Do people in France have flags on their cars? Do they sell clothing with the flag for Zimbabwe everywhere? Do people dress as their country’s mascot for every day events?
In public spaces and every day life no.
Sports yes.
Pledging allegiance to the flag in school? That is absurd.
Do you remember the time Marco Rubio repeated the same thing twice during a presidential debate ? His speech included calling the US “the greatest nation in the history of the world” but no one minded that.
In most countries you would be ridiculed for saying something like that, but from what I understand Americans are taught that their country is the best in basically everything and they are very lucky to be born there because every other place is worse off.
The brainwashing is strong, yes.
US has alot of propaganda through various means, but its greatest affect is on conservatives, they are much easier to convince. copaganda, military propaganda, performative politics for the military.
Also, why does nobody here know that their mindless nationalism is weird? I’ve seen military guys stop traffic to stop their cars in the middle of the road and stand with their hand over their heart towards the nearest flag when they play the trumpets at the end of the work day. ( on a military base) But seriously, why would you stop rush hour traffic to virtue signal your worship of an inanimate object. Those people should not be allowed to use firearms. There is seriously something wrong with that. My coworkers did the same thing, but not while they were driving. It’s beyond bizarre.
You’re supposed to stop your car for colors. You don’t necessarily need to get out, but hence the rush to get there and inside before colors.
Yea, and gladiators were “supposed to” die for the glory of Rome. When are people going to get past pomp and circumstance? It’s fucking pathetic.
Every country has their own brand and degree of nationalism. For example, in Europe, you won’t commonly see the national flag displayed in a private context in countries like France or Germany, but it’s very common as a decoration in Switzerland and Denmark. Doesn’t mean I’d really compare the Danes or Swiss to American nationalists though. I think what makes US-brand nationalism a special kind is the intense superiority complex, the feeling that they’re the greatest country on earth and everyone else doesn’t matter. No Swiss nationalist would think that their country could thrive without at least some degree of cooperation with other countries.
Maybe other large-population countries like China and India might be more similar. When I went to high school in China as an exchange student, they had a flag-raising ceremony once a week where the national anthem was played. But I guess that’s still tame compared to having the pledge of allegiance every day.
I think what makes US-brand nationalism a special kind is the intense superiority complex, the feeling that they’re the greatest country on earth and everyone else doesn’t matter.
You’re spot on, to the extent that there is a concept describing exactly this: American Exceptionalism.
Yup, seeing a french flag in a private context feels off, you immediately get the sense that whoever put it up has very intense feelings about the Motherland/Fatherland.
The Swiss might be a bad example. They are easily the craziest, most nationalistic people in Europe. I’ve dealt a lot with Swiss from all kinds of backgrounds over several years, and with foreigners living and working in Switzerland, and I can confidently say that I have never experienced anything comparable to how normal and ingrained xenophobia and an endless vicious hate for foreigners are in Swiss culture. The average Swiss seems to despise foreigners (who make about 50% of the workforce, btw) and views themselves and their country as superior to anything that might exist in the universe. This is not only a rural problem, it is common in several cities as well, perhaps most prominently in Lucerne. Their xenophobia has also been institutionalised with the Swiss police of several cantons enjoying the harassment of foreigners as their favourite pastime.
Not to down talk your experience, politically we definitely have a huge problem with the extreme right wing party passing laws that are extremely problematic. And I would probably also agree that the swiss are possibly more xenophobic than neighbouring countries, especually when it comes to things like aquiring citicenship which is quite frankly insane. One thing I have also heard mentioned from expats though is the concept of the “swiss stare”. Basically that we swiss tend to quite directly stare at strangers when they get on a train etc. Being socialized in Switzerland we probably don’t notice that we even do it but to foreigners it could possibly feel menacing or hostile. Another thing, Lucerne is very touristy to the point of over tourism and that will create tension anywhere not just in Switzerland, see the whole " tourists go home" movement in spain etc…
A buddy of mine in wales tells me that you basically can’t fly the flag there because you’ll get bullied by police to take it down except during football season.
I’m sorry but that’s not true. The Welsh are pretty nationalistic and proudly fly the Welsh flag everywhere. You don’t see the union flag as much but there’s no way you’d get in trouble with the police for flying either flag.
I lived in Wales for 8 years.
None of the Western ones. Probably not Zimbabwe either, although I could be wrong about that. Africans are usually aware of how much development is ahead of them.
China is a lot like America in other ways, so it wouldn’t surprise me if they do that stuff, and North Korea is obviously rabidly nationalistic in it’s own way.
Canadian flags in unnecessary places are becoming more common, but that’s basically us aping you, because we get all your media and define our whole identity as a contrast to America.
No.
I live in Denmark but used to live in the US. I see a LOT of the Danish flag around (Dannebrog 🇩🇰) but it’s a lot less nationalistic. The level of “I love my country” is a bit weird but it’s the “it’s the best country and all others suck and wish they were us” that’s incomprehensible.
I think David Cross said something like this:
If you’re in Europe and someone tells you how your country sucks and isn’t free, you know they’re American
Don’t confuse patriotism with nationalism. Patriotism is love for one’s homeland, nationalism is a delusion of blood and soil.
Although the former seems like it will inevitably slide into the latter.
We should aspire to be a good person in general first, and then decide if our nation is awesome or “we’re the baddies” after that.
Patriotism: “What can I to for my country?”
Nationalism: “What can my country do for me?”
I see nationalism more as “My country is better than your country”
Which generally comes with “I am more important than those forigners and hence should be treated better than them” which is just another form of “what’s in it for me”.
Certainly my experience from living in Brexit Britain is that the kind of people who couldn’t accept criticism of Britain were also the kind who though they were superior to foreigners because of being Britons and expected to be better treated than foreigners for it, and that wasn’t just in their own country but also for example when on vacations abroad.
In Spain yes. We call them “patriotas de la pulserita” because they always have wristbands with the spanish flag.
We don’t have flags on poles, put people put the spanish flags on the balconies.
The most “I love my country” thing i have seen was someone dying their hair to represent the country flag
I have seen more people in my country wear the USA flag than my countries flag
Hard no. I’ve been to 25ish countries (I’ve lost count), and US is the only country I’ve been to with so many flags and rituals around the state and its government.
- National anthem before every sportsball game.
- Pledge of allegiance.
- Flags every where every day.
- “Thank you for your service”.
- Picture of President in any building that serves a government function (at least the ones I’ve been to… Not that many, tbh).
- Naming anything and everything after presidents and statesmen
I guess North Korea wins this contest. Then Singapore. Usa comes later…
Russia and China are up there, too.
Wow, really? Cause you never think of those two as having their shit together.
Being patriotic/nationalistic doesn’t require having your shit together. If anything, it’s the opposite of that.
It’s an Archer quote
Rarely in Europe.
If there is the Football World Cup or Euro Cup, you will see flags in European Cities and People wearing them are not uncommon.
During a random Tuesday, this is very uncommon as people tend to remember in which country they live without having to be reminded.
Depends on the city, here in Barcelona is very common to see Catalonia flag
Turkmenistan has some amazing propaganda and surprisingly, interesting music on the propaganda channels. Never would want to go there, though.
The fuzzy hat horse sing-along segment goes surprisingly hard? 16:31, pre-stamped:
North Korea is.
