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We should always have assumed the worst and continue to assume the worst. Nationalism is the problem.
Right?
At what point was it a symbol for good?
I don't mean historical precedent. I'm talking times within the life span of somebody in the generations starting from, say, the boomers', when seeing an American flag might have filled them with hope or positivity or optimism that was not born of simple blind nationalism.
Certainly not within my lifetime (born 1990); The closest I can come to that by drawing on my own memory is the huge wave of patriotic fervor that swept the nation after 9/11, and at that time I was just a kid anyway and so of course I was caught up in it too.
Nationalism tore down the divine right of kings. The US is not the whole world.
Fascists managed to bring back monarchism sugarcoated in nationalism.
Nationalism is like a potent pesticide when used correctly it's brilliant, but used incorrectly and you just gassed a small town. That aside I really hope the US is subject to a springtime of nations because frankly speaking it ain't a unified nation, it's at minimum 50 nations not factoring in first nations.
When I was a kid I didn't have to worry if the person with the flag was completely batshit crazy or not. The only annoying thing was needing to do the pledge of allegiance because public education forces people to do that, even though I'd much rather be doing anything else.
Nowadays though gotta avoid the flag like the plague, especially if its on a pickup truck
In most states it is illegal to force kids to do the pledge. I caught a lot of shit for not doing it but it seemed really creepy and wrong to me from about age 13.
I can But only because I was in cub scouts Which seems a bit propaganda ish in hindsight