eli5, why is \"But you ask me, the normalization of subdued-color flags on the upper right shoulder of like, t-shirts is the real ominous development\" the ominous development?
It’s modeled off of military uniforms from the sandbox wars. Rolling coal, murdered-out trucks, Blue Lives Matter flags \u2013 those are all subculture identifiers, fine. If you’re running that stuff it’s cause you consciously bought into the associated subculture identity.
The sleeve flags though, that just presents (and is worn as) all-American, though. Red country, really. And a broad section of society recognizing itself by militarizing its everyday appearance in a way that shades into normalizing paramilitary identity represents a more fundamental challenge than any loud-but-narrow vanguardist subculture.
That wouldn’t make sense to a 5yo but no one here is 5.
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