History experienced the modern era in the worst way when South Carolina residents first saw the proposed state flag.
A committee of historians met to decide on the specifics of the state flag, which largely followed the example of two previous official flags.
Previously, the state used a design that represented a palm tree and a crescent moon, and historians wished to honor the state’s heritage by adopting a variation of it.
Scott Malyerck illustrated the variations and created a Facebook page to help generate discussions and ideas for the new look, according to ABC News 4.
After two years of work and design, the flag was released to the public. The design retained the indigo color of Colonel William Moultrie’s 2nd SC Regiment during the Revolutionary War, the crescent of 2nd Regiment uniforms and the palm tree, designed by Charleston artist Ellen Heyward Jervey for the 1910 flag.
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The synthesized result marked all the boxes for the committee, but the final flag only seemed to mark the public.
“It looks like it won the electric chair,” said one user, according to FITS News.
Another user said the tree appeared to have “survived a hurricane”, while several others compared it to Charlie Brown’s Christmas tree.
Another user was much more up-to-date, comparing two different designs to 2020: how it started and how it ended.
A Post and Courier Twitter survey showed that only 22% of respondents said it was “good”; another 26% said they thought it was totally bad, 23% said it was “very bad” and 30% said it was “total rubbish”.
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Malyerck admitted that, in retrospect, the flag sacrificed aesthetics for historical accuracy, leading to a negative response of “95 percent”.