Episode Information

CMS: The Power of a Flag
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Flags are meant to be a uniting symbol, but in many cases they cause stark divisions.


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49:29 minutes (23.76 MB)
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It's hard to quantify but I think it's fair to say that people who come to the United States from other countries often think we're a little bit weird about our flag.

It seems to them we display it more and argue about it more. It would make more sense if -- as was the case with Northern Ireland -- there were multiple flags competing for legitimacy.

These days, maybe there are. Connecticut just went through a fight over the Gadsden, the exciting yellow rattlesnake flag, once a symbol of the Revolution, then a symbol of the Marines and now a symbol of the somewhat fuzzy Tea Party movement.

At pretty much the same moment, Virginia found itself once again convulsed by a debate over the meaning of Confederate symbols when its governor recognized April as Confederate History Month.

It's just a piece of cloth. And most American flags are, of course, made in China. So why do flags make us coil and strike?


Related Content:

Confederate flag

We don't glorify Benedict Arnold;  why do we glorify the likes of Robert E Lee or Jefferson Davis who were, inarguably, just as much traitors as Benedict Arnold.


The Confederate flag symbolizes treason.  Period.

Listener E-mail from Michael

As an independent cartoonist and sometime pamphleteer, I share the skepticism of censorship espoused by some of your guests. That said, I feel they are being disingenuous when it comes to a few of the points they have raised.
If they are so skeptical of the government, a sentiment I often share, why do they feel it necessary to use a government owned flagpole as the conduit of the "tea party" message? Like the name of the movement itself, these activists are merely attempting to co-opt a preexisting symbol, while redefining the flags original message to suit their own needs.  The Gadsden flag was the product of a particular historic moment. Seems to me they are merely seeking to hijack the preexisting semiotic implications of the symbol due to a lack of a cohesive and directed message.

Listener E-mail from John

Your guest is legitamizing the teaparty too much. My biggest gripe with them is: If this is purely about fighting power, then where were they during the Bush administration??