Southern pride. Again it has been hijacked by the extreme right to express what is more related to its original purpose, racism.
In 2017, after another backpacking trip to Arkansas, I wrote how common the displaying of Confederate flags on rural Arkansas homes was. Five years later I have not seen much change. While not like it was pre and post election, Trump flags are still very common. And of course, American flags are everywhere. More than a few homes had the American flag, the Confederate flag and the Trump flag. A few substituted the Trump flag for the American flag with the thin blue line. The thin blue line signifying that the only thing between us and anarchy is the police force. We need police, but we also need the police to return to its primary mission of serving and protecting. Whatever the combination of those three flags, what I see spelled out is, fascism.
Frequently, these flag crazy citizens are unaware of the proper way to display a flag. Whether hung vertical or horizontally, the canton (blue portion with stars) should be on the upper left. This is frequently not the case. In fact there is a popular t-shirt that drives me crazy as it is displaying a vertical American flag with the canton on the upper right… oh well
However, the combination this weekend that drove me absolutely bonkers was a house that a very tall flag pole flying two flags. The top one was the Confederate flag and below that, the American flag. Part of me wanted to see if my pickup could push over their flag pole, but I know my Toyota is not faster than a speeding bullet, so I drove on.
Just to be clear, this same flag behavior can be seen in rural Missouri, and I am sure many other rural areas. I just happened to be in Arkansas to see this absurdity.
And so it should not go.