LUST

Eigentlich nicht…

& Uneigentlich… American pride is much different than the “national pride that I’ve experienced in other countries.

First of all I SUPPORT YOU 100% in the expression of your national heritage…I just want to explain to you what probably happened…

As a country born out of oppression from another, Americans see their pride as sovereign…meaning they were once seeing as a colony to control & exploit & then they rejected all imput & influence from outside. This is not necessarily a good thing 233 years later, but it just became habit. It probably would have been different if you had a German-style bakery & you flew the flag since the day you opened. It would also be different if Germany was making a grand showing in the Olympics or Worldcup. Most likely the offense was not that you flew a German flag, but that it replaced an American flag. Up until September 10, 2001 your actions would have gone completely unnoticed. The events of 9/11 added a more reverent & nearly religious quality to American patriotism. Americans LOVE their flag! The Love is consuming & almost obsessive. This feeling intensifies with age. Like any such progression, it can often go too far. They were wrong to take your flag. They probably saw it as some sort of anti-American statement on your part. A mass-murdering cult leader, serial rapist, or child molester has a better social position than an admitted non-patriot. Probably your only crime was having the American flag FIRST, & then replacing it with the German flag…without clarification. Naturally everyone walking by your house isn’t aware that you are of German ancestry. You’re probably not famous to everyone in the region as “The Half-German Guy”. That left everyone to draw their own conclusion as to why the American flag got replaced. Most (non-Asian) Americans have no direct connection to their ancestry. Yeah, they more or less know what they “are” (z.b. Half German, Half Italian…or 1/3 irish & “who knows what else”) but most DO NOT IDENTIFY WITH THEIR ANCESTRAL HERITAGE. It’s too long ago. In the days of Ellis Island's mass immigration, it would have gone over better because everybody remembered who they were & where they came from. This situation is further complicated the closer you are to New York OR if there is a large Jewish or WW II veteran community in your area. If this is the case, there was really no way that you could win. (You would have had more luck flying the Iraqi flag.) That this foreign flag flying continued through the very “holy” 4th of July weekend was a recipe for disaster. Your only option would have been the following: Ever notice that wherever the American flag is AND other flags are too (even official, state, city flags), that the American flag is either larger, higher, set apart, or above it on the same flagpole? There’s a reason for that…not just socially…but legally. Flag etiquette has its own full size chapter in the U.S. Legal Code (Title 4 of the United States Code).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Flag_Code

Legally & culturally flying an American flag is a serious undertaking. Naturally every American does not see this subject the same way, but a vast majority do hold the flag in great esteem. Taking down your apparently very public American flag & replacing it with one from a different country was not bad in and of itself. I understand why you did it & feel that it was your right. Others do not know the reasons behind it & are forced to form their own conclusions. Most Americans cannot imagine a justification for replacing an American flag with that of another country…ANY country. Your only option would have been to fly a slightly smaller German flag UNDER the American flag (or engage in a multi-million dollar advertising campaign to explain your decision to every man, woman, & child in a 500 mile radius).

If you’re not too (understandably) bitter over the whole situation try the “2-flag” solution above. I think your neighbors will then understand what you want to say.

As an interesting footnote, prior to 1942 it was common to salute the flag (while saying the “Pledge of Allegiance”) in a manner eerily similar to the “Hitler Salute” (Hitlergruß)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bellamy_salute

Hope you pass this patriotic test "with flying colors"...

RN

ronniesneffe 15 Lip 2009, 10:06 - Zgłoś nadużycie