New Minnesota Flag

[LilianaUwU]

Maybe they should just remove ALL symbolisms and background color from it.

How do you remove a background colour from a flag?

Just fly a transparent sheet of plastic.

[Molandfreak]

I approach every topic with the amount of historical nuance and depth it deserves until a point comes when it is clearly being appropriated for other interests. The appropriation of the old flag to suit the interests of organizations with all edge and no point is what I'm complaining about, since I didn't even mind the old flag.

[mgk920]

There is a considerable amount of merchandise featuring the new flag design that just wasn't there with the old seal on a bedsheet. The state parks and historic sites sell stickers modeled after the new flag, while the amount of merchandise featuring the old seal/flag was very few and far between, owing to the fact that it was a generic design not easily distinguishable from around half the states. That speaks to the success of the rebrand far more than anything those promoting the use of the old flag ever will.

And yes, mods, saying that the new flag looks like a "foreign" flag is a racist dog whistle. The new flag was even adapted from its original design to appear less like a Somali regional flag.

Of course, when the logical arguments run out, ALWAYS then go to ad-hominums!



(Where are the complaints about the new Georgia state flag?)

Mike

[Molandfreak]

(Where are the complaints about the new Georgia state flag?)

https://www.reddit.com/r/vexillologyUS/s/UY7Okt0D4G

[Molandfreak]

Maybe they should just remove ALL symbolisms and background color from it.

How do you remove a background colour from a flag?

Just fly a transparent sheet of plastic.

[LilianaUwU]

Anyways, they should've went with my suggestion:

the new MN flag if it was good

[Rothman]

Because it's become an issue worthy of revisiting for some reason, even as the new flag has become a cultural icon that the old flag just never was.

Has it?  There hasn't been really anything in the past two years posted on forum to suggest one way or another.  A little background history might help me at least understand because I'm not finding much online aside from local authorities electing to keep the older flag.

Sticking it to Walz and the big bad "liberal" Twin Cities and its "DEI culture"... or something such tosh.

Is that actually the reason?  That's an honest question.  I feel like so much since this thread has revived relies upon having preexisting intimate knowledge of the Minnesota state flag debate.

More or less... Especially since Walz announced he wasn't running again, conservative leaning towns have declared open season on putting up the old flag and such.

And I'm gathering the new flag was something promoted by Walz's administration?

Essentially yes. The old flag, aside from being generic af, features the old seal. Which depicted a Native American individual riding off into the sunset while a European farmer works their newly "acquired" field. The legislation that allowed for the new flag and seal was signed by Walz several years ago. Never underestimate the passive-aggressive pettiness of rural and exurban upper midwesterners...

Really isn't the case often in all states where there is a pretty wide disconnect between urban and rural areas?  We have people in northern California who are still hardliners for the state Jefferson movement. 

I guess what's fascinating to me being so far removed from my Midwest years is seeing this phenomenon in Minnesota.  I had (probably still have) a lot of family in the rural parts of the state.  Most of them came from farming or blue collar backgrounds.  It never really hit me how left leaning Minnesota is until recent years. 

There's good reason why the Democratic Party in MN is the DFL.

[Scott5114]

Of course, when the logical arguments run out, ALWAYS then go to ad-hominums!

Those are some big words for somebody whose state flag is just a white sheet with a poop emoji on it.

[kphoger]

The old flag, aside from being generic af, features the old seal. Which depicted a Native American individual riding off into the sunset while a European farmer works their newly "acquired" field.

Not since 1983, for what it's worth.

[on_wisconsin]

The old flag, aside from being generic af, features the old seal. Which depicted a Native American individual riding off into the sunset while a European farmer works their newly "acquired" field.

Not since 1983, for what it's worth.

The '83 change was an only deck chair reshuffle refacing the individual in question "south" rather than "west". But it didn't really fix the subtle messaging (Native American figure riding away from the farmstead, etc.). https://newmnflag.org/about/history

[Max Rockatansky]

Of course, when the logical arguments run out, ALWAYS then go to ad-hominums!

Those are some big words for somebody whose state flag is just a white sheet with a poop emoji on it.

It might be just me, but a white flag with a poop emoji seems to be a step up from the design of a lot of state flags.

[PColumbus73]

What do the dolphins have to say about the Minnesota flag?

