@benroyce @matildalove I'm very sure it comes from proposing a post state that is beyond the current. The US has inflicted infinite pain to the world, so yeah, even if I was an american (perish the thought) I wouldn't touch the thing with a stick. There are valid conceptions of nation and civliization that don't require saving The Spirit Of The Country, and some may just require destroying it. I disagree very strongly with the "it's nuanced" posture. If your nation was responsible with shedding innocent blood at home and abroad since its inception, would you save it? The US flag is synonym with death everywhere except sometimes in the US.

And as someone who has travelled quite a bit and comes from a country ravaged by both Spain and the US, it is not the same to fly a US or British flag to preserve the symbol, than to do the same in, say, France. The amount of suffering inflicted by the former nations and their imperial after-effect is night and day in comparison to the latter. I'm not high on nationalism, but if a french guy told me he does believe in the good that France means, I can sorta kinda believe him and understand where they're coming from. I cannot do the same with the everlasting fascist empire. And I'm very tempted to believe that the Ancian regime would still be in place and the Republic dead if they tried to 'reclaim their symbol', instead of proposing a new one, even if the symbol chosen is no symbol.