Flag Waving.

[the_great_she_elephant]

Is jingoistic flag-waving a just another crass  Americanism  we have adopted, or has it always been a facet of Australian Culture?

Today I found this little gem on my FB newsfeed:

I DON'T CARE IF I DO OFFEND ANYONE BY THIS!!! I PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE TO THE FLAG OF AUSTRALIA AND TO THE COMMONWEALTH FOR WHICH IT STANDS, ONE NATION INDIVISIBLE, AND JUSTICE FOR ALL! MY GENERATION GREW UP RECITING THE AUSTRALIAN ANTHEM EVERY MORNING IN SCHOOL WITH MY HAND ON MY HEART. THEY NO LONGER DO THAT FOR FEAR OF OFFENDING SOMEONE! ... ...... LET'S SEE HOW MANY AUSSIES WILL RE-POST THIS AND NOT CARE ABOUT OFFENDING SOMEONE

Well it offended me! What a load of codswallop! Mr. Elephant, who is his 70s says he never had to recite anything with his hand on his heart when he was at school, my kids, who are in their 40s say they didn’t either and , as far as I know, neither did any of my Grandchildren. The most any of them have ever done was sing the National Anthem at assemblies and I’m pretty sure most schoolkids do the same today.

This is a stupid piece of xenophobia disguised as patriotism that obviously started in America – and even there it is a big fat lie, an overwhelming majority of American schools still go through the pledge to the flag ritual every day.

I suspect whoever it was that said “Patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel”  must have been thinking of this type of offensive hogwash when he made that comment. 

[ajarnjenny]

On the NSW Mid North Coast, this weekend we are crowded with flag waving, stubby swilling patriots.

I have noticed that the patriotism shown by this bunch has a direct correaltion with the number and luridness of the tatts that they sport and the foul language which seems to be part of their everday speech.

[the_great_she_elephant]

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@ajarnjenny wrote:

On the NSW Mid North Coast, this weekend we are crowded with flag waving, stubby swilling patriots.

I have noticed that the patriotism shown by this bunch has a direct correaltion with the number and luridness of the tatts that they sport and the foul language which seems to be part of their everday speech.

---

Still, at least all that flag waving helps to keep the Chinese economy ticking over.

[aftanas]

Yes, a flag is a symbol and as showing respect to the symbol is showing respect to the institution it represents.  However, it is important to remember that a symbol has no intrinsic value.  The pledge of allegiance tends to elevate the flag such that it, rather than the institution it represents, is the object of reverence. 

In the Australian tradition the flag is not revered by Australian as the American flag is in America.  While there are certain protocols that should be observed in relation to the Australian flag (see http://www.itsanhonour.gov.au/symbols/flag.cfm#protocols) the United States Flag Code (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Flag_Code) goes way beyond the Australian protocols.  For example, the United States Flag Code prohibits the incorporation of the flag into items of clothing which is obviously not the case in Australia.

We also have a different concept of patriotism to the Americans.  From my observations of Americans on the Fox News Network it appears that American "patriots" universally subscribe to the principle of "American Exceptionalism": that is, that America is superior to other nations because it is America, and that America has an obligation to promote American values throughout the world.  Indeed, those Americans who propose a different view are pilloried by conservatives, such that "liberal" is a pejorative term in America.

I think Australia is a great place to live, and I wouldn't want to live anywhere else.  But I will not worship a flag and I reserve my right to be critical of those policies and cultural values that offend by liberal principles.

[bright.ton42]

I doubt that anyone worships a piece of cloth, but what it stands for.  I have no trouble honouring the Australian flag, and what it stands for for me is giving a home to my father who was a refugee after WW2 and giving him opportunities.  It also stand for  all the opportunities it has give me, my relatives and friends.  And those who come out here (legally)  and are prepared to work and put into the community the opportunites are boundless.   

