Hey everyone! Dana here and today on Ask an American I’m going to dig into a question
that I’ve been asked lots and lots and lots of times since I moved here to Germany.
Why are Americans so crazy about their flag? Why do they love it so much?
And the first thing that I would like to say to this question is: I don’t think that
Americans know that they are so unique in this love and craze of their flag. I don’t
think they know that. I don't think they know that people in the Czech Republic don’t
drive around with two little Czech flags flying out the window of their car like, like little
antlers up there. At least I didn’t know that people in other countries don't do that
before moving over here to Europe.
I grew up with the United States flag just being a normal part of life. It was just kind
of everywhere. It was in front of stores. It was in every, single classroom at school.
It was in front of the school itself, out in front. It was in people's yards, either
as a big stand-alone flagpole or coming off the porch. It was, like I said, um, outside of
the windows of cars, kinda flapping out there. In summer camp I learned all about how to
respect the flag. Every single morning we had a flag raising ceremony, and we would
go and ceremoniously raise up the flag. And then in the evening again, ceremoniously bring
back down the flag and fold it respectfully.
So yeah, it was just normal. I never gave our love and reverence for the flag a second
thought and definitely never considered the flag flying practices of other countries.
Until I moved here to Germany and started getting this question and then kind of looked
around and realized like huh, oh yeah that’s true, other countries don't seem to have their
country flag all over the place like we do in the U.S.
I listen to a podcast called The Bittersweet Life, which of course I will link to down
below. And it's done by two American expats living in Rome and one of them, Katy Sewell,
I remember in one podcast she remarked how surprised she had been when she went to, I
believe it was a military parade, in Rome and was surprised because she didn't see Italian
flags flying all over the place during the parade. And, yeah, in America for any parade,
let alone especially a military parade, the American flag is going to be front and center.
You can be sure of that. It's going to be all over the place, in the parade and by,
held by spectators coming to the parade.
But why? Why do people in the U.S. really love and revere and fly their flag seemingly
everywhere? Why is that? Well let’s start answering this question by looking at the
national anthem of the country. The national anthem of the U.S. is called the Star Spangled Banner.
The Star Spangled Banner! Star Spangled Banner, along with Old Glory and Stars and
Stripes, is a nickname for a our flag. The national anthem of the country is named after
and sings all about the flag. And it’s such a poetic and, and moving song about that flag.
The lyrics for the anthem were written during the War of 1812. Once again we were fighting
against Britain. And this wasn’t that long after our Revolutionary War, and so this war
became known as the Second War for Independence. Once more we were fighting for our freedom
and our independence. And during this war Francis Scott Key wrote the poetic, inspiring
words for this brave, free land. And that democracy and freedom would win out against
tyranny. And that we knew that that freedom was winning because out in the distance we
could still see the symbol of that free country flying strongly out there.
In researching this video I looked up a bunch of other country's national anthems. Germany’s
national anthem doesn’t even mention the flag. Some other national anthems did make a mention
of the flag, but most of them talked about the land itself, the geography, the people,
the strength of the people, the country. But I could not find any other national anthem
like the one of the U.S. That really just talks all about the flag. And not just the
flag as a symbol for the country, but the flag as a symbol for freedom and justice.
I also looked up the other national symbols of the country and found that we actually
also have a national march. It's called the Stars and Stripes Forever march and was written
in 1896. And it also raises up the flag to be more than “just” a symbol of the country
but rather to be also a symbol of liberty, a symbol of bravery, a symbol of freedom.
And so perhaps respecting the flag has been a way of respecting and showing reverence
toward these noble ideals.
One thing to note here, some people might point out: well then, doesn't it seem disrespectful
to use the flag for advertising purposes or use it on underwear. And, yeah! It’s not
supposed to be used for that, actually. There is a code written by the U.S. government,
specifically saying how to respect the flag and it especially says the flag is not supposed
to be used for advertising purposes, nor is it supposed to be sewn into a handkerchief,
that you blow your nose in, or printed onto napkins that you wipe your greasy face and
hands with. The flag, like those noble ideals of freedom, liberty, and justice for all,
is supposed to be respected.
Why we channeled these feelings into the flag, and not, let's say, into the national bird
or the national tree, I don’t know. Was it the national anthem that channeled our
passion into that flag or is it something with the flag itself?
Perhaps it’s because the flag itself is so representative of the actual country. Those
13 stripes, those stripes represent the original 13 colonies. The colonies that fought off
the British, that decided to come together and, and fight for liberty and freedom and
independence. And then you have the stars, that started off with 13 stars, again to represent
the original 13 states. And those stars have grown to the 50 we now have today. The flag
itself has really mapped our, our history as a country and that's something that I think
in general most Americans are pretty proud of.
So yeah, we clearly have a very strong connection with the flag in the U.S. For us the flag
is a clear and strong symbol of the things that we are most proud of about our country,
those ideals that we're proud of from the country's formation as well as the things
we are most proud of about the country today.
So my question for you is: What do you make of all this? What do you think about this?
Any other theories to add? Also, how about displays of patriotism. What kind of displays
of patriotism, flags or otherwise, have you seem in your country or around the world?
What kinds of experiences have you had in this? Are there some countries that are more
patriotic than others? What do you think? Please let me know in the comments below.
Thanks so much for watching. Please don't forget to subscribe for more videos and hit
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check me out over here on my Twitter and my Facebook page. Until next time, auf Wiedersehen!
I'm a fish!
By the way, while doing my research, I also learned that the national tree of both the
U.S. and Germany is the oak. So, go oaks! It is called the Stars and Stripes Forever
March, and... Okay, let's try again. Take three.