"Showing the flag"

Graphis, May/Jun 2002 by Margolin, Victor

In troubled times, communities seek symbols of unity. For Americans during wartime, the flag has historically served such a purpose. In World War I and World War II, it unequivocally represented American patriotism. The Vietnam War was a different story. Many people opposed that war and the flag often served as a critical or ironic symbol to assert a contradiction between the values it had traditionally stood for and American involvement in Vietnam. In fact, many graphic designers and artists used the flag as a basis for protest statements.

Following the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, the American flag again became a patriotic symbol. It appeared everywhere; draped from front porches, as a bumper sticker and as a lapel pin, Unlike its use during the two World Wars or even the Vietnam War, the commercialization of the flag since the attacks has been rampant. Manufacturers have shown no shame in using it as a pattern for women's bathing suits or producing magazine ads that incorporate their products into its design. For many people, however, displaying the flag is an unequivocal expression of patriotism. It not only suggests that they support America's response to the terrorist attacks and the nation's quest for retribution; it also declares that they have interpreted the incidents of September 11 symbolically as assaults on America itself. After the attacks there were numerous occasions where people from the Middle East and Near East were harassed simply because they appeared to come from the same part of the world as the terrorists. In several instances, this harassment was so indiscriminate that Indian Sikhs, whose religion is completely different from Islam, were hassled as Well. The media presented many stories of people who feared or experienced violent attacks simply because of their appearance or beliefs. Many these people displayed American flags, not because they had been included in the community that united around the tragedy, but because they had been left out. The old melting pot idea of one nation with many faces was strongly challenged as it had been during World War II when thousands of Japanese-- Americans were rounded up by government agents and sent to internment camps for the duration of the war. Despite President Bush's repeated declaration that he is waging war on terrorists and not on Muslims, many Americans do not distinguish between the two and for those who feel oppressed, showing the flag is a way to protest themselves. Sad to say that this should be the case. The flag was never meant to protect Americans from others. It was intended to be a symbol of shared pride. But it can only fulfill that function if the actual conditions of life warrant it for everyone and the fact is, they don't.

By adopting the flag as the deepest American symbol of nationhood, those who stand behind it are expressing a belief in America that goes well beyond the desire to participate in a united response to the attacks of September 11. Yet we as Americans do not all hold the same beliefs. There was one incident shortly after the attack where an African-American fire fighter in New York was rebuked by his superiors for not displaying a flag on his fire truck even though he did not share the positive feelings about America that bearing the flag suggested. Ironically, the mandate to display the flag on his truck exemplified the very tyranny that Americans are supposed to have rejected well over two hundred years ago.

For graphic designers, something can be learned from the multiple meanings the flag has taken on in the wake of September 11. Usage is a powerful factor in determining the meaning of words-the same holds true for the meaning of flags. In some situations, the public-spirited sentiments behind the American flag are persuasively communicated; in others, no amount of breast beating can sustain the flag as a symbol af patriotism.

Victor Margolin is Professor of Design at the University of Illinois in Chicago, his Op-Ed appears on pg. 12. "As a design historian with social concerns, I have a keen interest in how design functions in society and have written about this topic from a number of different angles: a full-length book on three members of the Russian European avant-garde; articles on design and sustainability; lectures and articles on the history of African-American designers in Chicago. My articles and essays address both scholarly audiences and the general public because I feel that design involves everyone. For that reason, the way the flag, as a powerful graphic symbol, became an icon for Americans to rally around after the horrible attacks of September 11 engaged me. The power that the flag has accrued confirms the fact that those who produce visual signs and symbols, namely, graphic designers, have the potential to influence people. The kind of work they do and the type of influence they have is, of course, something that each designer needs to consider for himself."