National Park Service Hates the American Flag???
Unless you are living under a rock, which is very probable considering you’re reading this blog, don’t we all wish, you’ve probably been hearing about the hullabaloo on the left and right about the NPS (National Park Service) ordering the takedown of the American Flag from contractors vehicles in Denali National Park.
No surprise that in the current political climate a firestorm bubbles to the surface, including a bunch of people organizing a flag-driving party through the park, and the NPS back-peddling and coming out with statements on the matter.
We Average Flatlanders never miss an opportunity to share our two cents.
What happened?
In classic fashion, close to Memorial Day, on an Election Year no less, the internet started to blow up with reports of the National Park Service in Denali taking down American Flags on contractors’ trucks in the park. It was like the internet sleuths were just waiting for something like this to come along.
It’s the perfect political story is it not?
In classic fashion this set off a predictable response from the right. Time to exercise those American rights.
So what’s the deal? Does the National Park Service hate the American flag?
Probably not.
What really happened?
According to what can be gleaned a few weeks later it turns out that “someone” filed a complaint to the National Park Staff at Denali claiming the contractors driving around with American Flags around the park would detract from the visitor experience and negatively affect wildlife. Really.
On May 26th the following statement was posed on the NPS website.
“Reports that a National Park Service (NPS) official ordered the removal of an American flag from a Denali bridge construction worker’s vehicle at Denali National Park are false. At no time did an NPS official seek to ban the American flag from the project site or associated vehicles. The NPS neither administers the bridge project contract, nor has the authority to enforce terms or policies related to the contract or contractors performing the work. The American flag can be seen at various locations within Denali National Park – at park facilities and campsites, on public and private vehicles, and at employee residences – and we welcome its display this Memorial Day weekend and every day.”
Ok, so the NPS is saying the opposite, that they don’t really care about people flying the American Flag, and in fact that the flag is flying in many places around Denali National Park … as one would expect.
Well, before you berate the political right for going on a witch hunt … we have to be fair, steelman both positions, that is the honest thing to do. I mean, this wouldn’t have been a thing if SOMEONE from the NPS didn’t in fact have SOMETHING to do with an American Flag being taken down probably.
I mean common sense tells us that this isn’t fake news right? I mean NPS was making a statement about it. Turns out there WAS some truth to the matter.
And so, a few days after making that above statement denying having anything to do with it …
“After further review, it has been confirmed that a Denali National Park employee notified FHWA staff about a visitor’s complaint of a flag ‘flapping’ on Denali Park Road and asked if there was an appropriate way to request it be detached from a contractor’s vehicle to limit wildlife and visitor impacts,”
Christian said in a statement. “The employee contacted the FHWA without authorization, and without the superintendent’s knowledge. Park officials have taken corrective actions to ensure future park and project communications follow proper procedures.””
Ok, so something DID happen after all I guess. Of course, the second NPS statement also tries to distance itself from what took place, saying some NPS Staff member(s) did something like this without permission. The classic case of the sacrificial goat I suppose.
Apparently, as far as can be ascertained, a lot of the furry is directed towards Brooke Merrell the superintendent at the park.
It’s hard to know for sure what happened but a few things are obvious to anyone who posses a dash of commonsense.
- Only someone slightly out of their mind would think “I bet this will go well if I ask someone to take down an American Flag in this current political climate, nothing could go wrong.”
- Anyone on the right involved with politics will use this as the perfect opportunity to go on a witch hunt.
- Anyone on the left involved with politics will use this as the perfect opportunity to lambast fake news accusations etc.
- We live in a free country where people can pretty much do what they want most of the time.
- Alaska is probably not a state where you would want to ask people to take down American flags for any reason at all pretty much.
Who knows what to think of the situation in the end? Over politicized like everything these days, yet it does bear some trouble that …
- NPS initially denied it.
- NPS backpedaled and said it did happen but without the knowledge of the proper authorities.
- The NPS apparently has employees who thought that doing such a thing would turn out well.
The bad part of the whole thing is that the NPS, the people who take care of our National Parks will likely suffer from this event, politically and otherwise. They will become the target of people who have nothing better to do than think about politics all day, and that will not be fun for anyone.
Turning National Parks into a political theatre is not surprising, but probably does not bod well for the future. They are supposed to be places of peace and quiet where you can go away to GET AWAY FROM CRAZY people. Yet, where do we find ourselves?
Wondering what will happen next, that’s where.
