Flags

In celebrating Israel’s 60th anniversary, I’d like to say that I’ve grown to dislike flags (and other overt symbols of nationalism) tremendously. As one of my peers recently told me, they say nothing more than “not you.” By the way, have you noticed that countries and regimes that have legitimacy problems are always putting their flags in your face? It’s sort of the same idea behind Bush’s inauguration day. He was sworn in using not just one bible, as is customary (unfortunately), but an entire stack of them. I assume he was trying to buy legitimacy through religion, as the way in which he won the presidency was highly controversial. It’s the same idea behind an International Day festival at Harvard Law School early this semester. Every nationality that set up a booth had no more than one flag on display but the Israelis, of which their entire state has legitimacy issues, had like 20 flags hanging from the wall, ceiling, and the table. But I must admit, as much as flags (and other overt symbols of nationalism) annoy me, I take exception with the Palestinian flag as it is a flag denied.