Proud to be an American!

markin ball

Brock Samson wrote:

why do people get uneasy about americans displaying american flags? i'm talking actual flags, here. not shirts, vests, bandannas, pants, and all that other horseshit.

hey, at least we're not holding a parade every year and pulling our missles down the street, with our army goose-stepping in front of it.

Who is uneasy about that? Specific example, please.

Commy

Brock Samson wrote:

hey, at least we're not holding a parade every year and pulling our missles down the street, with our army goose-stepping in front of it.

right, instead of parading our military we are out using it.


so much better :roll:

whygohome

Commy wrote:

Brock Samson wrote:

hey, at least we're not holding a parade every year and pulling our missles down the street, with our army goose-stepping in front of it.

right, instead of parading our military we are out using it.


so much better :roll:

ONCE DEVIDED

For me I reckon bynzies got a better perspective as he has traveled broadly. someone who has traveled only a little or not at all have only their own limited experience.
Flag waving is Quite rife here in OZ
I dont mind people flying a flag from their homes etc but those who run around with Tatts or boxers flags as capes etc are showing direspect to thier national identity.
Me Im proud of my country, my flag and anthem. It identifies us as Aussies.
but you wont see a southern cross tatt on my back. Its farkin stamped into my heart already
quote]

I've been all over America. I've been there 5 times.

I've also been coast to coast by bus 3 times.

Though I don't think that was his point, as I've heard it stated on the M.T before that living in China automatically makes you completely unqualified to know anything, and to voice an opinion.[/quote]

Cosmo

Electric_Delta wrote:

I think you know the otherwise to be true. The news reports are already coming in as they do annually about "Christmas" being censored because one person in town is "offended."

To deny this happens is foolish.

...
Place a sign in your front yard that says, "Merry Christmas" and see how many lawsuits are draw against you. I am going with zero to none.
The whole Happy Holidays came about because of the good old fashioned tradition of Capitalism. Retailers want Christians dollars... and Jewish dollars and Muslim dolllars and Hindu dollars between Thanksgiving and New Years. There is not law saying you HAVE to say 'Happy Holidays'. Retailers took up that tradition to... guess what? Make money by selling to Jews and Muslims and Hindus.
...
Now, publicly funded institutions went away from 'Silent Night' and opted for 'Jingle Bells' instead because of whay? Because they didn't want to add, 'Dradel, dradel, dradel' to their Christmas shows. You cannot endorse one religion over another in America because of that pesky Bill of Rights. Your Churches and homes can have a Christmas show with 'Silent Night'... your church and home can display a Nativity Scene... your church and home can post 'Merry Christmas' on the marquee.... but, our court houses cannot because court houses are public buildings, churches and private homes are not.
Retailers such as Target and Wal-Mart CHOOSE to put 'Happy Holidays' in their ads for one reason... good ol' capitalism. it's not about Allah... it's all about Dollah.

Byrnzie

Cosmo wrote:

Electric_Delta wrote:

I think you know the otherwise to be true. The news reports are already coming in as they do annually about "Christmas" being censored because one person in town is "offended."

To deny this happens is foolish.

...
Place a sign in your front yard that says, "Merry Christmas" and see how many lawsuits are draw against you. I am going with zero to none.
The whole Happy Holidays came about because of the good old fashioned tradition of Capitalism. Retailers want Christians dollars... and Jewish dollars and Muslim dolllars and Hindu dollars between Thanksgiving and New Years. There is not law saying you HAVE to say 'Happy Holidays'. Retailers took up that tradition to... guess what? Make money by selling to Jews and Muslims and Hindus.
...
Now, publicly funded institutions went away from 'Silent Night' and opted for 'Jingle Bells' instead because of whay? Because they didn't want to add, 'Dradel, dradel, dradel' to their Christmas shows. You cannot endorse one religion over another in America because of that pesky Bill of Rights. Your Churches and homes can have a Christmas show with 'Silent Night'... your church and home can display a Nativity Scene... your church and home can post 'Merry Christmas' on the marquee.... but, our court houses cannot because court houses are public buildings, churches and private homes are not.
Retailers such as Target and Wal-Mart CHOOSE to put 'Happy Holidays' in their ads for one reason... good ol' capitalism. it's not about Allah... it's all about Dollah.

