This Is Where We Are
and why it might be a good sign, actually
My neighbors fly the American flag on their house, upside-down.
I see it every day, every time I go outside for any reason, and multiple times on running days. My curiosity about why has become something bordering on obsession.
Are they progressive hippies who are symbolically protesting the desperately conservative Joe Biden and his terrible failure to enact the left’s agenda by canceling student loans and mortgages, nationalizing healthcare, and making Transgender Day of Remembrance a federal holiday? Do they fly the flag upside down in honor of every woman who has died in a back alley abortion and whose memory is diminished by the overturning of Roe vs Wade?
Are they hardcore Trump-loving MAGA types who will fly the flag upside down until the interloper, Joe Biden, who is illegally occupying the White House is frog-marched off in handcuffs and President Donald J. Trump is returned to the Oval Office in glory? Do they fly the flag upside down in honor of every American who has died in the armed forces whose sacrifice is now dishonored by the hair-sniffing pretender?
From careful observation, I have some clues about what might be happening with my mysterious neighbors. But in the interest of avoiding my own confirmation bias, I investigated whether this is indicative of a larger trend. Guess what?
It is, but on both sides.
The left are flying flags upside down to protest, among other things, overturning Roe vs Wade.
The right are flying flags upside down to protest, among other things, the FBI raid of Mar-a-Lago.
So which side are my neighbors on? Upside-down-flag flying is indicative of being on the far side of the political spectrum, but which side—left, or right?