English Flag Hoodie Looks Like Ku Klux Klan Outfit

[Miravium]

sort of relevant

[Ashmoria]

how? its a red cross on a giant irregularly shaped background

That's the english flag. How can you not see it?

imagine it instead on a ...yellow slicker with a white flag-shaped rectangle with a red cross inside it. THAT looks like a flag.+

[Costa Fierro]

Reminds me of one of those "emergency ponchos" pedantic people have in their cars.

[DesAnges]

That's the english flag. How can you not see it?

imagine it instead on a ...yellow slicker with a white flag-shaped rectangle with a red cross inside it. THAT looks like a flag.+

Does it really matter, though? It's not like a huge amount of design effort has gone into this. It's something for football fans to wear. Being one myself, I happen to know that football fans in England are really not arsed about what they or others are wearing, unless it happens to be the opposition's kit in the wrong end.

[Krjder]

That's the english flag. How can you not see it?

imagine it instead on a ...yellow slicker with a white flag-shaped rectangle with a red cross inside it. THAT looks like a flag.+

That's just.... No! No...

[Ashmoria]

imagine it instead on a ...yellow slicker with a white flag-shaped rectangle with a red cross inside it. THAT looks like a flag.+

Does it really matter, though? It's not like a huge amount of design effort has gone into this. It's something for football fans to wear. Being one myself, I happen to know that football fans in England are really not arsed about what they or others are wearing, unless it happens to be the opposition's kit in the wrong end.

no its no big deal. things that look freaky to americans need not seem unusual to people from other countries. ....and I suppose its just the photo, I don't know that I have ever purchased a white rain poncho but I doubt I would think it looked like a KKK uniform if I did.

[Breadknife]

Funny thing is, you can usually tell who the racists are by looking for the English flag flying outside of major sporting tournaments.

For a long time, the English (or British) flag was very much a BNP/National Front staple, and us normal Brits (and English in particular) were quite scared of flying such flags when they weren't trying to make such statements but thought that they might have been.

I think it was the 1998 World Cup, or thereabouts, when the flag of St George¹ became "real again" for the ordinary person (and, of course, actual racists who had still, until that point, been just that little bit too embaressed to go along with their gut feelings on the matter). And then with the Golden Jubilee the Union Jack/Flag finally became something not just reserved for the Last Night Of The Proms and other such events.

The saltire of St Andrew, OTOH, has been Ok for far longer (but only since Braveheart came out has the face-painted version been popular), and the Welsh dragon likewise, and other regional specialities like the Cornish cross and the Yorkshire white rose, etc...

(It's a bit trickier in Northern Ireland, of course. Either you can't use a national/regional symbol of your liking or you're deluged by national symbols, whether to your personal liking or not...)


edit: also, as someone else said, it's the conical nature of the hood that's the big problem. Obviously a manufacturing decision, cheaper than other shapes, but unfortuante in connotation. Was also going to dig up some pictures of KKK costumes with an ablazoned "Cross of St George"-style patch on them, but I don't feel like deliberately looking. But I know that a (modified/added-to) version of the cross has significance with at least a subset of the KKK.

¹ The least British of the four national patron saints of Britain, as it happens...

[Benuty]

Daily mail much?

[Wind in the Willows]

It's a case of overly-politically correct morons getting offended over almost everything.

[Benuty]

It's a case of overly-politically correct morons getting offended over almost everything.

Now all they need are some pedophile jackets, glasses, and a scroungy beard. Then it would be something we could talk about.

[Australian rePublic]

Daily mail much?

There's FOUR sources there

[DesAnges]

Funny thing is, you can usually tell who the racists are by looking for the English flag flying outside of major sporting tournaments.

For a long time, the English (or British) flag was very much a BNP/National Front staple, and us normal Brits (and English in particular) were quite scared of flying such flags when they weren't trying to make such statements but thought that they might have been.

Perhaps it's become a more localised issue. Certainly around by me the only people that fly England flags are racists.

[The Serbian Empire]

Well, correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think the KKK was active in the UK, so it doesn't have anywhere near the same cultural significant there.

But the hood shape... it's so close to a Klegal's.

