Flag flown upside down as sign of distress outside of US State Department building today

148 comments

I don't understand what it's going to take for someone to do something. Protests are not going to work when they're holding all our money, services, rights, data, etc hostage, and threatening all our public servants. We already had a hard time protesting before this, because health care is tied to employment. It's not a coincidence that they're going after Medicare and Medicaid. They want an entire nation of indentured servants. Unable to own anything, including our own freedom. When we can't work anymore we can just go die in the wilderness like animals I guess. Hmm where have we heard that before?
Everyone is terrified and exhausted. It seems pretty evident that the election was outright stolen, and I have a hard time believing nobody in power suspected something that many of us immediately called, not with the mountains of evidence that's been stacking up for months, years even. So why didn't they do anything? Why did they wait until Trump was sworn in to even talk about it?
I see Canadians online talking about Americans like we chose this. But we didn't, it was forced upon us, and we're begging for help! Who can we turn to if not our allies? What is going on???
- In 2016, people thought that Trump was the problem. That if Trump left, we could have civility restored to the electoral process. Defeating Trump won't solve the problem because he isn't it - it is the electorate. The voters need to SEE what will happen when this or that occur.
  Deport all the immigrants, see the damage that brings, then bring them back with legal protections this time.
  Cancel all the science, see how far behind we get, then bring it back with all the funding to make the next moonshot.
  Get rid of all fogien aid, watch as our global power dimishes, the vote to bring it back with a clear and true purpose other than empire building.
  The people don't know WHY these things are important, and are unwilling to listen or learn. Thus, the only teacher is to experience. But to quote Trump: "There will be some pain" when doing it.
  
  Dead on. This is a snowballing shit storm building since Reagan. Probably earlier. Trump is only a foothold, a useful idiot. He's popular with the Boomers and knows how to work them and use the language. They even refer to him as "their boy." Meanwhile he's "making deals" e.g. pumping the dicks of other corpos like Xi and Putin and pretending to get them on board even when he fails with the smarter leaders while his little weasels dismantle shit in the background.
  
  I don't disagree with you and I would love it if people had to experience the consequences of their poor decisions and learn hard lessons that they've been evading for years. The problem is that millions of innocents are and will be caught in the crosshairs. This is a matter of life or death for many people who did not vote for him and it is unconscionable to allow all those people to die just so a bunch of loud racist hillbillies with lead poisoning can learn a lesson.
- The Canadians I talk to are either furiously pissed off and lashing out at me like I'm about to annex them myself or dead ass silent. This is a weird fucking timeline to say the least.
- It wasn't stolen and it wasn't forced on you. Depressingly enough, turkeys, it seems, do sometimes vote for Christmas. I totally agree with you about the awfulness of the situation but - he told you how he was going to govern, he told you what he was going to do and then he won the election that enables him to do it. You did, as a nation, choose this.
  I don't know how any nation state can really intervene on that basis. Its not like Hitler steam rolling Poland or Putin annexing the Crimea - this isn't an invasion or a hostile takeover, it's an elected President carrying out the will of the people that voted for him.
  
  I'm not going to argue with you, I get enough of that on reddit. But there is a literal mountain of evidence, including their own statements and sketchy behavior, hard data, unsecured voting machines, various voter suppression tactics, ballots that were tossed, code that was published online months (possibly more than a year) before the election, and one of the twerps currently taking over the treasury wrote code that can falsify ballots while he was an intern for Musk.
  Also, it is like Hitler, they're using the same exact playbook, and while there are some key differences there is no arguing that this is the exact reason NATO exists. Justin Trudeau could invoke article 4 for threats of invasion. Someone from our government should still be able to invoke article 5. These international agreements exist because when the highest power in the nation is compromised, we need outside help.
- What are you asking outside forces to do? Invade America and install a foreign government because americans are unable to maintain their freedom?
  
  You're saying that like it's a bad thing? If that's what needs to happen so that Elon Musk doesn't irreparably damage our country and cause the deaths of millions, then yes. Please. Invade us. We've done it to plenty of other countries, maybe it's our turn.
  Also yeah, that's pretty much what NATO does when shit really hits the fan.
  
  Perhaps we can ask the Taliban for help
- I hear you... The problem is no one is going to come save us.
  Change can only happen internally.
  Unsure what can be done though... Voting and protests don't seem to be effective...
  If nothing changes everyone will have to get comfortable enough to feel like freedom is fighting for.
  This means first amendment up, train, and be ready for the day to when we need to defend our constitution.
  The confederacy already lost once, they will lose again.
  At the rate this is going I honestly don't see any other future.
- I don't understand what it's going to take for someone to do something
  Who is someone? Who is something? Organize and mobilize. I know all Americans didn’t choose this, but you’ll need a lot of support/like minded folks (which it sounds like you have). Trump’s shock doctrine has clearly worked. Try and focus on tangible steps to take whether it’s annoying the heck out of your elected officials, joining a grassroots org, or attending a public rally on an off day.
  
