In On The Kill Taker

1993 | Punk

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“It's not worth, it's the investment that keeps us tied up in all these strings. -- We draw lines and stand behind them, that's why flags are such ugly things."

Trivia

• In On The Kill Taker hit #153 on the Billboard 200.
• Originally recording songs with producer Steve Albini at Chicago Recording Company studios, the band intended to release a two or three song EP, however, they ended up recording a whole album's worth of material. Unhappy with the results of the Albini sessions they re-recorded the entire albumat Inner Ear Studios in Washington D.C. with Don Zientara and Ted Niceley handling production duties.
• Ian Thomas Garner MacKaye is best known as the co-founder and owner of Dischord Records, a Washington, D.C.-based independent record label and the frontman of the influential hardcore punk band Minor Threat in addition to Fugazi.

THE HOT TAKES

Luke Tatum

"We draw lines and stand behind them; That's why flags are such ugly things; That they should never touch the ground." Fascinating. It's true that we humans are typically very eager to draw lines and categorize things. This is generally a good practice, leading to greater understanding of things like the various types of life on Earth, meteorological phenomena, and perhaps everything that we would traditionally call the "natural sciences." But humans are humans, right? Why do we want to draw distinctions between humans born north of this line versus south of it? Or east versus west? Culture is one thing, but humankind is frequently possessed by a certain superiority complex when it comes to magical lines in the sand and the location of peoples' births in relation to them. So yes, flags are ugly things. Flown in the name of mass murder for the most ridiculous reasons.

Nicky P

Who here likes the idea of nation states? I'm imagining that if you found your way here, you're at the very least questioning their value. Allow me to add to the stack another voice in the camp declaring them as worthless. Flags represent the othering if anyone outside a realm of control. Flags are how throughout history humans have convinced poor people to die on behalf of a collective. Flags are how you convince young boys to go die in Vietnam and Iraq. Flags are the basis of protecting freedom. Fight for the flag is a concept I've never fully understood. It's a useful tool in convincing a devout christian from Alabama to go and murder brown people thousands of miles away for an atheist in a high rise in LA. These people don't share a world in any meaningful way other than behind that flag...and their place in upholding the current power structure as it is.