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.