Australia's national flags - pride, politics and problems
Waving the flag National flags engender emotion - positive emotions such as pride and patriotism if representative of the country one belongs to (e.g. at the Olympic Games) or not (on international sporting occasions such as soccer or football), including if there is references to a cause one sees as worth fighting for (e.g. Free Tibet!, End the war in Gaza) or opposition if the item is representative of something sinister, dark and definitely what one is opposed to (e.g. the NAZI flag). These emotions can vary, become confused, flipped or outdated. The latter aspect - being considered outdated and no longer truly representative - is a good example in regard to the Australia flag which happens to include in its upper left corner the flag of another nation, namely British Union Jack. It now therefore represents Australia membership of the British Empire or Commonwealth, subservience to the British monarchy, and the lack of true independence as a nation state. Over recent decades there h...