Monday 26 March 2012

Lord Noel On American Flag Waving

What ho! Pepys...


I have been reading a little about the American flag and I have found out that the 'Pledge of Allegiance' was written by one Francis Julius Bellamy (May 18, 1855 – August 28, 1931), a Baptist minister from New York, who had some interesting political ideas — he was a Christian Socialist who believed in the equal distribution of economic resources in accordance with the teachings of Jesus...
...but not the distribution of voting rights to women or immigrants.

By 1891, Bellamy was tired of his ministry and accepted a job from one of his congregants, Daniel S. Ford, owner and editor of Youth’s Companion, a nationally circulated magazine for adolescents. Bellamy was hired to help out the magazine’s premium department, where he worked on a campaign to sell American flags to public schools as a way to solicit subscriptions. By the end of the year, the magazine had sold flags to some 26,000 schools. But there were still more than a few holdouts.
They gave the campaign a shot in the arm by arranging a patriotic program for schools to coincide with the opening of the 1892 Columbian Exposition in October, the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus’ arrival in the New World. Part of the program would be a new salute to the flag that schoolchildren would recite in unison. That August, just a few weeks before the exposition and mere days from his deadline, Bellamy sat down and composed the pledge. He approached it in part as a response to the Civil War, which was still fresh in the national memory, and decided to focus on the ideas of allegiance and loyalty.
Bellmay’s pledge was published in the September 8, 1892, issue of Youth’s Companion - and has been tampered with by various people ever since.

Surprisingly late in American history, on Flag Day in 1923, a group of organizations headed by the American Legion outlined the 'National Flag Code' as a set of advisory rules for displaying the flag. These rules became law during World War II and form the bulk of what’s now the United States Flag Code.
These rules cover all manner of extremely specific situations, but they’re all governed by the same basic principle: the flag is one of the most visible and important symbols of our country, so we should treat it with respect.

One of the rules covers the question 'Is it acceptable to fly the flag upside down?'

The flag code DOES allow for flying the flag with the union (the blue field of stars) down but only

“as a signal of dire distress in instances of extreme danger to life or property.” 

America - Maybe that time is NOW?

Tallyho!
Best Wishes - Lord Noel

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