when I was growing up the union flag had been co opted by the far right. There’s still plenty of it around too
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Flags are used to mark territory and often to incite hate. Of course there is national pride but I tend to feel uncomfortable in areas draped in flags, Irish or British
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Ah, I see thanks
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As if it would get shown anyway…
Old boy on the plot of land near me has fooking massive scotland flags everywhere, the whole “rich London wankers” (his words) comin up ere to build their “grand design wannabie houses and stay 1 week of the year” is a big thorny issue in these parts so got to show the locals and tourists your a true blood… seems Scot’s don’t like sharing their hills (with the English)… I did enjoy watching him once chasing the flags about the place in high winds…
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I don’t particularly have much attachment to nationality and flags, but a lot of the nastier associations with the Union Jack and the St George have faded a bit (weirdly, I’ve noticed round here that they’ve started co-opting poppies and the whole “lest we forget” shizzle into some sort of Nationalist sadflex).
But I don’t feel any shame about being English/British either. It’s not like we’re any worse than anyone else as a group.
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this is flipped in 2022, and when they gain independence doubly so.
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I’d almost forgot we were approaching ‘war christmas’.
The poppy thing has got super weird in the last decade. I’ll still wear one, but you almost feel you have to explain you’re not one of ‘them’.
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Yeah, that was certainly how it generally went in the 90s. So many threats of violence came from those loud sessions too…
I stopped wearing one a while ago.
I still take remembrance seriously, and I still help out in all the same ways, but the whole poppy wearing thing has become really fucking weird these last few years.
There’s a guy round here has got his pickup truck decalled up with poppies and slogans all year round. It’s fucking creepy.
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Poppy guilt and everyone slaughtered on social media if they don’t wear one on telly. Even more complicated over here with wearing one or not wearing one being some kind of major political statement
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Thankfully my brain wiring (i guess and the external forces surrounding that) creates a better sense of identity and desire for kinship that the sort of self that invites Nationalism to fill every void of personality.
I’ve understood it on a base level even if earlier beliefs were undeveloped, but watching persons tear up reflexively at institutions, ritual, militaristic sports tie-ins and rallying songs has always made me vom internally.
Ah, we have similar in The Cars of Infowars pickup trucks vastly but not exclusively.
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Both, and Irish too (got the passport to back it up, so I’m also still European post-brexshit).
I guess I think of myself as British a little bit more than English. I’m proud of the Union (but not in a flag-shagging “proud to be British” way) and glad to be linked with the other countries that aren’t England (especially as they’re the only ones who seem to vote against the Tories … Please don’t leave us, Scotland!)
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FTFY
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We’ll see … Hope you’re right, but two and a half years is a long time in politics. They’ll delay letting people vote for as long as possible.
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It may be different in other parts of the country, but outside of ongoing sporting events the only time you see someone dangling a union flag in places I’ve lived, you can almost guarantee it’s some form of gammon.
If they’re parading a St George, (again sports aside), it usually ups that rating exponentially.
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There is one exception to this that I’ve encountered, and that’s millitary folk. One I know of takes their flag stuff very seriously - half mast, raised and lowered at the right times etc. I can imagine them saluting a photo of the King before they eat their weetabix.
It’s interesting because Wales and Scotland don’t seem to have the same connotations from what I’ve been able to tell. I’m pretty sure if you’re Welsh you need to own at least 3 flags by law and I don’t think they’re perceived as anything other than a positive form of pride.
Yeah but the Welsh flag has a big fucking dragon. The study is flawed
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wonderful stuff
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