saztronic wrote:JSWill... I can't explain why this bothers you so much, but I'm also not sure the that the information you're reacting to is correct, other than in a kind of hyper-technical sense.
The flag of the United States itself has changed at lot, after all. It originally had thirteen stars, now has fifty, and in between it changed 26 times -- if not every time a new state was added, then still, plenty of times.
But OK, I'll grant you that the *design* of the flag has stayed roughly the same for a relatively long time as these things go. But several other countries (in addition to Denmark and Austria) have flags whose basic design hasn't changed a lot in at least as long, sometimes longer.
The flag of the Netherlands have been in use since 1572. It's the oldest tricolor flag still in use. But its designation as the *official* flag of the Netherlands by the government didn't come until 1937, during a time of nationalist pride prompted by the rise and threat of the Nazi state in Germany. Does this mean that it wasn't the *real* flag of the Netherlands before 1937? Not really... it was already used by the navy, the government, etc.
The United Kingdom's flag was designed in 1606 and adopted in 1707, but didn't become the official Union Jack that it is today until 1801, the addition of Ireland to the UK, when they added a few new red stripes to it.
Russia is using the same flag that it used unofficially from 1668 until 1917... its use was interrupted during the Soviet years although was still the symbol of the Russian Republic within the USSR, and then was readopted by the newly independent Russia in 1994.
All this gets to the fact that flags are political things, and governments & political situations change a lot.
China's recorded history is over 5000 years old, but its government dates back only to 1949.
India's history is as long or longer, but it's only existed as a nation state since 1948.
Germany and Italy didn't exist as "countries" until the late nineteenth centuries... doesn't mean they don't have long, rich, millenia-old histories, but it does mean that their existence as nation states dates from a much more recent time period.
So many other countries are younger, from a political perspective. The nineteenth and twentieth centuries were politically rather tumultuous ones all over the world. New countries were created all the time, their governments changed frequently.
Even France, with its relatively 'old' history, refers to its current government as the 'Fifth' Republic... the fifth one in the last 225 years, the same amount of time the U.S. has operated under one constitution (and even that, only if you don't count the Civil War years, when several of the states flew the Flag of the Confederacy under a different government).
Anyway, not sure this will help you deal with whatever's bothering you about it, but in case.
I'm pretty sure it meant in a super technical manner. But it just doesn't seem right. But I'm sure if you wanted you could find some details maybe and inform me if it's indeed accurate. But the idea is basically because most other flags changed dramatically, kings, queens, etc. The USA flag hasn't changed since 1776, minor design to incorporate states but the general meaning of the flag stayed the same. I think that's what they were getting at but you bring up a good point about the UK so I'm not sure.
Either way, like I said before. The main reason it bothers me is because it doesn't seem right. I feel like one of the youngest nations in the world shouldn't have one of the oldest flags. I mean the irony is fascinating and kind of entertaining and it does make some sense as well if you think about it but still, you know?
