Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2018/10/02/flower-and-river.html
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But…Heritage (of racism)
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Mississippi could certainly do with a new image. Maybe a new flag will improve its self-image, because all I see when the Stars-and-Bars is part of a flag is “we’re ignorant and proud of it.” This new flag promises a state that won’t be committed to being last or near-last in major quality of life measures.
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This is one of the most amazing positions I have encountered in my life. Sadly I find way too many people in my part of the world who gladly embrace the motto that leads of the detriment of all those around such a sad notion. I suppose it must be the ignorance is bliss idea.
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in a meeting and can’t click on videos?
current flag
the one in the thumbnail on previous page
some other proposals
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I really like the one with the paddlewheel, but the magnolia ones are great, too.
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I like it. It’s simple, striking, symbolic enough to get the vexillologists salivating, and it completely avoids the strife caused by the current flag’s racist history.
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My experience with this phenomenon has led me to a different conclusion.(ymmv) I doubt that ignorance feels good, so much as, cognitive effort is work. The vast majority of human experience in history, is just doing the same things ones family and neighbors do, and expecting the same outcomes.
When you can reflexively, intuitively follow the examples of tradition without exerting any skull-sweat, then what brain activity does occur, can be safely used to rationalize ones compliance with the status quo.
This is just me supposing, since I rarely get this feeling.But when I have, its felt like a powerful drug. Peer pressure doesn’t have to feel like pressure at all if there are no forces to counter it.
“We don’t know who discovered water, but it was unlikely to have been a fish” This is what goes through my mind when I encounter someone not of the happy mutant tribe.
To me it seems vitally important for people with surplus smarts, to spend some of that excess brain power giving some thought to what goes on in the lives of the not so smart. Not in a cruel, exclusionary way, but in an open minded, curious, cold-blooded-yet-big-hearted kind of way.
If you don’t like living under Donald Trump, be assured that it can get far worse than this.
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Not bad, not bad. Still, I am happy to live in a state whose flag contains A GODDAMN GRIZZLY BEAR.
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Words fail in my attempt to describe my contempt for trump and his ilk. And yes, I believe that things would rapidly get far worse save for those among us who relish the expression of their minds and souls. Perhaps ignorance doesn’t lead to bliss, perhaps it leads to a toxic complacency. Regardless I’m glad someone is trying to create a flag that could better represent all of those people who live with it rather than repressed under it.
It looks like a logo for a Japanese airline
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It’s an attractive design, for sure. I think it’s the best of the proposed alternatives you’ve got listed there. My only concern would be that it’s verging on being too complex. A good flag should be able to be drawn from memory by the average person.
In fact, with the three colours, the unusual division of the flag and the addition of the state symbol, I’m finding it thematically similar to my favourite proposal for a new New Zealand flag.:
Looking at the others- #2 looks a bit like Crimea:
#3 - the paddlewhweel is a good, simple design, easily my second choice.
#4- No, clipart shouldn’t go on a flag.
#5- It looks OK, I’m just not sure the flower symbol works well in blue there. There’s a bit where it’s almost blue on blue which doesn’t go well.
#6- This looks a bit familiar. I’m sure I’ve seen the design on the right before. It’s giving me a bit of a Hong Kong vibe, but that’s not a perfect match. I certainly don’t think Mississippi when I see it.
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Doesn’t it? I think it’s an awful design. It takes a delicate flower and turns it into a goddam shuriken. Magnolias are supposed to be pretty. Otherwise, this is a badly needed change.
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Pshaw. Our state flag (Missouri) has THREE bears on it.
Love this flag design.
I’ve never seen a shuriken look like that before.
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Yeah but the bear on California’s flag never would’ve let some little blonde girl get away with stealing its breakfast.
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Worse than that. The stylized magnolia reminds me of the Ewoks. And what state wants to be associated with them?
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Current is terrible. Above all it’s terrible on account of terrible heritage it stands for. Even without the historical baggage it would still be terrible. Visually it’s a sorry mess. As for the new design it certainly is an improvement, mainly cos it aims to make a clear cut with the past. At least its heart is in the right place. Visually it’s still terrible. Flags are supposed to be timeless. This one tries too hard to be modern and fails at it. It ten years it’s gonna look dated. Heck it already looks like something from 80ies. But than again most American flags look terrible. Look US, France and U.K. managed to create designes that still look fresh and modern although they were made couple of centuries ago. Not to mention flags of Japan, Denmark, Switzerland etc. which are even older.
Only American flag that I really like is flag of New Mexico.
Not to sound too harsh I also think that flag of my own country is terrible, both visually and in terms of symbolism.
The symbolism seems somewhat tortured in the video. I don’t think this is likely to get the kind of popular and/or political support needed to change the flag.
Besides, every state has dozens of redesign proposals in the vexillology subreddit.
https://www.reddit.com/r/vexillology/search?q=mississippi%20redesign&restrict_sr=1
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