I saw a large confederate battle flag flying in a pickup truck in a Seattle suburb less than a year ago.
Ehh. Maybe. Hard to look threatening while carrying a plate with a molded salad of cottage cheese in green Jell-O.
OTOH, it could be that ANY members of a populist (some might say “extremist”) movement, when encountered as individuals or in small groups will appear non-threatening, inoffensive, and downright ineffectual. In large numbers, as at a rally, being exhorted by one demagogue or another, they will probably take on some of the attitudes and behaviors we tend to associate with mobs.
About the flag displayed on houses, my father-in-law recently told me that is correlated with a lower crime rate (lower burglaries on such houses). Apparently the bad guys think that if you fly the flag you’re more likely to own guns, so they stay away.
I don’t have a cite other than him, and I can’t look it up now, but he’s a reputable guy who doesn’t read fake news.
Many of us are troubled by the cherry-picked image of their members we have seen. It gives the impression that the stupid is pervasively strong with them (“Keep Your Government Hands Off My Medicare!”). Which makes the rallies seem that much more worrisome, since idiots are so easily led. It is not clear in the end whether malice is worse than stupidity, but the thought of dealing with large numbers of apparently stupid people is what makes some of us feel uneasy. The TP ideology looks so far out of line with good sense that people who think tend to attach the not-very-bright label to the movement as a whole.
That’s the problem with modern Marxism … the proletariat are revolting …
We climb up on the horse’s left side because most people are right-handed … when we use our left hand to climb up our right hand is free to hold a sword …
The “NRA Forever” sign in the front window helps as well … I like the bumper stickers that read “ORE - GUNnian” over an image of a rifle …
ETA - “The gubbermint can have my medicare when they pry it from my cold dead fingers” – Yup, that’s how’s it’s done …
North Idaho. Not NORTHERN Idaho. North Idaho. The same place that’s famous for other displays of questionable flags. It went into the shadows for a bit but it seems to be coming back out in full force. It’s the kind of place that this shit STILL happens too often:
I bet that dipshit has multiple flags flying from his truck. He’s a gawdamn’d true Murican patriot. And if you don’t like that, you can get out.
Edit to mention: The northern ID panhandle is not even 80 miles wide so there is spill-over in WA and MT. Stupid doesn’t stop at invisible borders.
Kalispell had a thing about a white pride march a while back.
Yep, I also posted a while ago about Richard Spencer and that area. Not too far removed from where I am. The dumb is spreading.
I love Kalispell and Whitefish. Too bad those dumbshits are taking over every part of my neighborhood.
Also no cite, but my understanding is that being perceived to have a gun on the premises makes you more likely to be burgled, not less. Guns are low-bulk high-value items for which there is an active black market with high demand. What’s not to like, burglar-wise?
Kalispell and Whitefish are in a beautiful area, definitely. I drove through from Coeur d’Alene a few years back, to Whitefish. Gorgeous, big sky country out there. I want to go back.
And I ain’t even a white boy. 
The Finnish portion is a good reminder on how silly this xenophobia is, but it is an unfunny reminder of where this line of thinking ends.
Finn’s were Untermensch in Nazi Germany,
[
](Der Untermensch www.HolocaustResearchProject.org)
And our federal government attempted to apply the Chinese Exclusion Act to deny them citizenship. Which was about the only method to deny citizenship in the US at that time.
The author of the Pledge of Allegiance, Francis Bellamy demonstrates the fear of the Irish, Finns and Catholics.
The Christian culture that people are trying to protect, who are often the type who will fly these massive flags just moved the goalpost to create a new enemy.
But the themes remain the same.
Stupid racism!
I’ve conducted a highly scientific study . . .
I have family and friends in Utah/Idaho and nearly everyone has a pick-up truck used for work (construction, horse trailer tow, ranching, and so on). In other words, these are working trucks and they look it.
And not one of these trucks is rigged for big flag display or other stoopidness.*
OTOH, I see dodo birds here in urban NJ/Philly area driving pristine, jacked-up trucks with flags flying and other jingoistic displays. I’d bet these pick-ups have never been near a horse barn, farm, or construction site, and I’d wager that the majority of their drivers haven’t either, but they are trying to assume a “workin’ Joe who loves this guddamn country, so love it or leave it, semper fi!”
*Scary parts of sovereign Idaho not included, but my peeps don’t go further than Idaho Falls.
An added observation on an earlier post: on the whole, trucks aren’t great in the snow due to unequal weight distribution. If you’re not hauling heavy cargo sandbags/road salt bags/logs/etc need to be strapped in the bed over the rear axle.
Although having some weight in the bed of the pickup helps, you don’t need it. You can get along just fine in snow without it.
I grew up in the land of snow and ice and I disagree. Perhaps newer generations of pick-ups have better weight distributions, but the 'net is bursting with forum discussions about the necessity of bed weight for snow conditions. YMMV ( kind of literally).
I’d take my mid-size AWD SUV over any truck for winter driving - heck, I prefer my RWD sedan over a truck.
I too have grown up in, and still live in and have been driving in for over 30 years, the land of snow and ice and I guess we’ll have to agree to disagree.
The Red Cross symbol is the negative image of the Swiss flag, so your friend was sort of right without knowing it.
The Chevrolet brothers were Swiss: the logo is loosely based on the Swiss flag cross.
Imo if you’re terribly concerned about an American flag on a truck, it leads me to believe that the American Flag is going to be the next Confederate flag to SJWs, and honestly that concerns me just as much. It’s a flag that represents our country. America has had some great times, and some that were not it’s finest hour, but that shouldn’t be transferred to the flag. Much ado about nothing.