(October 8, 2013 at 3:53 am)kılıç_mehmet Wrote:(October 8, 2013 at 2:37 am)bennyboy Wrote: As a Canadian, let me recommend you not do that. In the end, it reduces the magical power of the maple leaf to protect me and mine. I've heard so many stories of Americans doing this, that I have to assume people in the countries being visited are aware of it.Well, it tells you something about their loyalties, eh?
No. Just no.
If you're so eager to swap flags, why really keep them in the first place? You obviously don't put too much of a value on the American flag, its not really a national symbol in the States, frequently being burned, and in this case, swapped for the flags of another country by its citizens at the first disagreement they have with the policies of their CURRENT government.
What am I suppose to do? Act like, "America! Fuck Yeah!!"?? Perhaps, if we didn't bomb or invade every country we don't like... Or shutdown our government because we legally passed a form of universal healthcare... Or could actually make good on the promise of the American Dream, instead of offering stagnation, regression, and social immobility as an alternative... How am I suppose to be loyal to and proud of an America that I find deeply disappointing and sinister?
A flag is merely a symbol. In the US's case, what does it symbolize? Freedom? Prosperity? Equality? Well, we're doing a shitty job on all of those fronts. I can only vote once each election, other than that, I'm SOL and just suppose to put up with it. Which I do, I may complain, but I put up with it, because there is no viable alternative. And it's not just me, it's millions of other Americans, too. It's not just one thing, it's all the things. It is cumulative. By luck of the draw I was born here, does that make me somehow special? Nope. Is America special? Nope, unless you count our ability to take a good thing and drive it into a fucking wall.
To the Canadians: Sorry. But I'd do it again. Does that make me not sorry? It's just my feelings of shame and embarrassment about what my country does, far outweighs my feeling sorry for the damage it does Canada's reputation to have Americans pretend to be Canadians when we travel overseas.