What Kind Of Flags Are Those?

We have awfully short memories here in this country so it bears remembering that less than two years ago, the site of a Mexican flag at a rally sent wingnuts into a tizzy.

At the height of the anti-Mexican flag furor we even had Robert Novak opining that

"...flags are a symbol of national identity. The student brandishing the Mexican flag signals divided loyalty or perhaps loyalty to a foreign power."

Wingnut wackadoodle Michelle Malkin whipped her readers into a frenzy over “flag wars.” (Why is everything and I do mean everything a war with these people?)

We had Pahrump, Nevada outlawing foreign flags. (Why is the solution to everything and I do mean everything for these people to pass a law against it?)

We had the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum receiving threats to its animal exhibits because of the Mexican flag on its flagpole. (Why is it when right-wingers get angry, animals suffer?)

And yet Israel's flag is waved at pro-Israel rallies all across the country and no one complains.

Queen Wackadoodle “Grande Conservative Blogress Diva” Pam Geller even took some pictures at New York’s pro-Israel rally, and it looks to me like there were more Israeli flags a-flutter than American ones. Not that there’s anything wrong with that -- personally, I could care less. I don’t have a flag fetish. It’s just that Slate’s Mickey Kaus made such a big deal about the Mexican flags back in 2006, so I thought I’d mention it.

I am by no means the first blogger to notice this hypocrisy from the right wing. But since we’re talking nativism, it bears repeating. One might almost think these flag flaps really have nothing to do with flags at all.

Just as one might almost think these English-language purity campaigns having nothing to do with language.

Update: Museum Flags Fly Again

Updating a post from last week, the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum’s flags are back:

The flags of the United States, Arizona and Mexico are going back up in front of the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, in Tucson where they flew side by side for more than 50 years until last week.

Sophia Kaluzniacki , chair of the museum board, said Saturday the museum "caved" to anonymous threats from people angered to see the American flag next to the Mexican flag.

She called an emergency meeting Thursday after receiving more than 250 calls and e-mails regarding the flags removal earlier in the week.

The museum is also increasing its security budget by $100,000.

As I posted on Thursday, anonymous callers threatened the museum’s animal exhibits if the Mexican flag was not removed. Animals, of course, that take no sides in debates about immigration. Great plan, folks. And let's not forget: the museum received the flag as a gift of "friendship and brotherhood" from the governor of Sonora in 1954. But screw that friendship crap, let’s just spread as much hate as we can, shall we? And they wonder why we call them the lunatic fringe? Now the non-profit museum has to spend money on security that could have gone towards education or any number of other worthwhile causes.

Kaluzniacki said the board’s vote to reverse their earlier decision and restore the flags was unanimous:

"We decided if we're going to fight any fight, we're going to fight what we felt was the morally correct fight. We are not a political organization. Our work as conservationists, researchers and educators has nothing to do with politics," Kaluzniacki said. "This is a sign to extremists we will not give into threats."

It’s about time someone stood up to these idiots.

Unhinged

I really don’t get this flap over flags, but threatening animals that clearly have no partisan agenda and take no sides in the border debate strikes me as even more insane:

Desert Museum strikes colors

Complaints, threats over Mexican flag prompted removal

The Mexican flag flies no more over the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum — and the U.S. flag is gone, too.

The museum's board of trustees voted to remove the flags — which had flown side-by-side since 1954 — after receiving complaints and threats about flying the Mexican flag.

Questions from visitors about why the Mexican flag was being flown on U.S. soil escalated in the past couple of years, said board chairwoman Sophia Kaluzniacki.

An anonymous death threat against the museum's animals made earlier this year by a phone caller also factored into the board's decision, but to a lesser degree, she said. The desire to avoid controversy on border-related issues was the main thrust, she said.

"The Desert Museum doesn't want to make any political statement," said Kaluzniacki, a Green Valley veterinarian. "We are not a political institution so sometimes you have to consider what current issues are."

Museum employees were receiving three to five complaints a week from visitors about the presence and height of the Mexican flag, which flew at the same position as the U.S. flag, said museum spokesman Tim Vimmerstedt. Museum officials say the flag was a gift from a Sonoran governor more than a half-century ago.

It seems to me that some people in this country are growing increasingly unhinged. The fact that someone like Ann Coulter could make a very lucrative, successful career spouting her inanities (see Ann Coulter’s Heaven) is proof that mainstream thought has taken a sharp turn into wackadoodle land.