On March 2 the Utah Legislature voted to approve the new Beehive Flag as of March 9.
This change was because the old flag of Utah was just the state seal on a blue background, like a lot of state flags, including New Hampshire’s. It is nice to see Utah get rid of a boring design and have a flag that is interesting to look at. While changing the state flag is not the most important issue, it is still a nice touch to see the rejection of meaningless traditions and embracing modernism.
While it is just a trivial change, some Republicans in Utah are making a mountain out of a beehive. Some Republicans in Utah are comparing this flag change to the Nazis in Germany and the Communists in Russia changing their flags in the past.
Jay Evensen of Desert News wrote, “While no one keeps statistics on such things, I would guess people threw the words ‘woke,’ ‘Marxist’ and ‘child sex trafficking’ as weapons more in hearings on the state flag than for any other proposed issue during the 2023 session.”
Yes, people are actually stupid enough to make all of those real accusations for a change to a state flag. One person during a hearing on the new flag in the Senate Business and Labor Committee made a very unusual statement when referring to a prototype for the new flag. An earlier version of the flag apparently had an eight-point star, which she referred to, the current flag has a five-point star.
In reference to the eight-point star, she said, “It’s on the … floor in the Capitol Building in Washington D.C., and it represents the underground tunnels for child sex trafficking.”
The crazy beliefs of QAnon have made it so that people will cry wolf at changes to a state flag. Maybe they just changed the flag because the old one was boring and the government is not dog-whistling their pedophile and fascist agendas. Occam’s razor would suggest that is the case.
In spite of ridiculous conspiracy theorists and just whiners in general, I think changing the boring designs of flags is a good idea. I especially think that the government of New Hampshire should change its flag. It is not something that is too important, but it is a good way to show that state governments are not just lazy at flag design.
Citizens of a state should be proud of their flag; it is very hard to be proud of a state seal on a blue background. Holding on to traditions no matter what leads to people thinking any change means that people are hiding secret agendas. We as a society should embrace evolution and logical thinking instead of listening to wild forums on the internet.
Finding patterns where there are none is not a sign of intelligence, it is a warning of a delusional mind. The people making insane claims about the flag need psychiatric help and should not be listened to by rational people.
Nico Brazill can be contacted at
nbrazill@kscequinox.com
