Country Flags

[Brooker]

This came up in the "Chit Chat" section and I thought I'd post my thoughts on the Country Flags here....

"chiquiliquis wrote....
Quote:
I am from Seattle first. From the Pacific North West second (which excludes obvious regions of Eastern Washington , and includes Vancouver). Then, I am from the West Coast. And ONLY after that am I "American".


I feel the same way. Unfortunately, that doesn't mean anything to people from other countries and they only see that we are AMERICAN. Seattle and the Northwest is very liberal. I don't think I have much in common with cowboy hat wearing, oil drilling, nature destroying, bible loving, Republicans from Texas and yet I'm lumped into the same catagory as them.

That's why I preferred to have the location listed on my forum ID to just be "Seattle, Washington" rather than the American flag that I get so tired of seeing and don't really want to be identified by. Maybe I should post this tangeant elsewhere."

 

[thomas]

The location is still displayed in the user profile, while the flags are just shown in the posts.

 

[Lina Inverse]

I can see how you are feeling... but I think not all people from Texas are that way, there probably are still some sane people living there. Someone from Texas here?
Anyway, you don't need to show your flag, it's your choice.

 

[kirei_na_me]

Yep, there are Texans here. Jeisan is from Texas.

Well, I mentioned how I felt about mine in the other thread. I feel like I'm one of those redneck people who have those flags flapping from the windows of their cars. You know what I'm talking about, don't you?

I just feel like the flag on here shows my location, not patriotism, and I hope everyone else knows that's all it's there for.

 

[jeisan]

"chiquiliquis wrote....
Quote:
I don't think I have much in common with cowboy hat wearing, oil drilling, nature destroying, bible loving, Republicans from Texas and yet I'm lumped into the same catagory as them.

hey buddy, i feel the same way and im even moreso lumped in with them. *shrug* people are people, where your live and/or come from doesnt really determine how ya are in the end.

separately id like to say, people complained when the flags went missing now that we have them back there's complaining that they're here. waaaa!! boohoo!! come on now people no one is forcing you to, or not to use them. just a fun little thing to show what country you live in.

 

[Brooker]

jeisan wrote....

come on now people no one is forcing you to, or not to use them. just a fun little thing to show what country you live in.

But it seems like, correct me if I'm wrong, you can't update your profile without adding a flag.

I wrote....

I don't think I have much in common with cowboy hat wearing, oil drilling, nature destroying, bible loving, Republicans from Texas and yet I'm lumped into the same catagory as them.

I was mostly referring to Bush and his cronies here. I don't mean to offend.

It's not a big deal. I'm just a little unhappy with my country right now and I'd rather be judged by my words rather than by my nationality, so I choose not to display the flag.

 

[jeisan]

But it seems like, correct me if I'm wrong, you can't update your profile without adding a flag.

oh i guess youre right, i hadnt tried it. but you dont have one now so i guess you can keep it that way.

I was mostly referring to Bush and his cronies here. I don't mean to offend.

It's not a big deal. I'm just a little unhappy with my country right now and I'd rather be judged by my words rather than by my nationality, so I choose not to display the flag.

nah i wasnt offended, how could i be? just some random saying.
besides like i said i know how ya feel, not too happy with the whole situation either. but when it comes down to it, if people wanna judge me for who i am, an american, then, frankly, they can go piss up a rope. someone so simpleminded isnt worth my time anyway.

 

[Elizabeth]

but when it comes down to it, if people wanna judge me for who i am, an american, then, frankly, they can go piss up a rope. someone so simpleminded isnt worth my time anyway.

I agree completely. Equating the entire country with Texas or making the Northwest out to be the only bastion of liberalism is about as sensible as how foreigners are accused of stereotyping us or how the US government is accused of lumping countries together and making sweeping judgements on an international level.

 

[Brooker]

Elizabeth wrote....

Equating the entire country with Texas or making the Northwest out to be the only bastion of liberalism is about as sensible as how foreigners are accused of stereotyping us or how the US government is accused of lumping countries together and making sweeping judgements on an international level.

I wrote....

Seattle and the Northwest is very liberal.

I never said it was the ONLY liberal place in America and I didn't mean to imply it.

 

[Glenn]

I think that you set the tone of being too general when you made your initial comments about the American flag suggesting that you were possibly one of the "cowboy hat wearing, oil drilling, nature destroying, bible loving, Republicans from Texas." I doubt that anyone would lump you in with that group if they were at least semi-intelligent and read what you wrote. Obviously not all Americans are the same.

I personally like the flags, because they offer a bit of knowledge that I wouldn't have otherwise.

It does bring up a question, though. Why are the flags displayed in some fora but not others?

 

[thomas]

It does bring up a question, though. Why are the flags displayed in some fora but not others?

They actually should be displayed in all fora. There's just one forum style that does not show them (for technical reasons). However, existing members have to update their personal info in order to display the flags.

 

[Glenn]

That one style wouldn't happen to be Vb Blue, would it?

 

[thomas]

Yep, that's the one. :sorry:

 

[Glenn]

Man, that's my favorite one, too. Is there anyway that it can be fixed soon? :sorry:

 

[thomas]

Is there anyway that it can be fixed soon?

Customer's king. We'll try our best.

 

[Glenn]

That's all that I can ask for. Thank you, thomas!

 

[Glenn]

I didn't realize this until just recently when I switched from Vb Blue to Beige, so I just recently began wondering: is there any way to display both the flags and the location information? Or would that just take up too much space?

