What Color Is Your Revolution?

Red, white, and rainbow? While D.C. celebrated the U.S. Army's 250th, the Left Coast City of San Francisco marched to a different drummer-TM.

They weren’t celebrating conformity, but the “No Kings” protests all over the U.S. did look eerily uniform all the same. While across the continent, the U.S. Army marched in step as a display of might, San Francisco brought forth a franchised protest from all the yet-to-be-defunded NGOs that seemed determined to focus on our fragility.

But it was Flag Day after all, the flags were indeed flying. U.S. flags were outnumbered by those of Mexico, Palestine, and upside down and/or muted color versions of the U.s. flag, and, of course, all of which were outnumbered by the iconic 1978 Rainbow Pride flag, alongside the triangle-added 2018 Progress Pride flag, and the pink-blue-white 1999 Transgender Pride flag. It was great to see so many people in one of the world’s most Covid-fearful cities out enjoying the day together under blue skies, whatever the reason. We got what we expected: glitter, theater kids, bandit masks, Marxist booths, and (so far in the day at least) just a touch of vandalism. Just not (yet) the color revolution. But they’re working on it.

(Thanks to George K. for help behind the lens!)

Here are a few snapshots of the event.

We had the expected Lincoln statue defacement because … well, what did he ever do to help unite the states?

You might notice that yellow flag at the top of the screen with the coiled snake, though the wind didn’t do us any favors in displaying it. Interestingly, the city (now under the direction of a slightly more centrist mayor, though I’m not sure this is his work) is flying a tasteful collection of historic American flags, including the Gadsden “Don’t Tread on Me” flag of 1775 that during the heyday of cancel mania just a few years back got a Colorado middle-schooler kicked out of class.

This is a flag that will not get a middle-schooler kicked out of class!

A+ for effort. Though San Francisco isn’t handing out grades anymore … Too bad. And yes, a little bit of a Joker vibe, which, I’m absolutely certain is intended. I don’t want to see where this clown is after dusk.

Top-right, a helicopter keeps watch over a chill vibe and as always, San Franciscans getting every bit of that backside a little Vitamin D.

Hmmm. Haven’t ironed out the kinks on this clearly straight-from-the-factory flag paid for by …….? (Check the work of datarepublican on X for more on the funding of these events.)

Again, appreciate the effort and the smile here! Unfortunately, her target is a hard-working young man about a quarter of her age, foregoing a highly paid job in tech to do grunt work for pittance pay rooting out fraud and waste in government.

I guess someone has to free the people of Middle Earth.

Good they got that “San Francisco” squeezed into the logo or this banner might have looked canned.

The generals of SF’s brigade confer.

Remains of an effigy. Tech may be the engine of contemporary San Francisco but this crowd is not a fan of the investor set.

I believe that quoting Star Wars characters does prove the gravity of this endeavor. But color revolutions don’t happen without color TVs, so come on folks, get with the program.

As I and the crowd were leaving, I noticed the art show “Everyday War,” advertised on a Civic Center MUNI shelter, is showing across from City Hall at the Asian Art Museum. It’s by Taiwanese artist Yuan Goang-Ming and speaks, in part, to life while living under threat of missiles from China.

“It’s strange that there have been relatively few exhibitions in Northern California registering the tsunami of daily turmoil that we see on cable news and social media,” writes Mark Van Proyen in Square Cylinder.” It is almost as if the art world is whistling past the ever-expanding graveyard of current events, hoping against hope that the world will somehow return to ‘normalcy’ if we bide our time.

“Yuan Goang-Ming’s exhibition, titled ‘Everyday War,’ bucks such wishful thinking, and does so in ways that are simultaneously subtle, surprising, and sometimes shocking. The overall feeling of the exhibition is one of anxious calm prior to the onset of a terrifying storm.”

Seems like a must-see.