1499
Flag flown upside down as sign of distress outside of US State Department building today
(lemmy.world)
It looks like this is the end.
this post was submitted on 05 Feb 2025
1499 points (99.2% liked)
pics
20219 readers
2383 users here now
Rules:
1.. Please mark original photos with [OC] in the title if you're the photographer
2..Pictures containing a politician from any country or planet are prohibited, this is a community voted on rule.
3.. Image must be a photograph, no AI or digital art.
4.. No NSFW/Cosplay/Spam/Trolling images.
5.. Be civil. No racism or bigotry.
Photo of the Week Rule(s):
1.. On Fridays, the most upvoted original, marked [OC], photo posted between Friday and Thursday will be the next week's banner and featured photo.
2.. The weekly photos will be saved for an end of the year run off.
Instance-wide rules always apply. https://mastodon.world/about
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
The house has been burning and smoking for hours and people are still thinking that the fire just started
load more comments
(3 replies)
Does anyone else hear violins?
They say the world is turning around, I say the world is upside down—Joe Higgs
This has happened in México too, the most famously recorded one was during Enrique Peña Nieto's term (sorry for linking to YT). They said the flag thing was an accident, but it was during the Flag Day and everyone was angry with the way the government was handling things. The government-influenced media was angry with the military because "they made a mistake", but we all knew why it happened.
- Is this real
- What does it mean?
- Where are we in terms of worrying? Should I begin to start to think about worrying or something more urgent?
- I see little reason to doubt it
- It means whoever hoisted it considers there to be a crisis, which is consistent with accounts of public offices being overtaken by random young white men who are rapidly taking control.
- Speaking as a non-American political scientist having worked a little with rule of law and fascism, it seems a bit late to start worrying. Think about what you can do for yourself, your neighbours, and your country, urgently or in the longer term. It's going to be ugly for a while.
#3 depends where you are on the hit list I suppose. I'm trans, so I'm well past worry-o-clock and am actively making arrangements to leave the country. Someone like a cishet white male tech worker has a lot less to worry about though
load more comments
(2 replies)
load more comments
(4 replies)
Wasn't the upside down us flag thing used by j6'ers? Are the line workers taking it back as the symbol of a stolen country for themselves, or is this Musk and crew indicating we're fucked?
Its nothing exclusive to J6. Its an international sign that an insurrection or coup has occurred or is occurring.
Not quite, it's an international sign that a vessel is in distress.
Then mostly right wing lunatics co-opted it to mean that our country is in distress.
Which they co-opted from protesters in the 60's, rallying against the Vietnam war, which they co-opted from the Revolutionary war, where (allegedly, much harder to source), the revolutionaries also flew the Union Jack inverted. Its history to mean insurrection in the US is as old as the US.
Its been used in many other instances internationally, and yes, also at sea with a much deeper history to signal distress. Regardless, the pedantry is both technically and figuratively misplaced.
which they co-opted from the Revolutionary war, where (allegedly, much harder to source), the revolutionaries also flew the Union Jack inverted.
If they did, I assume a half dozen vexillology enthusiasts with good eyesight got very concerned.
load more comments
(3 replies)
load more comments
(2 replies)
Performative resistance from inside the machine. Cute gesture, but distress signals only work when someone's actually coming to help. Meanwhile, career diplomats keep writing memos and processing visas while posting their quiet protests on social.
Remember when we thought these symbols meant something would change? Now it's just content for the outrage cycle. Tomorrow there'll be a strongly worded letter, maybe some resigned LinkedIn posts from mid-level FSOs.
The machinery keeps grinding, upside down flag or not. Though I suppose watching institutional despair go viral is peak 2025.
load more comments
(1 replies)