Leo Torosian

German-American philosopher Herbert Marcuse argued that advanced industrial societies neutralize radical opposition by absorbing it into the commodity system. Dissent becomes a product, rebellion becomes a lifestyle to be marketed and sold, and thus, the revolutionary charge is defused. This article attempts to address the paradox of small-scale revolutionary-flag manufacturing within a commodity system that disarms revolutionary dissent. In One-Dimensional Man, Marcuse argues that liberal...

YEREVAN—Vexillologist Leo Torosian and producer and creator of the Uncovering Roots podcast, Maxim Saakyan, recently gained rare access to the archives of the ARF History Museum in Yerevan, uncovering revolutionary flags never before seen by the public. Guided by museum staff member Aghvan Papyan, the pair...

This week, I made the acquisition of this pre-1918 postcard, made in Richmond, Virginia, depicting an Armenian man seated in front of three flags. One of the flags appears to be a never-before photographed seven-starred variant of the Armenian flag. An initial analysis of this photograph reveals more details: On the right is an American 48-star flag, used in the United States between 1912 and 1959, and pictured in many Armenian Diaspora photographs from that era. Displaying one’s...