 

[TwistedMac]

This came up in the "Chit Chat" section and I thought I'd post my thoughts on the Country Flags here....

"chiquiliquis wrote....
Quote:
I am from Seattle first. From the Pacific North West second (which excludes obvious regions of Eastern Washington , and includes Vancouver). Then, I am from the West Coast. And ONLY after that am I "American".


I feel the same way. Unfortunately, that doesn't mean anything to people from other countries and they only see that we are AMERICAN. Seattle and the Northwest is very liberal. I don't think I have much in common with cowboy hat wearing, oil drilling, nature destroying, bible loving, Republicans from Texas and yet I'm lumped into the same catagory as them.

That's why I preferred to have the location listed on my forum ID to just be "Seattle, Washington" rather than the American flag that I get so tired of seeing and don't really want to be identified by. Maybe I should post this tangeant elsewhere."

... i love you! you might just be the only american i have ever seen that isn't so stuck up on american patriotism and over-zealous pride that someone not american might actually be able to talk to you like a normal person!

thanks for singlehandedly rebuilding my trust in america as something else than a large country of people that are holier than thou..

if there's one of you there must be many ^^

 

[Grandpa Frank]

It's Hard.....

not to be a flag waver if you grew up brain-washed with John Wayne movies! The older people like me had the flag shoved down our throuts in school, scouts, relatives, and a thousand other ways. My generation believed , better to die then let anything or anybody disgrace our flag!
As the saying goes, that was then & this is now. I do have a very hard time trying to be proud of the US now.
I guess like Rome, all great things have to tumble & crumble in time?

Frank

:?

 

[kirei_na_me]

... i love you! you might just be the only american i have ever seen that isn't so stuck up on american patriotism and over-zealous pride that someone not american might actually be able to talk to you like a normal person!

thanks for singlehandedly rebuilding my trust in america as something else than a large country of people that are holier than thou..

if there's one of you there must be many ^^

I think there are quite a few of us on this forum who feel the same way Booker does. Not all Americans are brainwashed.

 

[TwistedMac]

that may very well be, he is just the first to so blatantly express an opinion that goes so much against every other experience i have had with americans...

not to be a flag waver if you grew up brain-washed with John Wayne movies! The older people like me had the flag shoved down our throuts in school, scouts, relatives, and a thousand other ways. My generation believed , better to die then let anything or anybody disgrace our flag!
As the saying goes, that was then & this is now. I do have a very hard time trying to be proud of the US now.
I guess like Rome, all great things have to tumble & crumble in time?

Frank

:?

there's a big difference between being proud of your country and being over-zealous... i saw this show where they taped these three guys trying to raise an american flag in the middle of some rubble after a large flooding somewhere.. i forget where.. first of all it was pathetic.. they kept failing and dropping the flagpole and secondly (and most importantly) they knew people were missing, most probably burried under rubble.. AND THEY WENT TO RAISE A FARKIN PIECE OF CLOTH FIRST???!!?

then this female officer said (and i quote) "I felt with every breath of my soul that it could be done"... but that's another topic...

as for tumbling and crumbling i dont believe thats the case with america.. it'll be a large prosperous country for a good forseeable future i think.. and maybe the americans will get generally more like the ones on these boards and stop acting like they're better than everyone else just because they're from america...

on the "trying to be proud" quote i really think that may be a part of the problem.. when you look for things to be proud of in your country...

sweden has alot of sports we do well in when you look at the small size of our country and population, and every time i see the swedish team win in anything i'm proud of them, ofcourse... but inbetween that i don't go around looking for things to be proud of just for the sake of being proud of my country... my country and the leaders of it does alot of stupid ****... but that's universal...

when america came in to europe and saved our asses from the nazis they should get all the damn respect in the world for that (and my neutral country should get a swift kick in the ***) but that doesnt mean the generations of now have to gloat about it and look down on us (and many do... believe me -_-)

i have no idea where i'm going with this.. mixed feelings and i'm gliding way off topic =P

 

[King of Tokyo]

I love the flags.. I think it's one of the coolest features you can have.. Keep em please

 

[Brooker]

TwistedMac wrote....

... i love you! you might just be the only american i have ever seen that isn't so stuck up on american patriotism and over-zealous pride that someone not american might actually be able to talk to you like a normal person!

Hehe, thanks. There are more like me, but we're usually quiet because if we speak up in America we're labeled as unpatriotic and ungreatful of the "advantages" we enjoy in America.

And to really blow your mind, when I was younger I was a Boy Scout (a very patriotic American organization) and even earned the highest rank of Eagle Scout. But as I grew up I realized that America doesn't have all the answers and sometimes does the wrong thing.

And I do think that the extent of the flag waving in America gets to be quite ridiculous. I like to try and think of myself as being a PERSON first, because I do feel that my nationality is quite arbitrary - I could have been born in any country in the world.

Also, since you are not American, you probably won't hear Americans voicing their disapproval of America. Americans complain about America a lot to eachother, but not to other nationals. Even I usually don't, because, although I have many problems with my country, I don't like to paint a negative picture of the place I call home. When I was in Japan I always had a problem listening to Canadians complaining about America even if I agreed with what they were saying. It's kind of like, I can say bad things about my mother, but my friends can't. I don't mind talking about America with other nationals, but many of them just instantly blamed me personally without taking the time to understand my views. Although there were some who I met who I could discuss openly with without feeling like I was being personally attacked and blamed.

But, I'm glad I could convince at least one person out there in this big ol' world that not all of us Americans are unreasonable, arrogant, bastards.