re: Better question: why the hell do we need flags nowadays?

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It's true the functional purpose of flags has greatly diminished, but it is by no means gone. flags are still necessary identifying nationality of soldiers, ships, and territory. Sure these functions are all redundant to other systems, but visual symbols are a useful baseline form of communication. For example, you could read the plaque on the gate that says "US Embassy", but you could also recognize it as such from a much greater distance by seeing an american flag flying over a secured building in a foreign country, and put 2 and 2 together.

Flags are also a symbol of unity and heritage. There is a single, clear, intended message coded into each flag. Not everyone responds positively or accepts the message, but that doesn't mean the message doesn't exist or has no value.

To say flags as a concept are a tradition that has outlived their usefulness is tantamount to saying the ideas the flags are intended to represent are outdated also. I don't know about you, but I think we need more of the values typically coded into flags, not less.

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