For as long as I can recollect, the British national flag has always been known as the “Union Jack” -- a Jack being a flag indicating nationality. The U.S. Navy also has a “Jack” -- a blue flag with a star for each State. I gather that “Jacks” were originally called such because they were flown from the “jack-staff” of a sailing vessel. But in recent times the term “Union Jack” seems to have dropped out of use. All we now hear is “Union Flag” -- which is a lot of nonsense as there are any number of political unions in the world. Which union? The Soviet union? The European union?
Score one for feminism I guess. “Jack” was obviously too masculine. Many who fought under the Union Jack must be sad at their flag being denationalized, though.
Strictly speaking, a Jack is a small flag so “Union flag” is better from a heraldic point of view but I think it is political correctness rather than heraldic correctness that has changed the normal usage from what it once always was.
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MORE ON "ALLOWING" HARM
A good comment from a reader on my recent posting about the difference between doing harm and "allowing" harm:
Liberals know full well that we are unable to stop "all harm" - but, as long as any evil exists anywhere, they can blame conservatives for "not doing enough". Also, they do not differentiate good intentions and good deeds - as long as they "intend" to eliminate all harm (by good deeds - such as giving food to African dictators, etc.) they "feel good".
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HMMM.....
A reader writes:
Have you ever tried using against the anti-war protesters the line that: "The antiwar protesters don't trust the 'coloreds' with Democracy and that is why they are trying to kill the last best chance of Western-style Democracy in the region?" It causes everyone I've seen to blanch; they try to reconcile being "pro-Democratic" with being anti-Racist and recognize they can't do it.
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