The New York Times, in its incessant attempts to remake American history and compartmentalize the American people, offered six new designs for the American flag,
“The American flag is a potent piece of national iconography, but its design shifted frequently until the early 1900s. What if it were redesigned today? We asked artists and graphic designers to try,” the Times opined last week. “Some are functional designs, others artistic renderings; some represent America as it could be, others how the artist sees the country now.”
One of the designs, from artist Andrew Kuo, had four rectangles; one square had red and white stripes and the other three showed solid blue, yellow, and green rectangles. “According to the artist the red stripes represent the past, the white stripes represent the future, while the solid colors represent ‘untapped potential,’ “repairing systemic racism,’ and ‘taking care of our planet,’” Fox News reported, adding:
Another design titled, “Lift Every Voice and Sing” merges several prominent flags like the “Don’t Tread on Me” and “Black Lives Matter” into one, while another monochrome, gray one with stars “represents America surrendering to its fall from power and loss of the ideals it once stood for.”
The project was part of the Times’ “Snap Out of It, America!” series, which the Times has described as “A new series from Times Opinion exploring bold ideas to revitalize and renew the American experiment.”
On July 3, the day before America’s Independence Day, the Times tweeted, “Today, flying the American flag from the back of a pickup truck or over a lawn is increasingly seen as a clue, albeit an imperfect one, to a person’s political affiliation in a deeply divided nation.”
Today, flying the American flag from the back of a pickup truck or over a lawn is increasingly seen as a clue, albeit an imperfect one, to a person’s political affiliation in a deeply divided nation. https://t.co/TODmHEmPsO
— The New York Times (@nytimes) July 3, 2021
Times writer Sarah Nir wrote, “What was once a unifying symbol — there is a star on it for each state, after all — is now alienating to some, its stripes now fault lines between people who kneel while ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ plays and those for whom not pledging allegiance is an affront.”
In June, speaking on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” New York Times editorial board member Mara Gay pronounced that she was “disturbed” when she saw numerous American flags on pick-up trucks, claiming the message was white people telling others, “This is my country. This is not your country. I won this.”
Gay stated:
You know, the reality is here that we have a large percentage of the American population — I don’t know how big it is, but we have tens of millions of Trump voters who continue to believe that their rights as citizens are under threat by simple virtue of having to share the democracy with others. I think that as long as they see “American-ness” as the same as one with “whiteness,” this is going to continue. We have to figure out how to get every American a place at the table in this democracy but how to separate “American-ness,” America, from “whiteness.” Until we can confront that and talk about that, this is really going to continue.
I was on Long Island this weekend visiting a really dear friend. I was really disturbed; I saw dozens and dozens of pick-up trucks with explicatives (sic) against Joe Biden on the back of them; Trump flags, and in some cases just dozens of American flags, which is also just disturbing, because essentially the message was clear. It was, “This is my country. This is not your country. I won this.”
And so until we’re ready to have that conversation, this is going to continue. What really is concerning to me as well is it’s not just Democrats in Congress; I think there’s a large percentage of Americans, even from my colleagues in journalism who are invested in some way in pretending that this isn’t the threat that it is. That is the real concern, because the Trump voters who are not going to get on board with democracy, they’re a minority; you can marginalize them long-term. But if we don’t take the threat seriously, then I think we’re really all in bad shape.
The Times tweeted, “New York Times editorial board member Mara Gay’s comments on MSNBC have been irresponsibly taken out of context. Her argument was that Trump and many of his supporters have politicized the American flag. The attacks on her today are ill-informed and grounded in bad faith.”
New York Times editorial board member Mara Gay's comments on MSNBC have been irresponsibly taken out of context. Her argument was that Trump and many of his supporters have politicized the American flag. The attacks on her today are ill-informed and grounded in bad-faith.
— NYTimes Communications (@NYTimesPR) June 8, 2021
The Times was blasted on social media. Former Fox News anchor and current podcast host Megyn Kelly: “Spin away — we heard her loud and clear.”
Spin away – we heard her loud and clear.
— Megyn Kelly (@megynkelly) June 8, 2021
Newsbusters’ Curtis Houck added, “I see you guys and gals are going with the ‘tweet through it strategy.’ Bold move!”
I see you guys and gals are going with the "tweet through it strategy." Bold move! pic.twitter.com/zmeDYTRtiT
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) June 9, 2021
Actor Nick Searcy: “Wrong. She hates the country, and that is why she works for you.”
Wrong. She hates the country, and that is why she works for you. @nytimes https://t.co/qQXY9CTp0i
— Nick Searcy, INSURRECTIONAL FILM & TELEVISION STAR (@yesnicksearcy) June 9, 2021
Fox News host Laura Ingraham: “She’s disturbed by seeing American flags. What exactly was taken out of context? The word ‘American’? Or the word ‘flags’? Air ball.”
She's disturbed by seeing American flags. What exactly was taken out of context? The word "American"? Or the word "flags"? Air ball. https://t.co/ZQ3gu7EKbm
— Laura Ingraham (@IngrahamAngle) June 9, 2021
“Dilbert” creator Scott Adams: “’Politicized the American flag’ is a strange way to describe patriotism.”
"Politicized the American flag" is a strange way to describe patriotism. https://t.co/Ybk48Z1NCR
— Scott Adams (@ScottAdamsSays) June 9, 2021
Radio host Erick Erickson: “No no, we can all see the clip for ourselves and the left is out defending her focus on giant American flags from trucks. She really doesn’t like people who fly the flag and thinks they are all Trump supporters or racists or both.”
No no, we can all see the clip for ourselves and the left is out defending her focus on giant American flags from trucks. She really doesn't like people who fly the flag and thinks they are all Trump supporters or racists or both. https://t.co/TCFt0SeUTP
— Erick Erickson (@EWErickson) June 9, 2021