[scarmig]

It's fair to say, though, that Americans do worship the American flag with a religious fervor, to an extent other countries don't do. A kid who disrespects it isn't going to be taken to the countryside and shot by vigilantes, but he might very well be beaten up in the schoolyard. Because freedom and the troops.

Politicized symbols usually end up used as a substitute for the things they actually are supposed to signify, not as something that merely accompanies the signified. Here the mangos might've symbolized peace and unity of the country, but in fact they were a tool to rebuild the power of a totalitarian, murderous ruler who was responsible for the destruction of countless lives and cultural artifacts.