this post was submitted on 16 Jun 2025
60 points (91.7% liked)

Ask Lemmy

32563 readers
1139 users here now

A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions


Rules: (interactive)


1) Be nice and; have funDoxxing, 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 spamPlease do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.


4) NSFW is okay, within reasonJust remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either !asklemmyafterdark@lemmy.world or !asklemmynsfw@lemmynsfw.com. 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 info@lemmy.world. 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 !politicaldiscussion@lemmy.world or !askusa@discuss.online


Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.

Partnered Communities:

Tech Support

No Stupid Questions

You Should Know

Reddit

Jokes

Ask Ouija


Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu


founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

Do people in France have flags on their cars? Do they sell clothing with the flag for Zimbabwe everywhere? Do people dress as their country's mascot for every day events?

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] Xande@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 1 hour ago (1 children)

Only when there are modern overpaid gladiators from different countries try to kick a plastic ball into the oponents net.

A.k.a. "Football World cup" and "Football Europa cup".

OK, also when there are olympics.

And there are those eternal yesterdays that again would like to fly a red flag, with a white dot and a black swastica... those are still a growing minority. Lets hope ot stays that way.

[–] zipzoopaboop@lemmynsfw.com 1 points 4 minutes ago

Is Eurovision super patriotic? Never watched it but I get the impression

[–] CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org 1 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago) (1 children)

None of the Western ones. Probably not Zimbabwe either, although I could be wrong about that. Africans are usually aware of how much development is ahead of them.

China is a lot like America in other ways, so it wouldn't surprise me if they do that stuff, and North Korea is obviously rabidly nationalistic in it's own way.

Canadian flags in unnecessary places are becoming more common, but that's basically us aping you, because we get all your media and define our whole identity as a contrast to America.

[–] zipzoopaboop@lemmynsfw.com 1 points 3 minutes ago

I'm seeing more and more black Canada flag stickers and personally equate them to punisher stickers

I just wish people would stop acting like Tim's is patriotic

[–] cepelinas@sopuli.xyz 2 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

No, we have broken off the Soviet union.

[–] kSPvhmTOlwvMd7Y7E@lemmy.world 1 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

No, I was from Soviet Union

[–] cepelinas@sopuli.xyz 1 points 4 hours ago

I think I misphrased my comment I meant to say that we are no longer in a dictatorship, so we do not have such propaganda

[–] ScoffingLizard@lemmy.dbzer0.com 8 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

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.

You're supposed to stop your car for colors. You don't necessarily need to get out, but hence the rush to get there and inside before colors.

[–] frank@sopuli.xyz 7 points 9 hours ago

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

[–] BuboScandiacus@mander.xyz 4 points 9 hours ago* (last edited 9 hours ago)

Do people in France have flags on their cars

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

[–] RandomVideos@programming.dev 8 points 12 hours ago

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

[–] falcunculus@jlai.lu 8 points 12 hours ago

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.

[–] daniskarma@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago)

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.

[–] Ledericas@lemm.ee 10 points 15 hours ago

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.

[–] NigelFrobisher@aussie.zone 5 points 16 hours ago

North Korea is.

[–] Wahots@pawb.social 4 points 15 hours ago

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

[–] zxqwas@lemmy.world 22 points 23 hours ago

In public spaces and every day life no.

Sports yes.

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

[–] AcesFullOfKings@feddit.uk 91 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (6 children)

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.

[–] garbagebagel@lemmy.world 12 points 1 day ago

Canadians responded to the American presidential threat by throwing flags up everywhere and let me tell you, that shit does not sit right with me.

I prefer to support my country in a less colonial way, personally.

load more comments (5 replies)
[–] PonyOfWar@pawb.social 32 points 1 day ago (6 children)

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.

load more comments (6 replies)
[–] yesman@lemmy.world 22 points 1 day ago (2 children)

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

[–] CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org 1 points 2 hours ago

Although the former seems like it will inevitably slide into the latter.

We should aspire to be a good person first, and then decide if our nation is awesome or "we're the baddies" after that.

load more comments (1 replies)
[–] Zwuzelmaus@feddit.org 11 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

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

[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 7 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Russia and China are up there, too.

[–] Klear@sh.itjust.works 3 points 11 hours ago (2 children)

Wow, really? Cause you never think of those two as having their shit together.

[–] CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org 1 points 1 hour ago

Kamil Galeev did a blog post pretty recently about modern Russian nationalism. Basically, it's sour grapes about the things the rest of the world has, with a heavy dose of "we suck but we can still nuke you"-style butthurt.

[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 5 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

Being patriotic/nationalistic doesn't require having your shit together. If anything, it's the opposite of that.

[–] neidu3@sh.itjust.works 12 points 1 day ago* (last edited 21 hours ago)

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
[–] HerrVorragend@lemmy.world 13 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

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.

[–] Nibodhika@lemmy.world 1 points 12 hours ago

Depends on the city, here in Barcelona is very common to see Catalonia flag

[–] Hobbes_Dent@lemmy.world 13 points 1 day ago (1 children)

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

[–] FenrirIII@lemmy.world 21 points 1 day ago (6 children)

Most Americans can't read. The rest you lost at 'exercise'

load more comments (6 replies)
[–] shalafi@lemmy.world 7 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (7 children)

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.

[–] ScoffingLizard@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 9 hours ago

The world wars didn't even really happen there. There has not even been a war there in the last 100 years or something.

load more comments (6 replies)
[–] Libb@jlai.lu 10 points 1 day ago

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? ;)

load more comments
view more: next ›