Was here pondering about this problem. You see, there are these things called flags...
and i was wondering about them. In particular about flags i am familiar with.
Are flags important? You bet they are. As Eddie Izzard puts it, "no flag no country". You can't declare you are a nation without a nation flag or something of the sort.
From here, i could go on and debate (or whatever you do when you talk to yourself) on what exactly is a country. But i'll stick to flags as a symbol of a country.
And since there is a whole scholarly study dedicated to flags, I'll restrict myself and stick to a flag i am familiar with.
Presenting, the Portuguese flag:
Interesting isn't it?
Now, this thing is not very ancient. It's from the beginning of the 20th century, when everyone thought it was a good idea to have a new flag.
Along with the new flag, they also installed a new political system.
That didn't work very well, so people went on beating each others chin for 60 years after that.
But let's stick to the flag. It's supposed to be full of meaning, as flags usually are.
Actually, it turns out it is pretty much... random.
According to History (here represented by Wikipedia) a bunch of guys were told to meet, toss ideas around, and tell the painter guy to try them out.
And so, from that particular brainstorm, came the gentle breeze and the wavering flag in it.
The symbolism for this red and green with a blotch of yellow cloth is taught to children in Portugal as:
Red: is bloodshed and strife of patriots;
Green: is hope;
Yellow: is a bunch of misc historic trivia.
Knowing and being able to explain this kind of stuff is enough to get you over elementary school.
Still, some people at the time the flag was made, went around writing that the flag was just an unimaginative mismatch of the flags and insignias of the revolution sponsors.
Which is probably true.
But Stop!!
This is besides the point. The question I have in my mind is this:
If they decided green, red and yellow, or hope and patriotic bloodshed with lots of history are what best represents Portugal.. it should be plainly justified why.
Well.. i don't think there is a why. It's pretty much a random construction after all. So one can only ask question regarding the construction of the flag, not the flag itself.
So let's say we can find out something else. Let's pose a question about the construction.
Which is more important? Red or Green?
The yellow is centered. So I'll leave him out.
The red and green. The red is in clear surface superiority. There is more red than green in the flag, right? That makes it superior, right? Or doesn't it?
Hope or bloodshed? Which is more important? How do you solve this types of questions?
Until it hit me:
What do revolutions teach you? The very fundamental lesson?
What is the conclusion of every social stage?
What is the best way of solving everything? Fighting!!
Well.. what about Street Fighting?!
Yes! So here we go!
Green versus Red (with a blotch of yellow)
◊Fight!◊
◊ So here we have player Hope (using a green Ken) versus Bloodshed (using a red Ken).
◊ Hope is usually absent-minded. He went to the bathroom and Bloodshed started whooping his ass.
◊ But, some fights after, when Hope finally comes back from the bathroom, we find out that Bloodshed is a Street Fighter Alpha 3 noob that never heard of parrying.
◊ From there on, Hope kicked Bloodshed's ass.
In conclusion, Because of this historic Street Fighter 3 match, the Green is of course the most important part of the Portuguese flag.
Thank you for reading.
As a final side note, i think this method is as valid as those used to pick and construct and analyze a flag: any flag.
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