cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/4249593
Democratic Gov. Jared Polis called the Gadsden flag ‘a proud symbol of the American revolution’ after a a Colorado student was told to remove a patch of the “Don’t Tread on Me” flag from his backpack.
I’ve always thought the Gadsden Flag was for the more Libertarian types, the types that aren’t fundamentalists pushing anti-LGBTQ+ stuff (but also aren’t allies, and are more on the side of letting anti-LGBTQ people deny services and mistreat them as long as the government isn’t doing it), but tend to vote Republican because… I guess because Democrats seem to be more controlling in government (or at least don’t constantly yell about being small government while infringing on freedoms). I live in Alaska, and I see a lot of that here, the fuck off and let me do my own thing, I don’t care what you label yourself as type.
I wouldn’t call them hateful by any stretch. If anything, just apathetic about other people’s health and safety in favor of their own freedoms. Funny enough, I think they’re closest to original Colonists that lived during the revolution, and soon after those governing them saw how untenable that was as a governmental system.
Wasnt it a regimental flag from more than 200 years ago?
Anyone who had any real connection to the meaning of that flag has been dead for more than a century.
Anyone waving that thing around now is either a reenactor, or a poser cosplaying as a tough guy. At this point, much like the Confederate Navy Jack, it has been co-opted to stand for racism and hatred. Either that or J6 was a big Civil war reenactment with terrible planning. “Guys, guys!!! We’re supposed to be in MANASSAS! No! Stop seiging the Capitol!”
The Gadsden flag is primarily used as a symbol of Libertarianism – it encompasses ideas of personal liberty, and individualism. But you are right – the Gadsden flag made its first appearance in the American Revolutionary War.
A “reenactor”? While, yes, the flag was first used in the continental army, nowadyas, it has moved quite far from simply being used as a historical prop.
In my opinion, most people that say that the Gadsden flag represents “racism and hatred” most likely take all their information on the symbol from the fearmongering media.
Would you mind clarifying what you mean?