Are you having feelings about the Confederate flag?
No, you’re not. This is what the official flag of the Confederate States of America looks like:
The flag you’ve spent the past week having emotions about is the battle flag for the Army of Northern Virginia. It looks like this:
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In recent days, the battle flag has been taking a beating. Online like retailers Amazon and Etsy have pulled all merchandise from their virtual shelves sporting the design. States like Alabama and Mississippi have alternately removed the flags flying above their statehouses and reconsidered how the emblem is such a prominent part of their state flag.
But you, a random person on the Internet, lacks that same level of agency. You (probably) don’t control a multi-billion online retail giant, nor does your voice have much sway with the decision makers who run your state. Instead, your options are limited to leaving ineffectual Facebook comments or yelling angry gibberish at your computer. The former accomplishes nothing other than making Mark Zuckerberg just a tiny bit richer, but the latter, well, don’t discount the latter.
An online game designed by politically minded pranksters at Italian game studio Molleindustria lets players literally yell at the flag until it bursts into flames. The game, which is called BooFlag, uses your computer’s microphone to boo the flag. The louder you boo, the further the flag lowers to the ground until it ultimately bursts into flames.
SPOILER ALERT: Here’s what happens when you win:
Granted, the game just measures the decibel level of the sound picked up by your computer’s microphone. So, if you think the flag doesn’t represent anything racist and is just a proud symbol of the sacrifices of brave Confederate solders who went to war for a reason that absolutely, positively had nothing to do with slavery, you can sing “You’re A Grand Old Flag” to it until the flag is respectfully lowered and given the honorable viking funeral it deserves.
Either way, the process is just as cathartic as one of Molleindustria’s previous games, Americlap, where players have to constantly clap lest the American flag fall to the ground and the terrorists win.
H/T Paste Magazine | Photo by Roger Sayles/flickr (CC BY-ND 2.0)