|
Suddenly, they are everywhere: stretched across balconies, flapping from car antennas, and pinned to coat lapels the world over in a moving display of solidarity with the community that was brutally terrorised on Sunday after a bigoted assault at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida. At first glance, the rainbow flag’s joyous refraction of colour may seem a strangely sunny response to the dark savagery of the deadliest mass shooting in US history. But as we watch its jubilant stripes bind together communities around the globe, it is worth pausing to reflect on the origin of a cultural symbol that was propelled into iconic status nearly 40 years ago by heartbreaking tragedy. 突然间，它们变得无处不在：在阳台间飘扬，在汽车天线上迎风舞动。在佛罗里达州奥兰多市一家同性恋夜总会周日受到疯狂攻击后，它们被作为一个移动标识，呼吁惨遭恐袭打击的社会团结起来，被全世界人民别到胸前。乍看之下，彩虹旗喜庆的色彩似乎是对美国历史上最致命的枪击案本身黑暗野蛮的一种奇怪的正面响应。但是，当我们看到它的欢腾条纹将全球社区联和为一体时，值得停下来深思一下这个文化符号的来源：是近 40 年前那个令人心碎的悲剧才使它具有了象征性意义。 According to the US gay activist Gilbert Baker, who is credited with creating the emblem in the late 1970s, the idea behind the flag’s bold design emerged in 1976 – the year the United States celebrated the bicentenary of its independence as a republic. Still reeling from the twin traumas of withdrawal from the Vietnam War in 1973 and the first ever resignation of a US President in 1974, following the Watergate scandal, America strove to conjure from national malaise a feeling of patriotism. Key to the summoning of such spirit was the restorative display across the country of the Stars and Stripes, whose simple geometry masked the intensity of the psychological, political, and social turmoil seething underneath. | 
