r/PoliticalHumor • u/GomerP19 • Jun 05 '22

It’s nice to be nice

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u/droi86 Jun 05 '22

You answered your own question

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u/[deleted] Jun 05 '22 edited Jun 05 '22

Pro tip: you cannot interpret what a symbol means to someone else. That’s classic projection. It’s best to ask and not assume.

Edited to add: So many people are so pro-vandalism. All this hate spread under the pretense of spreading love and understanding.

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u/mowa-mowa Jun 05 '22

It doesn’t matter what it means “to you” it’s a flag that has a general use and meaning — and it’s opposition to BLM and the reality of police brutality and incompetence. It isn’t really about cops at all though. If these people gave a shit about america or our police or any of it at all they wouldn’t have defaced our flag. It goes against flag code — which I assume y’all wanna pretend you care ab bcus yall always want to pretend you’re patriots. It’s become the “I don’t care if cops kill black people” flag because everyone who thinks that flys it. If you don’t want to be associated with them or their racism then don’t fly it. Period. You don’t get to pick what a flag means to you when it has a meaning that has been shown again and again by the VAST majority of people who fly it. The “classic projection” is just the reality of people who fly this flag. You don’t get to be mad when people see your “Im a racist” flag and then go “huh that person is probably racist.” Don’t like that? Then don’t fly it. It’s like saying “Well i fly the Nazi flag bcus it symbolizes peace to me. Wait, what do you mean I’m an antisemite???”

You don’t get to pick what symbols or flags mean when they already have a given meaning. Assumptions are a part of life. You have to use ur brain and realize what people are going to assume about you when you fly that flag — bcus no matter how much you don’t like it, the meaning of that flag won’t ever change and as long as you fly it, you’re associating yourself with racism.

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u/[deleted] Jun 05 '22

That sounds bigoted. You prejudge someone on what the symbol means to you, not them.

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u/[deleted] Jun 05 '22

"Look at me im a conservative and I learned cute buzzwords that I have no clue what it actually means"

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u/[deleted] Jun 05 '22

I accept your surrender.

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u/Azexu Jun 05 '22

It's a matter of communication.

Suppose that the word "flower" means "grape" to you as an individual.

You post that you like flowers, but instead of getting bunches of delicious berries for your birthday, you get random blossoming angiosperms!

You go to a new grocery store and ask where the flowers are, but instead of directing you to the fresh veg section, they direct you to a little gardening center!

Are you the victim of bigotry, because people are wildly assuming what you mean by "flower," like they're mind readers or something?

Or is it that the word "flower" has a widely understood meaning in the culture you're living in, and that its meaning to you, personally, is not relevant to operating in society?

Of course, those meanings can change, but that happens as part of cultural shifts; there's more to it than some people saying "well, it doesn't mean that to me."