In public spaces and every day life no.
Sports yes.
Pledging allegiance to the flag in school? That is absurd.
this post was submitted on 16 Jun 2025
17 points (100.0% liked)
Ask Lemmy
32861 readers
1421 users here now
A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions
Rules: (interactive)
1) Be nice and; have fun
Doxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them
2) All posts must end with a '?'
This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?
3) No spam
Please do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.
4) NSFW is okay, within reason
Just remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either [email protected] or [email protected].
NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].
5) This is not a support community.
It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions.
If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email [email protected]. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.
6) No US Politics.
Please don't post about current US Politics. If you need to do this, try [email protected] or [email protected]
Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.
Partnered Communities:
Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu
founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
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.
I can imagine it's harder to have a national identity when your nation is based on forced removal of indigenous people and their persecution (not to mention all the slavery), because my normal line is usually "everywhere has the same amount of history", but if the US doesn't see the history of the American Indians as theirs, or at least as something to honour and commemorate, then I can see perhaps that that might cause a mental malaise.
This is such a comically ignorant view. Most countries in the world have a similar history as the US. It's like you dingleberries think the US is the only country in history with slavery or conquest. This view shows that you have a myopic view of history.
Every single country in the New World is a product of European colonization, slavery, and erasure of Indigenous people. This is true from Canada all the down to Chile. In fact, this is actually more true in other countries because the US was a small part of the Atlantic slave trade and the Spanish and Portuguese empires made killing natives their favorite past time.
It's not just the new world, but this also applies to the old world. Countries like Turkey, Russia, Azerbaijan, South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Morocco, Australia, New Zealand, and the list goes on and on were had similar histories.
The reality is that this just how nation building is. Nations don't spring up out nowhere and magically gain land and sovereignty. Nations are built through conquest, hardships, exclusive sense of pride, and cultural homogeneity over time.
load more comments
(11 replies)
I guess North Korea wins this contest. Then Singapore. Usa comes later...
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
Yeah, but it's more subtle. They won't say they're better directly, but they'll act like you're bad guys if you don't do everything like how they do it. See: the worship of the metric system. Also see: walkability where it reaches 110 in the summer and where it reaches -2 in the winter
load more comments
(8 replies)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
load more comments
(1 replies)
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.
Don't confuse patriotism with nationalism. Patriotism is love for one's homeland, nationalism is a delusion of blood and soil.
load more comments
(4 replies)
I think Americans should go answer that for themselves. As an exercise.
Most Americans can't read. The rest you lost at 'exercise'
I should be offended, but this is just too damn funny.
Generalize much?
OP's being a smart ass, but I recently learned that their statement is true, for a certain value of "read".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literacy_in_the_United_States
There is much literature (heh) that quotes the same numbers, or near enough. So yeah, I'm going to say most Americans can't read. And BTW, this is one of the most shocking truths I've learned in life.