Ask Lemmy

In my experience living in a couple of countries in Europe, generally the bigger the country the more the nationalism (though Germany is maybe exceptional on this) - small countries have very little tendency for people and business to display the flag and have flag-themed products and objects whilst larger countries have more of that.

That said, the far-right everywhere are flag-shaggers and during periods with large international sports events (for example, the World Cup) many normal people will display a national flag, though even then it's more so I large countries than small ones plus in some countries other flags are used (for example, in Britain they use the flags of the nations rather than the UK flag and in The Netherlands they use the "Oranje" flag rather than the Dutch flag).

I think the only country in Europe with nationalism close to America is the UK and I don't believe it's anywhere the same level (for example, they have nothing like the Pledge Of Alliegance).

Here in the Netherlands it's definitely not as crazy as in the US. People will fly the flag on national celebration days or on remembrance day. And during international soccer tournaments the country will turn orange. But the only flags I see on cars are upside-down ones from angry farmers protesting against environmental regulations and from nutjobs who still think that COVID vaccines contain microchips.

People do tend to fly provincial flags and municipality flags sometimes tho. Especially in the best province, Fryslân (I'm not biased at all).

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.

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.

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 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.

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 people in France have flags on their cars

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

No, we have broken off the Soviet union.

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.

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.

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.

In public spaces and every day life no.

Sports yes.

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

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.

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

North Korea is.

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