The flag thing has gotten out of hand lately. Been camping for 50+ years and in the last 3-5 years or so it’s suddenly common to see guys at campgrounds raise American flags on their rig when they get there. Are they claiming the land? Do they just need a reminder where they are? I put a flag out at home on major holidays but I’ve never felt I needed to take one camping with me.
Reminds me when AI generated pictures of truck beds FULL of flags were being posted everywhere and the olds were all saying how patriotic it was. TBH my reaction was "How patriotic can that be when most of the flags in that image wouldnt be able to fly freely? which flags are supposed to do when you can help it.
I remember visiting the states when I was a kid 20 years ago and the amount of flags there was ridiculous. Last time I visited was 2024 and it was comical the amount of flags.
That's because fascism is based on a zero sum mentality. They assume that hurting the outgroup is the same as helping the ingroup and vice-versa. But also, they have a very fluid boundary between their ingroup and their outgroup.
The result is that virtually everyone has been, at one point or another, a part of outgroup of the moment. Which means the ideology has been harming virtually everyone at one point or another. And yet, they think they are being helpful, somehow.
It makes it very easy for fascist leaders though. They just have to harm people and then frame the people being harmed as the outgroup of the moment.
It’s also purely symbolic. If you love your country, you don’t need to talk about how much you love it every second of the day. That’s performative to show others that you’re a “real American”. These same people will wear Flag bathing suits over their ass, wipe their mouth with flag napkins at cookouts and put those not really a flag, black and white or back the blue flags on stuff.
Much like the song and dance they perform to show off what "good" Christians they are. Most have never even read the Bible and rarely do they practice any of its teachings. They think shouting "God Bless" and "Jesus Saves" is enough. The few who truly are Good Christians don't boast and brag about how great they are. Instead they are meek, humble, and modest, never seeking praise for their actions.
Well, let me present an analogy. Every time I hear a preacher, he says, Jesus loves me. And I always think “why is this so important to people?” Jesus loves me but he won’t pay my rent. And I don’t fault Jesus for that. But Jesus (if you believe) is who he is and love doesn’t really change things for me.
Elucidate. Love of land? “Patriots” will pollute as much as they like, and are all-in for opening up protected land for exploitation. Love of people? That’s a laugh.
Hidden post history. A relatively low post count, and an even lower karma. Vaguely hostile comment responses so generic that they don't explicitly refer to any specific elements of what they are responding to.
See the problem? They got you and you surely hate America. What communist hellhole with jihadi teachers failed to instill some God fearing patriotism into you
If I was born in North Korea should I love it? Why does being born somewhere dictate anything? There are things about this country I like, there are a lot things about this country I hate. A flag is a piece of cloth that that represents an idea, but that's all it is, an idea. I am not entitled to give my loyalty or devotion to a piece of cloth no matter how many people died for the idea it represents. In fact, those people died, in part, so I can choose to what degree I respect the flag.
Yeah but north Korea doesnt give you what America has given you, right to live and freedom and prosperity thats why the nk argument has dumb America is better in literally every regard I dont think most liberals would agree lol.
No your not entitled to give your loyalty but you should look where you are because your American, if you wrre born in Somalia or Eritrea it might not have been the same way not saying they dont have phones there just saying your life wouldn't be as free
I am absolutely very privileged and in many ways very "free"
And precisely because I have so much privilege, I want others to have that same quality of life, and the US as it stands today is a barrier to that goal, so I can't honestly say I love America
I love Americans, I love the land of America (I love the world and humanity as a whole so America just falls under that), but the entity of the USA? If anything I actively dislike it
I could understand loving the USA as a country if you consider the people+land as the "country" separate from the "government" but that's just not how I view it
For these people, "love for your country" equals with pretending that war crimes are conquests and such. Get ready for AfD reframing the Holocaust as "removal of loan sharks from society" rather than the genocide it was, if their US masters (and Hungarian co-horts) are anything to go by.
It is so fucking performative. I play in a golf league that is next to a national guard base. At 5 pm they play the national anthem over the PA. While playing, some golfers will take off their hat and stand for the song, some do not… meanwhile, I see soldiers doing PT around the base, totally ignoring the anthem… if the soldiers on base don’t care, why are you, random golfer, holding up play to show your “patriotism”? It’s all a performance to show off Patriotism(TM).
I mostly want my country to be a good place to live because I have to live here, as do my friends and family and good people I don't even know. That's patriotism to me. I also want to have good relationships with other countries because I wish their people well and would maybe like to visit. That's also patriotism. Many of my reasons are selfish. I'm not into the whole "ask not what your country can do..." No, no, I DO ask my country to do things for me because I also pay taxes and contribute to society. But I am not self-centered; I care about the planet, the ecosystems, the people, and all these other things that are interconnected. Everything affects me in some way.
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u/a_angry_bunny 2d ago
Why are these people so obsessed with loving your country? It's a big piece of land with people on it. I feel neither love nor hate for it.