OPINION: I see, in Red Peak, our nation's athleticism combined with intellect and human warmth in one svelte bicultural package.

But then, that's probably because I've just seen netballer-turned-sportscaster Jenny-May Coffin reading the news in a dress that looks an awful lot like it's been stitched together out of this country's popular preference for a new flag.

Like many of us, I feel I'm going cross-eyed, starting to see Red Peak everywhere.

NZ First MPs reckon they can see Red Peak in a motif displayed on Nazi sentry boxes. Indeed, one of their MPs suggested in Parliament that when you hold the design a certain way and squint just so, it might even look like a swastika.

Right-wing blogger Cameron Slater, on the other hand, sees in the flag the red triangle badges that communists were made to wear in Nazi concentration camps, and suggests it is thereby a leftist attempt to infiltrate the political discourse.

A confused and flailing John Cox from Monarchy New Zealand sees in Red Peak subconscious allusions to both multinational capitalism and to communism: "Why does anyone want a flag that looks suspiciously like that of Chevron Oil?" he asks, worriedly. "The red mountain suggests Communist Nepal, rather than this country."

Artist and Red Peak supporter Dick Frizzell acknowledges the flag looks like all kind of other logos and signs. "There's a New Zealand roofing company with a similar logo, there's real estate companies with similar logos . . . there are arrows and chevrons, there are road signs telling you not to go over the edge, that look like Red Peak.

"That's just not the point . . . it's what we imbue it with."

Precisely.

It's a mountain, it's a wharenui, it's a corner of the Union Jack, it's a woven taniko pattern, it's the tip of a Southern Cross star.

Most of all, it is the Rorschach inkblot test of nationhood. Like an inkblot test, the combination of shapes means, in itself, nothing.

It is the values with which we imbue a flag that give it meaning. As such, like any decent flag, it enables us to tell stories about ourselves.

So, rather than looking for extremist political philosophies that might somehow be hiding in the Red Peak like some kind of Trojan Horse, let's think about the values we want our flag to carry to the world.

We say New Zealanders have been a courageous nation – look at how we all got here in our waka and sailing ships, remember how we settled these rugged islands. Think of our enormous commitment in two world wars, or how we stood up for our principles against the world's superpowers during the nuclear ships stand-off, and after the Rainbow Warrior bombing.

We can be brave again. Our courage can define us, set us apart from older nations stifled by tradition. Our artists and inventors and farmers can overcome new challenges, while their foreign counterparts are still filling in forms in triplicate.

Like Sir Edmund Hillary scaling Mt Everest, we can again be world leaders.

If you believe Red Peak can carry the values that for you define our nation, vote for it.

If not, choose one that does.