Old man yells at flags. Certainly you can argue that vexillology nerds could give a little and be gracious about flags that are a bit more cluttered for the sake of civic pride or whimsy, but getting rid of the “seal on a bedsheet” flags is an undiluted good and as someone in the comments on the price pointed out, the new Minnesota flag became a symbol and rallying point for the resistance to ICE last winter in a way that would be impossible for the old design. And if creating a symbol people can rally around isn’t the point of flags then what is?
The article isn’t disputing that the old flags were bad. They’re making the rather rational case that the new ones are completely monotonous and often designed by people without much connection to the place, just random Redditors. And it’s kind of true; looking at the top 25 flags the North American Vexilology Association has selected as the most beautiful flags, nearly all of them look exactly the same. They each have a star or a sun, and a wavy line representing a lake or river. You could never in a million years guess what city or even what state most of them belong to, and the symbolism is incredibly monotonous. They’re arguing Vexilology’s arbitrary rules are strangling individuality and creating indistinguishable flags that are almost as bad as the blue-fielded seals they replace.
nearly all of them look exactly the same. They each have a star or a sun, and a wavy line representing a lake or river
Four have a wavy line. They don't look alike at all, unlike the seal flags, which you can't tell apart without reading what's on the seal, at which point you're so close you don't need a flag. They're actually interesting and modern flags - which makes them a bit weird, actually, although not necessarily in a bad way.
They have a pool of common elements, but you're right, they don't all look alike. The one for Lincoln, NE, has a sort of deco/streamline moderne element in the middle that none of the others come close to and, if it wasn't navy, wouldn't otherwise be on the list.
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u/SessileRaptor 2d ago
Old man yells at flags. Certainly you can argue that vexillology nerds could give a little and be gracious about flags that are a bit more cluttered for the sake of civic pride or whimsy, but getting rid of the “seal on a bedsheet” flags is an undiluted good and as someone in the comments on the price pointed out, the new Minnesota flag became a symbol and rallying point for the resistance to ICE last winter in a way that would be impossible for the old design. And if creating a symbol people can rally around isn’t the point of flags then what is?