  Someone: NATO. This is the exact reason they exist.
  Something: Remove the tyrants by force.
  Myself and everyone I know have been doing all of the things you mentioned since November, if not earlier. There have been multiple massive protests. We have been calling our reps demanding recounts, asking why democrats are capitulating to unconstitutional actions, and begging for them to intervene. We have been protesting at every opportunity. We have joined and even started our own organizations trying to get people organized. Why aren't we gaining any traction? Because they already stopped listening to us ages ago. Because all our means of large scale organization (Twitter, Instagram, Facebook) are actively suppressing information. Because every group we start gets brigaded and eventually shut down by internet trolls with nothing to lose. Because people are tired, sick, broke, and traumatized. The other day I watched an ICE raid happen in real time. These people were members of my community, good people, and now they've probably been sent to a concentration camp.
  I don't want to hear shit about "tangible steps." What tangible steps can the average citizens of this country take to stop the richest man in the world, and multiple other billionaires, who already have their dirty paws in every single aspect of our government infrastructure? We can't even get in the same room as the guy. He has choked our skies with satellites and has all our personal information.
  Please tell me what else we're supposed to do, I'm all ears.

Relevant: https://youtu.be/ZwMVMbmQBug

An actual use. Yeah send help!

people need to start seriously protesting
- Yeah, that is a great first step. Especially if you try to connect and network with other people during the protests to form longer lasting groups or find and participate in already existing ones.
  This shit won't be fixed with protests alone, but if they help people get a taste for what it feels like to organize and take some power back, then it is already worth it. Hell, even being around people that feel the same way is already a net plus for a lot of people who are ideologically isolated.
- Yeah like every day... none of this "we will spend one hour during our lunch break on one Wednesday!" bullshit.
- Their house reps, not just the president.

Kudos to the person who is sending the correct message. Everyone who believes in protecting the US Constitution should fly the US flag upside down.
- I think we need to do more than that. The flag is a distress signal. We have to help the people who are distressed

Is that the State Department flag or is it a flag near the State Department?

That seems like a very bad sign. Someone wanted a message to get out to the public, but I'm not entirely sure what can be effectively done about it. Credit to the person with the balls to send out the warning, though.
- I'm not entirely sure what can be effectively done about it.
  History offers no control groups; there is no "right" way to proceed. What's certain is that "nothing" is not the answer.
  
  History offers one very good "right" way, imo.
  
  Maybe we shouldnt vote. Thatll show em
  
  Maybe we should double down on capitalism again.
  It's the only move the US has used in living memory.
  
  People should get creative. Imagine if they backed up every sewer in DC
- let me help you understand.
  
  I love that you linked this through fucking amazon.
- There's nothing that can be done. Republicans have every bit of power there is. At least for the next two years.
  
  This is the message of the enemy. I am not sure what there is to be done, but to say this:
  There’s nothing that can be done.
  is to give up. The only thing that we ordinary people can know is that the democratic party is unable/unwilling to form an effective resistance right now.
  
  There is always one type of power the people have.
  
  You could rise up. Isn't that what all the guns are for?

I mean the US is certainly in distress
- Definitely. Do we know if the people who wanted a criminal moron in charge are still cheering him on, or are they starting to catch on to the fact that his plan always was to thoroughly fuck everyone over? Well, everyone but his clique.
  
  Everyone just giving their opinion but the answer is mixed. Some regret, many don't. And it's not just disinformation, people have to deal with their own cognitive dissonance. Just on the radio earlier was an Arab man still defending vote for Trump because "it's just rhetoric" right now. He's willing to say it's terrible rhetoric, but won't come to terms with the vote being a bad decision.
  
  They're still cheering. No other awareness to be had
  
  They're completely caught in the misinfo and still cheering him on. Anyone getting hurt must have deserved it and if they're getting hurt it just shows how important it is to hurt the others back.
  
  in south park he fucks illegal canadians to death, but in real life he is doing it to americans
- Eh. The majority are chillin.
  This is exactly what they voted for.
  
  The majority did not vote for this. The majority of voters didn't even vote for this. He only won a plurality (<50%)

Imagine being the person running this up the pole at the fucking state department.
- The gravity well produced from the balls of this person (all genders included) is pulling me from miles away.
  
  For real. Serious props to this person.
  
  balls so big they make black holes

The State is in distress. Who will answer the call? Who will come it's aid? We have all been summoned.
- (Super Mario Brothers music from stage 1-1 starts playing)
- Batman?
  