catefrances

ONCE DEVIDED wrote:

For me I reckon bynzies got a better perspective as he has traveled broadly. someone who has traveled only a little or not at all have only their own limited experience.
Flag waving is Quite rife here in OZI dont mind people flying a flag from their homes etc but those who run around with Tatts or boxers flags as capes etc are showing direspect to thier national identity.
Me Im proud of my country, my flag and anthem. It identifies us as Aussies.
but you wont see a southern cross tatt on my back. Its farkin stamped into my heart already

im going to have to disagree with you here. i dont see a high level of flag waving here in oz outside of sporting events, australia day, the occasional riot in the shire or the BDO when it happens to fall on australia day.

do you also consider australian flag bikinis disrespectful?

pjfan31

catefrances wrote:

do you also consider australian flag bikinis disrespectful?

Oooh, I embrace them

ONCE DEVIDED

catefrances wrote:

ONCE DEVIDED wrote:

For me I reckon bynzies got a better perspective as he has traveled broadly. someone who has traveled only a little or not at all have only their own limited experience.
Flag waving is Quite rife here in OZI dont mind people flying a flag from their homes etc but those who run around with Tatts or boxers flags as capes etc are showing direspect to thier national identity.
Me Im proud of my country, my flag and anthem. It identifies us as Aussies.
but you wont see a southern cross tatt on my back. Its farkin stamped into my heart already

im going to have to disagree with you here. i dont see a high level of flag waving here in oz outside of sporting events, australia day, the occasional riot in the shire or the BDO when it happens to fall on australia day.

do you also consider australian flag bikinis disrespectful?

yeah I do find it disrespectful.
Im a little old school on this
I was trained to properly hold the flag, fold etc on parade in The army. To show it respect.
your not allowed to let it touch the ground etc . heaps of rules.
a lot of people around my area disrespect the flag in the ways I mentioned . maybe not yours

catefrances

ONCE DEVIDED wrote:

catefrances wrote:

ONCE DEVIDED wrote:

For me I reckon bynzies got a better perspective as he has traveled broadly. someone who has traveled only a little or not at all have only their own limited experience.
Flag waving is Quite rife here in OZI dont mind people flying a flag from their homes etc but those who run around with Tatts or boxers flags as capes etc are showing direspect to thier national identity.
Me Im proud of my country, my flag and anthem. It identifies us as Aussies.
but you wont see a southern cross tatt on my back. Its farkin stamped into my heart already

im going to have to disagree with you here. i dont see a high level of flag waving here in oz outside of sporting events, australia day, the occasional riot in the shire or the BDO when it happens to fall on australia day.

do you also consider australian flag bikinis disrespectful?

yeah I do find it disrespectful.
Im a little old school on this
I was trained to properly hold the flag, fold etc on parade in The army. To show it respect.
your not allowed to let it touch the ground etc . heaps of rules.
a lot of people around my area disrespect the flag in the ways I mentioned . maybe not yours

i live in sydney. i just dont see any of what you mentioned as being disrespectful. but then again i find it very difficult to be respectful of my nations flag when it has the flag of another country so prominent within it.

Cosmo

Are the people who wave the Confederate Battle Flag... the Stars and Bars... Proud to be Americans? If so, then why all the fuss about the flag that sought to divide the Union?

OutOfBreath

I must say dont feel too comfortable around people that are "proud to be whatever nationality". To use such phrases indicates a certain mindset in many cases that i dont particularly like.

America is a sepcial case cause "proud american" would to me have to mean "proud european" in some way. I am european of course, and several of the tags associated with it is to my liking. But proud?

Being a bit patriotic about your home town and region is something else entirely. I am European, then Norwegian, then a "Westerner", then more specifically a "Southwesterner, and then a "Haugalending" (region), and then a resident of the island I come from whcih is it's own municipality. I am slightly patriotic about being a Norwegian, but I dont think it's anything to beat my chest about. I am a bit more dedicated as a "Westerner" as it has associations to the nature here, a bit more rugged way of life and very independent minded people. (could also be that since I have moved to the big city of the west and have a girlfriend from yet another part of the "West, I am compromising a bit subconsciously) Less patriotic about my specific hometown, cause I'm not really that fond of it, apart from having my childhood memories tied to it and family living there. A bit more about the region "Haugalandet" in general, in that the people are very thrifty and practically minded. Also supporting the football team from the nearest city of course.