[kphoger]

The '83 change was an only deck chair reshuffle refacing the individual in question "south" rather than "west". But it didn't really fix the subtle messaging (Native American figure riding away from the farmstead, etc.). https://newmnflag.org/about/history

Ehh, I guess... ?  Riding is what people on horseback do, though, isn't it?

Here in Kansas, the state seal has a homesteader plowing a field in the foreground, two Indians riding horses in the background (chasing bison), and the motto Ad astra per aspera.  You could argue that the motto was tied to a belief in manifest destiny, that one of the "difficulties" being overcome on the way to "the stars" was the robust homestead protections included in the Wyandotte Constitution of 1859, and therefore that the seal depicts basically the same thing as Minnesota's.  Yet I never hear anyone say we need to redesign our state seal.

[kphoger]

What do the dolphins have to say about the Minnesota flag?

whistle-click-whistle-click-click

[Max Rockatansky]

What do the dolphins have to say about the Minnesota flag?

whistle-click-whistle-click-click

Translated that means:

"Must destroy the Key Bridge."

[kphoger]

Heh.  North Dakota's seal has an Indian riding off toward the sunset, and also a plow, but no farmer anywhere to be seen.  I wonder if the Indian killed him...

[7/8]

There is a considerable amount of merchandise featuring the new flag design that just wasn't there with the old seal on a bedsheet. The state parks and historic sites sell stickers modeled after the new flag, while the amount of merchandise featuring the old seal/flag was very few and far between, owing to the fact that it was a generic design not easily distinguishable from around half the states. That speaks to the success of the rebrand far more than anything those promoting the use of the old flag ever will.

And yes, mods, saying that the new flag looks like a "foreign" flag is a racist dog whistle. The new flag was even adapted from its original design to appear less like a Somali regional flag.

Of course, when the logical arguments run out, ALWAYS then go to ad-hominums!

And yet you still haven't answered the questions I asked yesterday.

[GaryV]

Maybe they should just remove ALL symbolisms and background color from it.

So essentially made from Saran Wrap?

[formulanone]

What do the dolphins have to say about the Minnesota flag?

24-7

[thspfc]

The new flag is bland, the old flag was bland, most state flags are bland.

It's no coincidence that the not-bland state flags are the ones that are actually well known and prided by residents. (Texas is bland but to be honest "Lone Star State" is way catchier than "North Star State" anyway.)

[kphoger]

The new flag is bland, the old flag was bland, most state flags are bland.

I know I've said this before but, historically, a state flag was typically just a thing to put the state seal on, because the state seal was what anybody cared about.  You want to fly your state's emblem outside the house of government? then slap it on a "bedsheet" and run it up a flagpole.

But, because there's a sense of national identity tied to a national flag, state flags have naturally come to be associated with state pride, so they're now being seen as some sort of brand identity thing that they just never were when they were first drawn up.  Hence the calls to replace all the boring "seal on a bedsheet" flags with something more stylized and modern.  And then, ironically, they all come out looking rather boring in the end—just in a non-bedsheet sort of way.

Maybe we need something other than a flag to fill the need for some sort of state brand identity thing.  Something like a logo. where the "rules" are looser and you don't have to stay inside the lines.

[Rothman]

I'll put up the NY flag against any other.  How many other flags have Liberty kicking around the British Crown like a soccer ball?

[oscar]

I'll put up the NY flag against any other.  How many other flags have Liberty kicking around the British Crown like a soccer ball?

Virginia is a worthy contender. Its flag and state seal show a crown lying on the ground, next to the royal corpse, on which the goddess Virtus is standing.

The official version of the flag and seal has Virtus with one exposed breast. Some prissy Republicans insist on covering her up.

[Rothman]

I'll put up the NY flag against any other.  How many other flags have Liberty kicking around the British Crown like a soccer ball?

Virginia is a worthy contender. Its flag and state seal show a crown lying on the ground, next to the royal corpse, on which the goddess Virtus is standing.

The official version of the flag and seal has Virtus with one exposed breast. Some prissy Republicans insist on covering her up.

Eh, looks like they crowned Caesar...

[kphoger]

The official version of the flag and seal has Virtus with one exposed breast. Some prissy Republicans insist on covering her up.

Which is ironic, considering that the exposed breast is practically the only way you can tell she's female.