  Gondor

They say the world is turning around, I say the world is upside down—Joe Higgs

Is this real? Nobody is reporting on it.
- This does appear to be the state department flag pole (on 21st street looking East from the state department). And it does appear to be winter, and there is construction in that area around the fed building. But that's all I can say. The photo is weirdly blurry and grainy so be suspicious.
- You write that like you're sure it's not real, and/or that others would or should think so. There's no obvious thing pointing towards it being fake by just looking at the photo, no clear editing signs or anything like that. But we should make sure it is real by finding other photos, there must be more if it is real. And if there was ever a time in our lifetimes where this would be real, it's now.
- Which of the conservative media in the US do you expect to report it?
  
  but all the mainstream media is run by libruls.
- Why does the flag have no stars?
  
  It clearly does have stars. They just blur into the field because the quality isn't high enough. Zoom in and you can see there's slightly whiter dots where the stars should be. You just can't really make them out.
  
  Because the image quality is poor
- It is on reddit
  
  I'm surprised they haven't pulled it the way they went ban crazy this morning.
- I'm only seeing one source so far. Not mainstream.

It looks like this is the end.
- Does anyone else hear violins?
- The house has been burning and smoking for hours and people are still thinking that the fire just started
  
  No way. Harris getting elected would have been the end of this just like in 2020. That's why we must attack anyone critical of her, apathetic voters, and pretty much everyone else except for the DNC.

This has happened in México too, the most famously recorded one was during Enrique Peña Nieto's term (sorry for linking to YT). They said the flag thing was an accident, but it was during the Flag Day and everyone was angry with the way the government was handling things. The government-influenced media was angry with the military because "they made a mistake", but we all knew why it happened.
https://youtu.be/cwW9X_GBtco

Performative resistance from inside the machine. Cute gesture, but distress signals only work when someone's actually coming to help. Meanwhile, career diplomats keep writing memos and processing visas while posting their quiet protests on social.
Remember when we thought these symbols meant something would change? Now it's just content for the outrage cycle. Tomorrow there'll be a strongly worded letter, maybe some resigned LinkedIn posts from mid-level FSOs.
The machinery keeps grinding, upside down flag or not. Though I suppose watching institutional despair go viral is peak 2025.
- I disagree. Yes, this isn't the same thing as direct sabotage or anything like that, but I think symbolic gestures like this can be extremely important for morale.
  I know that it makes me feel slightly better to see that I'm not alone in my frustrations.

Is this real
What does it mean?
Where are we in terms of worrying? Should I begin to start to think about worrying or something more urgent?
- You should have been worrying for years now.
- #3 depends where you are on the hit list I suppose. I'm trans, so I'm well past worry-o-clock and am actively making arrangements to leave the country. Someone like a cishet white male tech worker has a lot less to worry about though
  
  You found a way to scream withouy caps--impressive I wish you the best comrade!
- I see little reason to doubt it
  It means whoever hoisted it considers there to be a crisis, which is consistent with accounts of public offices being overtaken by random young white men who are rapidly taking control.
  Speaking as a non-American political scientist having worked a little with rule of law and fascism, it seems a bit late to start worrying. Think about what you can do for yourself, your neighbours, and your country, urgently or in the longer term. It's going to be ugly for a while.
- I think so.
  That's unclear but my take is that this is an expression of the distress felt by the employees, and perhaps the only possible outlet for their feelings. I suspect that it's more likely the action of one or two people rather that some kind of collectively approved signal.
  I just don't know. I'm not even American but I feel very discombobulated.
- The new "phone, wallet, keys"

There’s only one way this gets stopped. And the people that would need to do it think they’ll have a ‘prime minister’ title when the dust settles and not that they’ll be chucked out a window. It’s some weapons grade stupid and apathy letting this happen and they’re just hoping that god king chooses to keep them around it’s all so pathetic

Wasn't the upside down us flag thing used by j6'ers? Are the line workers taking it back as the symbol of a stolen country for themselves, or is this Musk and crew indicating we're fucked?
- It's a sign of distress.
  They were distressed, but it's only because they're sore losers and couldn't cope with Trump losing.
  This is actual distress, it's appropriate this time.
- Its nothing exclusive to J6. Its an international sign that an insurrection or coup has occurred or is occurring.
  
  Not quite, it's an international sign that a vessel is in distress.
  Then mostly right wing lunatics co-opted it to mean that our country is in distress.
- It has been used by punk bands and Anarchists waaay before that

Oh brother...
- https://lemmy.world/comment/14407427
  This dude thinks "hundreds of millions" of people voted for Trump lol, and you know he'd have cheered some hick on ACA doing the same thing in 2020.
  Simply not a serious person.

They watched that one The Big Bang Theory episode.

148 comments