Point is, patriotism is complicated stuff. It can be a rough cover for "tribal my people's dicks are bigger than yours's" bigotism, or it can be about a genuine care for a specific place and the people in it. This rough draft of my loyalties should illustrate that. The "Proud american" seems to me to be mostly "we are the greatest" trash talk, cause it encompasses far too many people and places to have any real meaning for people. As I outlined, my patriotism runs a lot more local than that, and it's that kind of patriotism I think can be a good thing. (at least less bad)

Anywho.

Peace
Dan

Jason P

A little story that's semi-related . . . I bought a flag this weekend for the house (unrelated to this thread) and it added a nice visual touch to my place. Unfortunately, the cheap mount had some tiny screws that didn't look like they could provide the adequate support. I was skeptical but figured they had engineered this to at least withstand 30 mph wind. Sure enough, three days later I find the flag in my flower garden with some minor damage to my siding.

Time to use some american ingenuity and fix this sucker myself. By the time I get done, this thing will survive hurricane force winds. In the meantime, I need to figure out where this flag was manufactured . . .

Byrnzie

Jason P wrote:

In the meantime, I need to figure out where this flag was manufactured . . .

Probably China.

Jason P

Cosmo wrote:

Are the people who wave the Confederate Battle Flag... the Stars and Bars... Proud to be Americans? If so, then why all the fuss about the flag that sought to divide the Union?

The Duke brothers get an obvious pass . . . everyone else needs to pull their heads out of their butts.

Jason P

Byrnzie wrote:

Jason P wrote:

In the meantime, I need to figure out where this flag was manufactured . . .

Probably China.

Byrnzie, I have an unrelated question for you. I was at my old man's place last night and he had Glen Beck on in the background and Beck was trying to argue that China wasn't communist, but instead a socialist society. I would argue that China is a capitalistic country, only run by mafia-type government and businesses. What are your thoughts?

Byrnzie

Jason P wrote:

Byrnzie wrote:

Jason P wrote:

In the meantime, I need to figure out where this flag was manufactured . . .

Probably China.

Byrnzie, I have an unrelated question for you. I was at my old man's place last night and he had Glen Beck on in the background and Beck was trying to argue that China wasn't communist, but instead a socialist society. I would argue that China is a capitalistic country, only run by mafia-type government and businesses. What are your thoughts?

I'm with you on this one. It's a capitalist country run by a bunch of gangsters who use a totalitarian system to protect themselves. I've not seen anything communist about it in the three years I've been here. It's every man for himself. There's not even any national welfare or national health system here.

ajedigecko

Byrnzie wrote:

Jason P wrote:

In the meantime, I need to figure out where this flag was manufactured . . .

Probably China.

it is interesting to see where crosses are manufactured.......from what i have seen, it is usually china.

cha ching....china.

cajunkiwi

Cosmo wrote:

Are the people who wave the Confederate Battle Flag... the Stars and Bars... Proud to be Americans? If so, then why all the fuss about the flag that sought to divide the Union?

Funny you should mention that... there seem to be a lot of people down here who think the Civil War isn't over, it's just taking a break. They're not retreating, they're reloading. It isn't that unusual to see trucks with "The South Will Rise Again" bumper stickers, and when Ole Miss shortened a certain song at football games to avoid playing the line "The South Will Rise Again," it ticked off a few people.

cajunkiwi

catefrances wrote:

i live in sydney. i just dont see any of what you mentioned as being disrespectful. but then again i find it very difficult to be respectful of my nations flag when it has the flag of another country so prominent within it.

How's the discussion about becoming a republic going on your side of the ditch? Most of the under-50 crowd in NZ are very much in favour of it, but at the end of the day we'll probably end up waiting until you guys do it and then follow suit. The New Zealand Herald ran a competition earlier this year to come up with a new flag, and some of the suggestions were pretty cool - not a single Union Jack in sight.