OPINION: A Norwegian-themed bed & breakfast in St. John’s, Michigan is at the center of a controversy over Norway’s flag. It turns out a good many people think it’s a Confederate flag.
“It bugs me as far as the stupidity of people,” Greg Offenbecker told the Lansing State Journal. “Even if the flag is blowing in the wind or laying limp, there are no stars on it. They look nothing alike.”
The Offenbeckers own the Nordic Pineapple, a beautiful historic mansion, and until recently they proudly flew the Norwegian flag.
They removed the flag after they were deluged with complaints and accusations that the flag is racist.
“What we’re getting is so much more negative now,” she said. “It’s not just, ‘Hey you’re flying the Confederate flag.’ It’s, ‘you should be ashamed to fly the Confederate flag. You’re a bigot because you fly the Confederate flag.‘”
There’s just one giant problem — IT’S NOT A CONFEDERATE FLAG.
“They are the same color, but there are no stars on the Norwegian flag, and the Confederate flag is a big ‘x’ and the Norwegian flag is part of the Nordic countries, they’re all crosses,” Offbecker said.
So the Cancel Culture mob says the flag needs to come down because it could be perceived to be a Confederate flag.
Using that logic, the bed & breakfast would also need to ban white bed sheets and bath robes. Heaven forbid a guest be mistaken for a klansman.
There are two lessons to be learned here. Never back down to the cancel culture mob. You need to stand up to the bullies.
And the second lesson – a good many folks around St. John’s don’t have the sense God gave a goose.