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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.
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.
No, we have broken off the Soviet union.
No, I was from Soviet Union
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
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.
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
Do people in France have flags on their cars
Waving a french flag under almost any circumstance would be regarded a very weird
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
So I just took a small sample (outside of major business districts) with Google maps street view dropping random pins in L.A. and searching for American flags. 0/3.
Same with Paris. 0/3.
I guess I got lucky? People can do their own samples and will likely see the inverse of my results.
Yeah, the pledge of allegiance is kinda stupid and has been cut from most schools at the start of the day. (That is likely regional though.) It's still kinda weird that sports events still leverage national anthems too.
Many people here see hyperpatriotism as kinda weird and is more closely associated with (the bad kind) of nationalism.
To answer all questions like this, it depends on where you go. Some places are worse than others. Culturally important cities tend to be much more 'murica than others.
Now do the same with Barcelona, just tried it and got at least one Catalonia flag, as I was sure I would since there are lots of people with flags in their balconies here. Although I don't think people are the "bad" kind of nationalist here, it's more of an independence feeling.
My sample was not random because I went to populated areas where people/tourists are likely to go. I wasn't saying it's literally true that you cannot go anywhere without flags. But it was striking to both me and the person I was there with the sheer number of flags that seemed to be everywhere. We joked that there must be an unspoken rule that a business without a flag would be snubbed and seen as as an enemy of the state.
I'm sure random google maps locations don't necessarily have flags, but if you visit you can't deny the overwhelming prevalence of them in e.g. malls/high streets/the beach/in restaurants/etc.
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:
In public spaces and every day life no.
Sports yes.
Pledging allegiance to the flag in school? That is absurd.
North Korea is.
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.
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.
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.
Don't confuse patriotism with nationalism. Patriotism is love for one's homeland, nationalism is a delusion of blood and soil.
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.
Yeah, I'm a patriot, but I hate nationalists with a passion.
I guess North Korea wins this contest. Then Singapore. Usa comes later...
Russia and China are up there, too.
Wow, really? Cause you never think of those two as having their shit together.
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.
Being patriotic/nationalistic doesn't require having your shit together. If anything, it's the opposite of that.
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.
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.
Depends on the city, here in Barcelona is very common to see Catalonia flag
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.
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? ;)
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.
The world wars didn't even really happen there. There has not even been a war there in the last 100 years or something.
