Symbolism

I was appalled the other day on seeing displayed in the window of a sanitary hardware store, a toilet seat cover. It was an in-your-face blatant display that you couldn't miss. Not that it was in any side road or something, this shop is right at the end of a pedestrian area attached to a high street – no less! You can imagine a town with a sanitary hardware store on the high street – but anyway, thats not the point. The point is the toilet seat cover. I know a lot of people want and like designer gear – but never thought it would include something like the national flag for the country! This toilet seat cover with the design of the union jack proudly sat in the window waiting for a buyer to pick it up.

I was wondering how it would be treated back home. In a similar circumstance, I am half sure that the shop window would have long been demolished by atleast one person who chose to make a public display of his/her anger. Maybe a group of people would get together and resort to trashing the whole place, then the police would get involved, journalists, TV cameras would jostle to cover the event. Some soul might possibly register a police complaint against the shop owner for blatantly insulting the national flag in a country so steeped in symbolism that flying the national flag except on Independence and Republic days on non-govt properties was illegal till some year ago. Maybe the incident would be on the front pages for some days until the next hot incident came along.

Nothing like that here though. Nobody seems to mind. People seem to want to adorn the national flag anywhere and everywhere from prints on under-wears and shorts to dog collars to toilet seat covers. Makes me wonder... Is it about the people's definition of dignity for objects of national symbols? Or Is it the cultural difference in definition of dignity itself. Are people not bothered that their dog will probably roll around somewhere soiling the national flag or that the national flag will be intimately close to gobs of turd? Is it the 'who cares?' attitude? Or the 'we are so proud that we will have our national flag EVERYWHERE' attitude? UK is made of England, Scotland, Wales and NI. So is it that people from these regions hate the union – by association national symbols – or love their own over the union? I certainly haven't seen any such flags being used the way that the union flag is used/displayed. It certainly is because of lack of patriotism or love for the country. I wonder if it will be offensive to ask a true-blooded brit for an explain.....