this post was submitted on 18 May 2024
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Today, a bunch of people on my Mastodon feed are making declarations about somebody apparently flying a flag upside down, and this apparently has something to do with the New York Times being terrible.

What happened?

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[–] RobotToaster@mander.xyz 68 points 5 months ago (4 children)

Flying the US flag upside down on ship is apparently a distress signal.

(Flying the UK flag upside down just makes people think you're an idiot.)

[–] snooggums@midwest.social 40 points 5 months ago (2 children)

Jan 6th insurrectionists were using it to say the country was in distress because of the "stolen election" lie.

[–] snownyte@kbin.social 24 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Funny because THEY were the ones causing the country to go in distress.

[–] FaceDeer@fedia.io 23 points 5 months ago

Every accusation is an admission.

[–] RizzRustbolt@lemmy.world 0 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (2 children)

And folks on the left were doing it after Trump was elected to symbolize their resistence.

Misusing a flag has always been a back and forth argument in political circles.

It's a nothingburger in my opinion.

[–] feedum_sneedson@lemmy.world 2 points 5 months ago

semen sandwich

[–] snooggums@midwest.social 1 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (1 children)

If you ignore context, sure, but then you would look like an idiot who doesn't understand how to read a calendar.

[–] RizzRustbolt@lemmy.world -1 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Are you okay? Do you need a cookie? Or possibly a hug?

[–] snooggums@midwest.social 1 points 5 months ago

Nah, I have people who love me.

[–] gregorum@lemm.ee 10 points 5 months ago (3 children)

Does the UK flag even have an “upside down”?

[–] Ephera@lemmy.ml 25 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Oh boy, you're possibly in for a treat. I didn't notice this for far too long either, but the UK flag is at a complete wonk:

It's got rotational symmetry, but if you just flip it vertically, the thin red stripes will be the wrong way around.

[–] gregorum@lemm.ee 12 points 5 months ago

See, that’s where I was confused. Since it has rotational symmetry, I didn’t notice, since I just took an image and rotated it— but it didn’t consider how a flag hangs from a flagpole, with one edge having eyeholes for a rope or string. This means it would be inverted, not rotated, and the stripes would be different.

[–] RobotToaster@mander.xyz 7 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Yes.

In the upper corner of the flag nearest the flagpole, the wider diagonal white stripe should be above the red diagonal stripe. If the red is above the wider white stripe the flag is upside-down.

https://www.college-of-arms.gov.uk/resources/union-flag-faqs

Even our own government screws it up though https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2020/03/05/union-flag-has-flying-outside-parliament-upside/

[–] gregorum@lemm.ee 1 points 5 months ago

Wow, that’s so subtle!

[–] BlueEther@no.lastname.nz 1 points 5 months ago

very much so, just look at the corners

[–] sailingbythelee@lemmy.world 7 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

Flying the national maritime ensign upside down is an internationally recognized distress signal. A UK-flagged boat wouldn't fly the Union Jack upside down (which would be rather ineffective), but rather the Red Ensign (for civilian vessels).

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Ensign

[–] hoshikarakitaridia@lemmy.world 7 points 5 months ago (2 children)

Some additional information on that:

Generally, depending on the country there's laws for that.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_protocol

Violating these laws can lead to varying degrees of fines and or prosecution, depending on the country and the type of country flag desecration (burning a flag is worse than getting the height of the flag on the pole wrong).

Half mast is the more famous distress signal internationally.

That said, Alito, even if not doing something illegal, is definitely signalling something very ominous. I agree with the experts that such an extreme degree of the appearance of impropriety is definitely gonna run afoul of supreme court ethics rules.

But: no check of power means no executive power and that means a rule might as well be unwritten.

[–] FireTower@lemmy.world 14 points 5 months ago (1 children)

Flag code in the US has no teeth. Flag burning is legal per Texas v. Johnson. Symbolizing a stance of the nation being in distressed is definitely protected speech. Impropriety is a stretch for a statement on his private property that amounts to "our country is in turmoil".

[–] Bytemeister@lemmy.world 3 points 5 months ago

Flag code in the US is just recommendations for citizens. I think it is only "enforced" for military personnel.

[–] HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 5 points 5 months ago

burning a flag is the appropriate way to dispose of a flag I don't know what you're talking about