[green.fields]

We proudly have a flag pole in our front yard and the flag flies every day of the year. We are proud of our country. I am a migrant to this country , (naturalised.) (since I was a baby) my husband is 5th generation Australia. If it offends anyone to bad I say, flying the falg that is.

When I went to school we used to sing God save the Queen, no hand over heart. A lot of stuff coming across FB and in emails is rubbish, take it with a grain of salt.

[boris1gary]

This is from the SMH, it's only the end of a very good piece.

We are idiots.

The ancient Greek word idiotes, from which the English version is derived, meant "one who put private pleasures before public duty and who was, for this reason, ignorant of everything that mattered".

In the short flowering of Athenian democracy, a consistent involvement was demanded of all citizens, to the point at which the famous Greek statesman Pericles is recorded as saying: "We do not say that a man who takes no interest in politics is a man who minds his own business; we say he has no business here at all."

The modern Australian idiot doesn't care for politics either - "it's all bull**bleep**, they're as bad as each other, I don't get involved" - which is just how the savagely efficient special-interest groups who manipulate public opinion like it.

Labor and Liberal were once true ideologies. They stood for something, as did you when you supported one or the other: universal health care, unionism, reward for effort, small government. 

Now, so many of us just stand for "i". We put the "i" into "idiot".

This weekend, of course, is the idiot's great annual celebration, where the pretense of caring about something greater than oneself is married to the only thing we can all agree about: drinking heaps of booze.

Here's cheers, Australia! Have a good time, and don't you worry about the rights and principles at stake in any of the abovementioned "conflicts of interest".

Someone else will decide that for you.

[boris1gary]

this is the first part and please it is not directed at anyone in particular nor do I agree with everything written.

As we follow - and swallow - the amber torrent flooding towards another Australia Day, I'd suggest that, in 2014, aside from cold beer, our country actually doesn't know what it wants.

Our self-flagellation over a national identity has finally ceased as we've oh-so-ironically embraced our "inner bogan", yet - like that somewhat raw, visceral creature - we seem overwhelmed by any questions larger than "Chips or mash?"

We want to be able to drink as much alcohol as possible, wherever and whenever we like but expect circumspection and passivity from a chemical reaction that for millennia has resulted in risk-taking and aggression in humans.

Parents, police and politicians demand the government to do something about "alcohol-fuelled violence" such as 1.30am lock-outs and 3am cut-off times but, when the government does just that, the outrage transfers to "bar owners, performers and late-night hospitality workers" who say they face "losing hundreds of thousands of dollars".

And, of course, the lawyers are always **bleep** off; it just depends who's paying for their rancour.

This childish desire to have our cake and eat it is reminiscent of how so many Aussies want their kids to be able to "get into the property market" but don't want to give up the negative gearing on their sneaky little investment properties or the tax breaks on their self-managed super funds.

Nor do we want bloody boat people swarming all over us, but we also wouldn't want foreigners to think we're inhumane yobbos ... we just wish people would wait their turn as they flee from terror.

We honestly want someone to do something about global warming but not if it means paying an extra $300 a year for electricity.

Dole bludgers must be rooted out of the system so that pensioners can live in mansions.

We must - absolutely! - help our drought-stricken farmers and struggling manufacturers but they also need to stand on their own two feet and be globally competitive like our heavily subsidised mining industry.

At dinner parties and barbecues, we now spout campaign slogans, instead of debating actual beliefs, as we shift our political allegiances based solely on what's in it for us.

We've tired of Tony even faster than we did of Kevin, then Julia, then Kevin because, why? Because he's not delivering more of everything? Now!

Like the global adolescents we are, we want others to take care of the messy details, then rage about the details when they fail to consider our uninformed, unexpressed point of view.

[ajarnjenny]

Yep! I agree.

[spotweldersfriend]

You may not agree Boris, but I do

[ajarnjenny]

And as much as the Americans feel some 'exceptionalism' to others, that does not apply to their poor, their old and their vulnerable young. No quarter given there. Those sections of society in the US are on their own.