6 ms·

Having grown up in a country where nationalism kind of harks back to nazism, it's always weird for me to see all the flags everywhere. It's just not something I

by treve 10y ago

Having grown up in a country where nationalism kind of harks back to nazism, it's always weird for me to see all the flags everywhere. It's just not something I can get used to, even after all these years of seeing US flags everywhere.

droopyEyelids 10y ago
Having grown up in small town America, it's becoming weird for me to see these flags, too. They don't feel the same as they did when I was a kid, and there are more of them, and they're used in different contexts.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
- brudgers 10y ago
  When the US sent troops into Afghanistan, what came out spontaneously were yellow ribbons which had become the default way of displaying 'support for the troops' during the First Gulf War. The yellow ribbon in and of itself did not signify a position on the policy which led to troops being deployed. However, by expressing the hope for a quick demobilization, its sentiment ran counter to the administration's policy.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
rayiner 10y ago
People have a really basic need to bond over shared characteristics. Throughout the world, countries are glued together based on ethnicity, religion, or language. E.g. Pakistan separated from India over religion, and Bangladesh separated from Pakistan over language. Americans' proclivity for displaying the flag is a way of expressing unity in a country that doesn't have a common ethnicity, religion, or language. Nationalism also facilitates integration in a country that has tons of immigration. My family is from Bangladesh, where group membership is determined by ethnicity. A white American could move to Bangladesh at a young age, speak the language fluently, marry into a Bangladeshi family, but he'd never be Bangladeshi. Here, you step off the plane, put that flag up in front of your house, and boom you're American.
- pm90 10y ago
  > E.g. Pakistan separated from India over religion, and Bangladesh separated from Pakistan over language. Minor nit, it was more "culture" or "ethnicity" than language, although language was perhaps the most defining feature. It seems that the Punjabi Pakistani's looked down upon their (then) countrymen of Bengali heritage.
  - selimthegrim 10y ago
    There's no seems about it. If you speak Urdu the following link will be instructive https://youtu.be/J-7j6O_whYA?t=1m8s https://youtu.be/J-7j6O_whYA?t=1m8s I transcribe the key part here (1:08-1:48): Nisar: We had a great bureaucrat, a senior intellectual, Qudratullah Shahab who has a book called Shahabnama (an autobiography). (he relates from the book) In the 1950s, the Americans had given, as was their custom, sanitary goods as charitable donations in bulk. In a few cabinet meetings, Bengali ministers said "Let us have a share from this." The potbellied, large mustachioed (this is a Punjabi stereotype) West Pakistani ministers made fun of them and said "What do you lot need a commode for, you can go behind a banana plant" This was the manner of dealing with them.
  - aaron-lebo 10y ago
    Come on! Isn't the defining separating feature that huge chunk of land called India? :p
    - pm90 10y ago
      I can't tell if you're insinuating that India split the country...yes, once the War started, India did help Bangladesh gain independence. Prior to that however, it was the West Pakistani's who were responsible for incredible atrocities against the Bengali people living in (now) Bangladesh[0]. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archer_Blood#The_Blood_telegram https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archer_Blood#The_Blood_telegra...
      - aaron-lebo 10y ago
        Well, it was an admittedly lame joke about how the biggest division between Pakistan and Bangladesh is literally India. Had India not been separating the two, it would have been much easier for West Pakistan to use repression or other means to hold down Bangladesh as long as they'd like.
simonsarris 10y ago
Some countries are just really into their flag. Denmark is a good example.
- 67726e 10y ago
  Is that a Scandinavian thing, perhaps? My brother married into a Swedish family and his mother-in-law definitely loved that Swedish flag. Depending on the time of year you'd find she had Swedish flag tinsel, Swedish flag cocktail napkins, clothing, probably earrings and whatnot as well.
cvwright 10y ago
Yeah the US experience has been very different from many places in Europe. So much so that, for many people in rural America, waving the US flag harkens back to the defeat of Nazism and the end of WW2.

by treve 10y ago

droopyEyelids 10y ago

Having grown up in small town America, it's becoming weird for me to see these flags, too. They don't feel the same as they did when I was a kid, and there are more of them, and they're used in different contexts.

deleted 10y ago
[deleted]
brudgers 10y ago
When the US sent troops into Afghanistan, what came out spontaneously were yellow ribbons which had become the default way of displaying 'support for the troops' during the First Gulf War. The yellow ribbon in and of itself did not signify a position on the policy which led to troops being deployed. However, by expressing the hope for a quick demobilization, its sentiment ran counter to the administration's policy.

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

rayiner 10y ago

People have a really basic need to bond over shared characteristics. Throughout the world, countries are glued together based on ethnicity, religion, or language. E.g. Pakistan separated from India over religion, and Bangladesh separated from Pakistan over language. Americans' proclivity for displaying the flag is a way of expressing unity in a country that doesn't have a common ethnicity, religion, or language. Nationalism also facilitates integration in a country that has tons of immigration. My family is from Bangladesh, where group membership is determined by ethnicity. A white American could move to Bangladesh at a young age, speak the language fluently, marry into a Bangladeshi family, but he'd never be Bangladeshi. Here, you step off the plane, put that flag up in front of your house, and boom you're American.

pm90 10y ago
> E.g. Pakistan separated from India over religion, and Bangladesh separated from Pakistan over language. Minor nit, it was more "culture" or "ethnicity" than language, although language was perhaps the most defining feature. It seems that the Punjabi Pakistani's looked down upon their (then) countrymen of Bengali heritage.
- selimthegrim 10y ago
  There's no seems about it. If you speak Urdu the following link will be instructive https://youtu.be/J-7j6O_whYA?t=1m8s https://youtu.be/J-7j6O_whYA?t=1m8s I transcribe the key part here (1:08-1:48): Nisar: We had a great bureaucrat, a senior intellectual, Qudratullah Shahab who has a book called Shahabnama (an autobiography). (he relates from the book) In the 1950s, the Americans had given, as was their custom, sanitary goods as charitable donations in bulk. In a few cabinet meetings, Bengali ministers said "Let us have a share from this." The potbellied, large mustachioed (this is a Punjabi stereotype) West Pakistani ministers made fun of them and said "What do you lot need a commode for, you can go behind a banana plant" This was the manner of dealing with them.
- aaron-lebo 10y ago
  Come on! Isn't the defining separating feature that huge chunk of land called India? :p
  - pm90 10y ago
    I can't tell if you're insinuating that India split the country...yes, once the War started, India did help Bangladesh gain independence. Prior to that however, it was the West Pakistani's who were responsible for incredible atrocities against the Bengali people living in (now) Bangladesh[0]. [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archer_Blood#The_Blood_telegram https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archer_Blood#The_Blood_telegra...
    - aaron-lebo 10y ago
      Well, it was an admittedly lame joke about how the biggest division between Pakistan and Bangladesh is literally India. Had India not been separating the two, it would have been much easier for West Pakistan to use repression or other means to hold down Bangladesh as long as they'd like.

simonsarris 10y ago

Some countries are just really into their flag. Denmark is a good example.

67726e 10y ago
Is that a Scandinavian thing, perhaps? My brother married into a Swedish family and his mother-in-law definitely loved that Swedish flag. Depending on the time of year you'd find she had Swedish flag tinsel, Swedish flag cocktail napkins, clothing, probably earrings and whatnot as well.

cvwright 10y ago

Yeah the US experience has been very different from many places in Europe. So much so that, for many people in rural America, waving the US flag harkens back to the defeat of Nazism and the end of WW2.