Am I the only one that has noticed, or has the American flag become a dancing meme? Politicians have, in the past three years, ordered the lowering of the flag so often that it has lost its meaning as a symbol of mourning or distress.
Noticing this caused me to wonder how this came to be. It used to be that the flag was reduced to half-staff when a president or governor died. Occasionally it was ordered to commemorate collective war dead on a significant anniversary of a battle, or a firefighter or police officer who died heroically in the line of duty. Why the uptick in flag lowering?
One thing I have noticed is that often the lowering of the flag done for what used to be insufficient reason for such a salute, is done at a time when the politician making the declaration has a need for positive, or at least neutral mention in the press.
Things may be going badly in the statehouse or in Washington D.C., and from nowhere, remains of a soldier lost in a war decades ago are repatriated and afforded the honor of the flag being lowered in their name. I’m not saying that the sacrifice of that soldier is insufficient cause for the salute. But we don’t dip the flag for every single person killed in combat.
More recently it has been the case that flag salutes are afforded at opportune times in order to support a particular agenda. In Wisconsin, embattled Governor Tony Evers recently declared that the flag be lowered in honor of a State Trooper who died of COVID-19. Again, a LOT of people have had that diagnosis as the cause of death on their death certificate. Should we lower the flag for each of them?
Thus the exercise becomes a public relations ploy that can never reflect badly on the politician responsible, while at the same time cheapening the effect of lowering the flag as a sign of respect for the departed. After all, if everyone is a hero, no one is a hero. Ultimately, the narcissism of the politician making such orders shines through. The honor offered isn’t about honoring the fallen. It’s about bringing positive attention to and bolstering the image of the one putting out the proclamation with his or her signature on it.
-Mike Jacob