Just finished reading this. I am sold on Brubaker (the author) and Captain America. My favorite hero at this point.
Check out this great visualized data compliments of the World Bank. It maps the wealth in the world per country. Simply click on a country an you get the data. Click here to launch the map.
A flag for a country often represents pieces of their history or values. Our flag for instance has its thirteen stripes representing the colonies and our rebellion against the crown onto independence. The stars represent the states and of course there is speculation as to the symbolism of the colors.
We have changed the flag throughout our history numerous times. The last time it changed was at the adoption of Alaska and Hawaii as states in 1959 to 1960. I love our flag and of course it has come to represent more than it's mere symbols as our history and national identity is attached to it.
The following illustration is not intended to desecrate our flag but rather I am using a powerful symbol that often represents a nation, and with a reconfiguration ask us to think about who we are and what we are becoming? This is a crude design focusing on some very negative conjecture, but the question I ask is "What indeed have we become?" I am convinced there in plenty of goodwill in America, but I will take a moment to focus on some very alarming realities I think have reshaped us.
This illustration explained.
1) Notice the enlarged star area. This represents the growth of government into a overtly huge and overwhelming entity. Bigger than it ought to be.
2) The federal governments control and scope has increased hence the strings holding the states as a puppeteer.
3) The parties are corrupt (by corporate interests) and capital hence their butts are tied to the world bank and brands encompass them. They of course hold power over us.
4) China is represented of course due to our oddly intimate relationship with a communist regime that seems to never be checked or balanced. Our financial dependance has created a compromise and hypocrisy in our policies economically and politically. These Chinese stars also represents all the weird and apparently compromising relationships we have had throughout history for the sake of gain.
5) The stars are different colors and shapes as we have morally taken a very polarized and odd direction from each other. This also represents the soon becoming chief value of America = Tolerance (the silencing of all disagreement with moral direction and the rejection of any one moral compass).
6) The flags multi-color, shapes and strings takes on the appearance of a child's mobil that might swing over their crib. This represents the markets (which run the country) attempts to infantilize and put to sleep "average" Americans (which = CONSUMERS). Keep a child-like mentality. This also represents the infantile mindset that comes on the citizens of welfare states. Personal responsibility slips away...
7) The stripes divided represent our disagreement over our history. Were the founding fathers godly or atheists? Were we founded on godly principles or not? Our division creates a re-reading of our constitution and leads to the continual erosion of its intent. It continues to be rewritten until it becomes a contradiction itself. This also represent the rewriting of our history that we are involved in (via the removal of monuments and writings).
8) Of course I will mention again the Department of Social Services logo whose growth represents our continued direction toward a more socialist state.
Let me know your thoughts. Again I want to state I am in know way attempting to to be disrespectful to our current flag or speak harm upon it. I am using this illustration to provoke us to think about our national identity as we are. How do you see your nation? We use images and icons to represent ideals and call people to rally around them. Are the images we are using truthful? What have they come to represent?
These are all questions I want us to answer personally. Especially as Christians. We are Christian Americans before American Christians. We are of a different kingdom and our understanding should be objective of the states we are in, not overtly patriotic.
To wrap this up, what actions and lifestyle changes do your conclusions call you too?
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Post by: Nathan Davis via http://redunk.vox.com
