Flagwavers

 

Flagwaving, Jan 6

I was driving into my parking spot at Grocery Outlet the other day when a young marine drove up with the largest American flag that you have ever seen hoisted in the back of his pick up. License plate was from a prairie state if I can recall. No doubt this lad really loves his country. God bless him.

leave no question
where your allegiance lies...

We are seeing more and more of this sort of thing lately, the giant flag in the truck phenomenon and I think it must serve as some sort of clan/tribal identification. 

Sorts the us's from the thems, I reckon.

Probably not the people I need to hang out with, but to each his own. A bit forced and cartoony.

Flags are everywhere, and the size of your flag is some sort of patriotic virtue signal and competition now. It's pretty moronic actually.

Now don't me wrong, I love the flag and I love my country, the red white and blue pennant one of your better aesthetic efforts as far as flags go, I suppose and America a country that took my ancestors in at a time of dire trouble.

Governor Greg Abbott has suggested that a young Australian influencer Mia Chloe go back down under for wondering about the current strange American fixation with Old Glory?

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Monday told a woman to "go back to Australia" in an online post after she shared a video commenting on how U.S. residents seem to fly their national flag more often than people in other countries.

In a TikTok clip, Australian resident Mia Chloe, whose username is @meanderwithmedia, opined on Americans' oversharing of Old Glory. The travel influencer wrote on account bio that she was "traveling the world on a budget and no brain cells," according to Fox News.

"I'm just going to say it: there are too many flags in America," Chloe said in her assessment. "They're on houses. They're on cars. Some are on couch cushions. You're the only country that I know that does this."

I think Mia makes an accurate observation and am sorry about the rudeness from the Texas Governor. 

We Americans are obsessed with our patriotism and our flag devotion has become a litmus test for our fealty. 

You don't see this type of behavior in any other country that I am familiar with, short of Albania maybe or some of the last Soviet satellites where it might be mandatory.

A bit xenophobic if you ask me.

A friend on my block sold his house not too long ago. According to my pal, the new buyers got real prickish during the end of escrow and I immediately got a weird vibe about them after hearing about their behavior.

The other day I noticed that their fence and gate was now sprouting little American flags. And I felt like my suspicions had been confirmed. On the evening of 7 April 1775, Samuel Johnson made his famous statement, "Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel." 

While I see nothing remotely noxious about our country's flag, those that would use it and fetishize it to confirm their uber patriotic bona fides are somewhat contemptible.

"Sinclair Lewis aptly predicted in It Can't Happen Here that if fascism came to America it would come wrapped in the flag and whistling 'The Star Spangled Banner'." Harrison Salisbury