Unpopular Opinion

I’m sorry but I’ll take offense to the Nazi Flag.

A flag is a symbol. Words aren't just a bunch of letters, there's social meaning in the unique message conveyed.

But yes, that nitpick aside, it's absurd nationalism at play. When someone burn the flags and books of my political alignment, I couldn't care less. Sure, it's an offensive gesture to burn a symbol, it's not crazy for someone to get mad at a burned bible or national flag. But at the end of the say, I see it as no different to someone saying 'America sucks', which is pretty common.

And the weird nationalism is pretty internalized to the point where it's just normal to most Americans. They point to the nationalist displays of other countries like 'Cult of Personalities' elsewhere and don't notice their local fixation with Washington and the rest, or reciting a daily oath to their flag, or flying them everywhere constantly all the time. But from an outsider perspective, those rituals are just... concerning. It's ingrained nationalist propaganda.

If you worship any flag or take offense to any flag, you need to get a life.

This I disagree with. A flag is a symbol, it represents concepts. And some flags can represent, among other things, "I want you killed" (consider the Nazi swastika being flown today). I think it's reasonable to be offended by a flag representing an offensive idea.

But a national flag flown by the world superpower? It's a bit fragile to flip out over that, isn't it?

Every flag is a piece of cloth that people project their ideologies on to. To say it is only a piece of cloth misses the point of why various flags are important to various people.

People tend to care more of a fucking piece of plastic trash (most of flags are made of just shitty plastic btw) than other's people lives. Not without reason "patriots" rhyme with "idiots".

and a book is paper and ink. but it's what it represents

Symbols are incredibly powerful things. It's pretty easy to understand.

Unless youve never noticed, America has a huge Nationalism problem and always has. Drive through any subdivision and you'll see flags on many houses. Go to a sporting event and you'll see the National Guard in some capacity. America has always been a nation that skirts the edges of Fascism just waiting to be led there.

Source - a Canadian that has been there to smaller towns many many times.

I'm an American and I don't get it either.

My daughter got in trouble in the fifth grade for refusing to say the pledge of allegiance in class because, in her words, "it's stupid to say a pledge to a flag." I didn't teach her that, she's just a smart kid. For non-Americans, it is illegal to force a child to say that pledge, which was decided by the Supreme Court in the 1940s.

I let her shitty permanent "substitute" teacher (yay Indiana teacher pay being shit) know about this supreme court case and told her that if she got in trouble again, lawyers would get involved. She got super apologetic and claimed that my daughter wasn't in trouble, she just took her out in the hall and had a private talk with her about it. Which is totally not punishing a schoolchild as everyone clearly knows. She never apologized to my daughter, but I knew she never would and I didn't bother to push it.

My daughter never stood up to say the pledge again, as was her right.

Fuck the flag, it's cloth, like you said. Americans should be revering the founding document and its amendments that gives them their rights, not something designed so that friendly ships wouldn't fire cannons at each other.