Ask Lemmy

No.

Americans don't realise how strange this hyperpatriotism is.

From the outside, "pledging allegiance to the flag" is cult behaviour; it's seen as brainwashing.

I visited LA last year and you almost cannot exist in any space anywhere in the city without having at least one american flag visible. Often there are dozens of flags visible from any given sightline. This is not usual. Most countries will fly a flag over important buildings, or maybe in any given city there will be a few national flags in key locations. If the city has a good flag design, maybe the city flag is displayed frequently, such as in Amsterdam.

But outside America, people don't have this need to express how much they love their country. In America it looks like a competition as to who can adore their country the most. That's really not healthy citizenship as imo it discourages criticism.

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.

In public spaces and every day life no.

Sports yes.

Pledging allegiance to the flag in school? That is absurd.

Don't confuse patriotism with nationalism. Patriotism is love for one's homeland, nationalism is a delusion of blood and soil.

I think Americans should go answer that for themselves. As an exercise.

I guess North Korea wins this contest. Then Singapore. Usa comes later...

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.

Like mentioned in another comment there is a difference between patriotism and nationalism.

I would add to that there is a difference between loving one's country and being a fetishist of its flag or its national anthem.

You will find flags in all countries. The question is more what proportion of the population is obsessed with them?

I'm French and I can tell you that beside the far-right, who loves waving flags and singing the first few lines of the Marseillaise (most of them, like the rest of the population probably have never taken the pain to read the entire song, even less so to memorize it, too much of a hassle). For the most part, you will find flags on public buildings and offices. Seldom on private home/office.

Also, it's visible during special celebrations, say, each year for the 14th of July (France's birthday) some streets and stores will be decorated and, at least where I live (Paris), public transit will also have a little flag waving in the wind.

Last but not least, you will mostly see the French flags waved, this time en masse, during sport events. People will also proudly wear french colors on their clothing and on their face, or on their head (I fucking love this stupid hat, but Io don't own one). But then you will also see the other countries flags being waved by their own supporters, and most of the time they don't end-up killing one another ;)

Like I said, people barely know more than the first few lines of our national anthem, kids are not required to swear allegiance to the flag either at school. Some people are discussing about bringing that back but I'd rather see them bring back some traditional reading and math lessons, like in the 'good old days'... when kids actually were taught something useful. Because we've been suffering from the same issue you have with your US school system: it's falling apart, badly. Our kids aren't taught much if anything. More and more of them can barely read or write, and they can't do simple math. Let's not mention getting any notion of civic education, history, philosophy (which would all help make a more informed & better-equipped citizen, which is not that silly in any country that is supposed to be a democracy).

That being said, even without a flag, we're many to love our country, despite all its flaws, even those of us who criticize it vehemently. We just don't need to show that by waving some cheap piece of fabric, or glue a sticker on a some car.

I have bookshelves filled with books on French (and European) politics, history and philosophy. Sure those are not flags I can wave on the street or glue on my car to show what a true patriot I am but, imho, their non flashy content represent France (and the many other EU countries) a little better than any cheap piece of fabric put on a mast.

That being said, I have a pair of socks with a french flag on them. Could that count a patriotism? ;)

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

We Americans have little past by which to define ourselves, so we fall to "We're the best!". There's a joke to be made about white supremacists doing the same.

Love us or hate us, you gotta admit we've had one hell of a run in a very short time frame.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

The US is a big country and it depends on where you are. Usually, expression of patriotism is directly correlated to the number of dualies found in that region.

Anywhere you go, in any country, you are going to find a subset of rabid nationalists.

In my experience, Canadians living in the US are more prone to express their own patriotism by hanging American and Canadian flags. (That is just my experience and also shouldn't be considered a constant.)

This reeks of bias so it's probably of interest: https://typingadventure.com/vive-la-france/

North Korea is.

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

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:

https://youtu.be/8PwHytpomC4?t=16m30s

No, I have never seen that anywhere. That being said I have not visited the US nor most of the other countries. I am a french citizen and although I have witnessed the odd little french flag hung up in gardens (very uncommon, but I've seen it) the prevailing sentiment in France seems to be a certain pride in gastronomy, sports and sometimes sciences, and a general tendency to criticize most governments. Rightly so, I think.

Britain (not the UK as a whole) has their moments, but its nowhere near the same intensity as the US

Yes! Every country has its own brand of nationalism. It just so happens that different country have different flavors of it.

Do people in France have flags on their cars

Waving a french flag under almost any circumstance would be regarded a very weird

Nope. OK, maybe NK, if you insist. And of they can afford a flag.

Americans are weird with their odd interpretation of "patriotism". They pledge allegience to flag and constitution as kids, and trample both with their feet once they are adults.

I’m American but I’ve travelled a lot and the only place I can remember seeing anything close to as many flags was Greece. And it wasn’t that close. Americans are absurd about flags. Plus, the Greek flag is aesthetically lovely and the American flag might be bottom 5 on pure design principles.

No one get offended. I’m not insulting my own country’s flag. I’m just saying, 50 fucking stars and 13 stripes is a design nightmare. The Greek flag is simple and nice looking in lots of contexts. This isn’t a comment about honoring the flag. It’s a comment about vexillology and design.

Start watching other countries sports. Especially Formula One. Then you will see the flags and hear the anthems. At this point my husband has the British and Dutch anthems memorized