POW To The People

I've always wondered what the reason for the POW-MIA flags above federal buildings was. Now, thanks to the much-linked Harpers article on the stabbed in the back myth in US politics, I know:

"The POW/MIA flags, with their black-and-white iconography of shame, now fly everywhere in the United States, just under the Stars and Stripes; federal law even mandates that on at least six days a year - Memorial Day, Flag Day, Armed Forces Day, Veterans Day, Independence Day, and one day during POW/MIA Week (the third week of September) - they must be flown over nearly every single U.S. government building. There has been nothing else like them in the history of this country, and they have no parallel anywhere else in the world - these peculiar little banners, attached like a disclaimer to our national flag, with their message of surrender and humiliation, perennially accusing our government of betrayal."

It is weird, you know, and I've never found, until now, an American that can explain it.

Posting's been light, I know. Should be something tomorrow, if Siren proves interesting.