The flag
: In Jay Rosen’s latest post about 9/11 and journalism, there is this about journalists wearing the flag:
Apparently if you say things like “journalism changed after 09/11” you sound like a fellow traveler with Fox, and with the Right’s work-the-refs view that “journalists are unpatriotic and bad because they show bad stuff on TV which undermines Amerca,” as [Matt] Stoller put it. Use language like “duty to the nation” and you sound like a winger.
Well… I think any journalist of any persuasion would have been wise to wear a little American flag on their lapel after 09/11, and even wiser to explain what the symbol meant in that context, going on air with the news. If necessary, fight about the flag and what it says when worn in a gesture of solidarity.
But I’m also intrigued with the idea of the flag-less press, which shows no signs of membership, no solidarity, except the fraternity of fellow observers.
I’m so glad to hear Jay say that.
I never but never was a flag-waver or -wearer before 9/11. I started afterwards. My view: Evil swine killed thousands around me and tried to kill me that day just because I am American. So, of course, I will wear my flag as the tiniest sign of defiance. I know that wearing the flag confuses people (flag=right) but I don’t care. I want to reclaim the flag from partisans and apologists and terrorists. I wish we all wore the flag. I wish we were all united enough to do so.
I am an American. As we say here in Jersey, You gotta problem with that?
