I don't care what flag people display and it should be up to individuals if they want to display one or not - although it is helpful in identifying whether some peoples' dodgy posts are because of simple difficulty with learning English as a second language or due to simple ignorance of it as a first language
I'm happy to be identified as an Aussie and there are many, many things I love about this place and its people. There are also things that shit me to tears and even shame me (the treatment of the Aborigines for one, the complicity in Iraq war crimes for another - it's like we didn't learn a damn thing from Vietnam ffs), so I can't say I'm 100% proud of my country - specifially the current government and many of the governments before it. Australians (or anyone from anywhere) who say things like "my country, right or wrong" or "you don't like it, go home" or whatever strike me as people who don't pay attention to the news. If your country's in the wrong, it's your patriotic duty to make a fuss and call your government out on it! Countries are just made up of people and people do stupid, sometimes flat-out evil things. I'm all for patriotism if it floats your boat, but sometimes it can be maniuplated into nationalism, which can turn militant, fundamentalist or even imperialist very quickly (I'm sure we're all familiar with the Nazis). To think your country is inherently superior to another country and is forever incapable of error, for no other reason than you were born in it, is illogical and conceited imho. Aha, found a quote which I think's pretty spot on:
"Patriotism is proud of a country's virtues and eager to correct its deficiencies; it also acknowledges the legitimate patriotism of other countries, with their own specific virtues. The pride of nationalism, however, trumpets its country's virtues and denies its deficiencies, while it is contemptuous toward the virtues of other countries. It wants to be, and proclaims itself to be, "the greatest," but greatness is not required of a country; only goodness is." Sydney J Harris, US author and journalist.
Albert Einstein was less diplomatic on the subject:
"Nationalism is an infantile disease. It is the measles of mankind."
Also, my country's flag has another country's flag taking up a quarter of it, which I think is somewhat outdated, a relic of our colonial & imperial past. Perhaps it's time we had a look at that
I wonder sometimes: these people who are ultra-patriotic and put flags in their yards and pick fights with people who criticise their country's actions (without considering whether the critic has a point) - has it occurred to them that you have absolutely no choice where you're born (sometimes, not even your parents get to choose
)? If you aren't born
here, you're born
there. Therefore, it makes no sense to proclaim that the place where you happened to be born is the greatest place in the world - you didn't choose to be born there and you haven't been everywhere else
For all I know, much as I love where I live, New Zealand (where I was recently) is actually,
literally, the greatest country in the world!
I must admit, it
was pretty sweet
PS: tiny idea: you could always replace the "other" flag with a tiny world globe or an LFS logo