[Wind in the Willows]

Oh wow, it has a hood, so it must be the KKK! EVERYONE WEARING A JACKET WITH A HOOD IS RACIST!!

[The Serbian Empire]

Oh wow, it has a hood, so it must be the KKK! EVERYONE WEARING A JACKET WITH A HOOD IS RACIST!!

Look at the pointed tip of it... it's the Klan!

[Breadknife]

For a long time, the English (or British) flag was very much a BNP/National Front staple, and us normal Brits (and English in particular) were quite scared of flying such flags when they weren't trying to make such statements but thought that they might have been.

Perhaps it's become a more localised issue. Certainly around by me the only people that fly England flags are racists.

Perhaps, I'm just going on both what I've seen, on trips through various places (not exactly Tower Hamlets¹, IYSWIM) and from a half-remembered analysis of the situation that I recall, that was broadcast after a couple of World Cups had gone by and maybe around the time of the Golden Jubilee, that discussed the "new mood" for both the St George's flag and the Union-whotsit.

(Wiser people than me, so I will have taken their words on trust.)


¹ But then I have been through areas of London where every other window had a Jamaican or South African flag in (or actually hung out of) it, back in the '80s. At least it wasn't the '70s, though...

[Aushanit]

If I was the manufacturer I'd just make slight changes to the design, not a big deal really and I only see the resemblance on the hood and nothing more.

[Izandai]

Oh wow, it has a hood, so it must be the KKK! EVERYONE WEARING A JACKET WITH A HOOD IS RACIST!!

Look at the pointed tip of it... it's the Klan!

That is really the only reason people are talking about this. If the makers of the poncho had just given it a rounded hood, like, oh, I don't know, EVERY OTHER HOOD THAT WASN'T A KKK HOOD IN EXISTENCE (at least that I've seen).
Actually, now that I think about it, maybe the poncho intentionally looks like a KKK uniform. It's the only explanation for such an idiotic design choice that by rights shouldn't even occur as a possibility to most people.

[Giovenith]

I think a resounding, "Whoops" is in order here.

[The Serbian Empire]

Look at the pointed tip of it... it's the Klan!

That is really the only reason people are talking about this. If the makers of the poncho had just given it a rounded hood, like, oh, I don't know, EVERY OTHER HOOD THAT WASN'T A KKK HOOD IN EXISTENCE (at least that I've seen).
Actually, now that I think about it, maybe the poncho intentionally looks like a KKK uniform. It's the only explanation for such an idiotic design choice that by rights shouldn't even occur as a possibility to most people.

I bet it's to get Americans talking no less. Free publicity just from the shape of the hood.

[Gauthier]

That is really the only reason people are talking about this. If the makers of the poncho had just given it a rounded hood, like, oh, I don't know, EVERY OTHER HOOD THAT WASN'T A KKK HOOD IN EXISTENCE (at least that I've seen).
Actually, now that I think about it, maybe the poncho intentionally looks like a KKK uniform. It's the only explanation for such an idiotic design choice that by rights shouldn't even occur as a possibility to most people.

I bet it's to get Americans talking no less. Free publicity just from the shape of the hood.

If the red cross looked like it was on fire it'd be perfect.

[Izandai]

That is really the only reason people are talking about this. If the makers of the poncho had just given it a rounded hood, like, oh, I don't know, EVERY OTHER HOOD THAT WASN'T A KKK HOOD IN EXISTENCE (at least that I've seen).
Actually, now that I think about it, maybe the poncho intentionally looks like a KKK uniform. It's the only explanation for such an idiotic design choice that by rights shouldn't even occur as a possibility to most people.

I bet it's to get Americans talking no less. Free publicity just from the shape of the hood.

You could be right about that. They may have been expecting to get at least a small boost in sales from the attention.

[Keyboard Warriors]

Whoops

[Lemanrussland]

Ban hoodies.

[Nord Amour]

It doesn't look much more similar to the KKK uniform than the robes of the Spanish Easter brotherhoods, but to compare those two things could be considered offensive by a lot of people. Ponchos often have pointed hoods. The English flag has a red cross. People are overreacting, and the similarities are not that great.