One more until we hit the magic century

You know, usually I write my blogs on Thursdays, but as I came into work yesterday I realised that there was nothing that I found truly irksome about which I could write. Oh sure, I could have told you all about some brand new product or a really cool pen, but for some reason I just didn’t feel like it. However, with only one more blog to go before I can boast my 100th post, I figured I would go off on a small tangent - all I needed was something to get me properly annoyed.

In the back of my mind, I knew it would only be a matter of time before something really bothered me and, as luck would have it, only 24 hours later, I find myself truly perturbed.

I am in the midst of putting together some designs for some pin badges, and the hope is that the company in question will give them out to something in excess of 10,000 people.

In an attempt to convey a sense of British pride, they asked that an image of the Union Jack be incorporated somewhere in the design. Now even though they loved the designs, certain people in management were concerned that the use of a Union Jack might have connotations of a connection with the British National Party. For those of you outside of the UK – The BNP is an extremely right wing organisation whose views are wildly unpopular with a good number of people living in the UK – myself included.

But my issue here is not with the BNP. I’d rather not show up on their radar thank you very much, and given what a public forum this is, the less I say the better. No. My issue is with the fact that my country’s flag is no longer consider a symbol of patriotism or of something in which we should be proud – it’s become a symbol of hatred.

Now don’t get me wrong – I’m not a strong supporter of all things British. I don’t proudly hang a flag in my window whenever there’s a major sporting event and I don’t really care less about the Royal Family. But what is happening to that flag is wrong.

I used to look at the relationships that Americans have with their flag and think that it was all just a little too much. Now I’m not so sure. I mean, what’s wrong with a little patriotism? What’s wrong with a little pride?

I’m not screaming from the rooftops about how proud I am to be British, but my country is not made up of racist hate mongers, and I’ll be damned if my flag is going to be thought of in that way.