[garinda]

Originally Posted by Gayle

Garinda, I know you've put this thread up to prove a point to me. But, I never said that flying the flag was racist. What I said was, that in my experience the only houses who fly the Union Jack permanently tended to be BNP. I visited those houses and was told by them who they vote for.

I'll take a bet that all the people who have voted that it isn't racist do not fly the flag permanently. You said yourself that you wouldn't fly it permanently, perhaps you should start.

And this is where the contradiction is. If everyone flew the flag permanently then it would lose any of those connotations, because the flag itself is not racist, but unfortunately people don't and won't.

Originally Posted by Gayle

I wish it were simply a matter of national pride but I agree with Rosebud it's been hijacked by people with a more political agenda.

The only time you can get away with flying the flag these days is during the world cup or if Henman were to have won more than one match. Shame!

Originally Posted by Gayle

When I was campaigning the other year I just knew to stay away from houses with the union jack flag flying outside - and yes there are a few in Ossy.

Originally Posted by Gayle

I remember saying that and I do stand by it - but I do think it's a different situation during the World Cup when everyone reclaims the flag from the racists thugs who have abused it for their own use.

Originally Posted by Gayle

Unfortunately a certain group of people took the Union Jack and abused for their own racist purposes to the point where regular, normal, patriotic people got too scared to display the Union Jack for fear of looking as though they belonged to a racist sect.

Originally Posted by Gayle

Unfortunately, I think you're in the minority if you don't believe that a house flying the Union Flag isn't doing it to make a specific point, other than simple patriotism.

The point of the poll wasn't to prove anything to you.

I wanted to see what other people thought.

From what people have posted the majority of people seemed not to think the way you do about the Union Jack and the Cross of St. George, and I wanted to see if this was backed up by a simple poll, which I tried to word as fairly as I could.

Happily the connotations about the flags being seen as a sign of right-wing extremism, aren't shared by the majority of people on here. Which makes your view the minority one.