{"id":111,"date":"2003-06-12T14:10:45","date_gmt":"2003-06-12T19:10:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/?p=111"},"modified":"2003-06-12T14:10:45","modified_gmt":"2003-06-12T19:10:45","slug":"branded","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2003\/06\/12\/branded.html","title":{"rendered":"Branded"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Blackjack\"Folks who think the UK’s union jack has racist overtones are proposing a revised version<\/a> that would include black stripes.<\/p>\n

A campaign is being launched to modernise the red, white and blue flag by adding a touch of black to reflect multicultural Britain in the 21st Century. The proposed new flag is the work of Nigel Turner, an enthusiastic fan of the UK’s transformation into a multiracial society over the past 50 years.
\nMr Turner, who has called his campaign Reflag, believes his plan would reclaim the union jack from its negative associations, and silence that old skinhead chant: “There ain’t no black in the union jack.”
\n“If I flew the union jack from a flagpole in my garden, many people would see it as a racist statement,” he says. “I’m a glass half-full, rather than half-empty sort of person. It’s time we made a positive statement about the progression of a multicultural and multiracial society.”<\/p>\n

Riiiiiight. Because changing the official flag will stamp out racism and silence skinheads (it’s done so much in the Southern US, after all). And adding some black stripes is all that’s necessary to reflect a “multiracial” nation.<\/p>\n

The current union jack dates back to the 17th Century, and was formed of the crosses of Sts. George, Andrew and Patrick, the patron saints of England, Scotland and Ireland. (Wales, evidently, missed out.)<\/p>\n

As one commenter on the site observed:<\/p>\n

The idea is fine in principle but the design is all wrong. As far as I can see the blue and red people of this country are still massively over-represented. Perhaps we could use a system of proportional representation and update the flag at each census.<\/p>\n

Here’s hoping this is one of those ideas that makes a brief flutter, then just blows away.<\/p>\n

(via GoaF<\/a>)<\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Folks who think the UK’s union jack has racist overtones are proposing a revised version that would include black stripes. A campaign is being launched to modernise the red, white…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-111","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-zt-pc"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":51524,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2015\/06\/19\/lindsey-graham-thinks-the-confederate-battle-flag-works-for-south-carolina.html","url_meta":{"origin":111,"position":0},"title":"Lindsey Graham thinks the Confederate battle flag "works" for South Carolina","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 19-Jun-15 4:33pm","format":false,"excerpt":"\"The flag represents to some people a civil war and that was the symbol of one side. To others, it's a racist symbol, and it has been used in a racist way.\"And ... neither of those fazes you, Sen. Graham? That the side that lost the civil war against the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4774,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2004\/01\/08\/government_reli.html","url_meta":{"origin":111,"position":1},"title":"Government, religion, and … flags?","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 8-Jan-04 8:25am","format":false,"excerpt":"The US Supreme Court is considering hearing a case against the Mississippi state flag, which contains the Confederate battle emblem. Unlike most such suits against Confederate symbols, though, the suit...","rel":"","context":"In "ZT & PC"","block_context":{"text":"ZT & PC","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/zt-pc"},"img":{"alt_text":"Mississippi","src":"\/blog\/images\/mississippi.gif","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":136420,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2018\/05\/13\/race-is-our-national-soft-underbelly.html","url_meta":{"origin":111,"position":2},"title":"Race is our national soft underbelly","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 13-May-18 12:21am","format":false,"excerpt":"And the Russians, who've been aiming that direction for decades, finally scored a hit. The Russians -- just like everyone else -- didn't really think that Donald Trump was going to win the election. This is a separate matter from the whole question of collusion. Nobody thought Donald Trump was\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/russian-fb-post-racism-south-will-rise-again.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":135851,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2018\/01\/14\/confederate-flag-compromise-isnt.html","url_meta":{"origin":111,"position":3},"title":"A confederate flag compromise that isn’t","author":"***Dave","date":"Sun 14-Jan-18 9:33am","format":false,"excerpt":"I'd love to know whether GOP state rep Greg Snowden is being naive or nefarious in proposing a solution to the debate in Mississippi over continued use of the Confederate battle ensign in its state flag that will likely only satisfy the folk who want to keep that tribute to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/unnamed-2.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":130946,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/06\/27\/on-brexit-some-more.html","url_meta":{"origin":111,"position":4},"title":"On Brexit (some more)","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 27-Jun-16 6:54pm","format":false,"excerpt":"So maybe this isn't an auto-apocalypse. The actual mechanism behind turning an advisory (?) referendum into a distinct action by the UK that triggers the EU's processes for divorce aren't quite as straightforward as they seem.Which, in theory, would seem let everyone win, both the Remain voters and the Exit\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5578,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2004\/02\/18\/hail_pomona_hai.html","url_meta":{"origin":111,"position":5},"title":"Hail, Pomona, Hail","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 18-Feb-04 8:33am","format":false,"excerpt":"Hey, look -- my alma mater's in the news. Though not, perhaps, as it would like to be. An e-mail from group leaders [of OAD, a quasi-fraternity] suggested that members...","rel":"","context":"In "ZT & PC"","block_context":{"text":"ZT & PC","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/zt-pc"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}