Re: [sixties-l] Vietnam memorial and flags

From: Jerry West (record@island.net)
Date: Sat Jul 01 2000 - 01:31:33 CUT

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    Jeffrey Blankfort wrote:

    ....when it comes to the flag, millions of Americans are unique in
    their desire to wrap themselves in it. When traveling in countries ....
    the flying of flags is reserved for government buildings. Period. What
    this suggests to me is on one hand, a certain insecurity among Americans
    about their national identity and on the other, a belief that this
    country and "American way of life" is better than any other.

    JW reply:

    What it might also suggest is that the Americans identify the flag more
    with the people/nation than with the government, whereas in other
    countries where there have been many flags and many governments come and
    go people my see the flag more as the symbol of a transitory regime
    rather than of the community.

    How about a doctoral dissertation on:

    Reverence For The National Flag In Modern Societies

    -- 
    Jerry West
    Editor/publisher/janitor
    ----------------------------------------------------
    THE RECORD
    On line news from Nootka Sound & Canada's West Coast
    An independent, progressive regional publication
    http://www.island.net/~record/
    



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