You might be wondering — how dumb have things gotten?
It’s a perplexing ponderance, and you may require assistance.
Allow me:
In Saint Johns, Michigan, The Nordic Pineapple Bed and Breakfast likes to fly a flag.
That’d be the Norwegian flag.
And why?
Well, a few clues:
- The owners’ names are Greg and Kjersten Offbecker
- Their ancestry is rooted in Norway
- The name of the B&B is The Nordic Pineapple Bed and Breakfast
And since there’s no pineapple flag, Greg and Kjerst apparently figured they’d just go ahead and put out the Norwegian one.
That might be a natural observation for the average person, but it seems some are unable to deduce, “Hey, there’s what looks like a foreign banner at a place named after a foreign country; I bet there’s a connection.”
In fact, select citizens — who’ve evidently never seen The Dukes of Hazzard — have mistaken the flag for a Confederate one.
The couple moved into the historic home two years ago, and I guess they liked the idea of a theme.
Ever since, they’ve received hate mail and phone calls.
Speaking to WILX, Kjersten said that lately, things have gotten even worse:
“What we’re getting is so much more negative now. 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.'”
Therefore:
“We started to have this concern that it was deterring people from coming to our bed and breakfast — that people would see it and make this judgement.”
Yep, could be.
Let’s look at the likeness:
Norwegian flag removed from bed and breakfast after locals think it's a Confederate flaghttps://t.co/JFI6f9tT1I
— Barrett Wilson (@BarrettWilson6) July 29, 2020
Do those making the mistake also multiply whenever they should add?
Either way:
“We’re trying to embrace our heritage,” she lamented, “but just felt that right now with where everything is, with everything that’s been going on in our country, that now is just not the time.”
The pair recently put together some new promotional material, and the flag couldn’t make the cut:
“When we did our photography over, I was like, ‘We need to take it down,’ which [Greg] was opposed to. He was like, ‘People should know the difference.’ And I was like, ‘They should, but they don’t.'”
Kjersten’s sick of it:
“[T]he damage was really done. I came down and was like, ‘I’m done. I’ve had enough. I’m tired of people mistaking us for this.'”
So for all you wondering about the IQ of our current climate, there’s a typhoon of news you can use.
Oh, and here’s a bonus — courtesy of News10 reporter Maureen Halliday:
“Kjersten tells me that some people are even convinced this mansion was built by a Confederate leader. But that’s false. It was actually built by union workers for the daughter of the town’s founder.”
Sounds about right.
Welcome to the MENSA meeting known as the modern age.
-ALEX
See more pieces from me:
A New Website Promises Pandemic Peace – by Letting You Scream Like an Idiot Across the Countryside
Sports Illustrated Features Its Swimsuit Issue’s ‘Curviest Model Ever’
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