I like you.
I’m very surprised that there isn’t flag etiquette in the UK. Naval etiquette (flags, salutes, etc.) is, or was, extremely specific and detailed there.
Oh, yeah, I would notice. I was briefly in Scouts, I know a little about flag etiquette. I wonder what people mean by symbols, & I would probably draw conclusions. And spin them into a larger theory of who this guy is & what Elbonians are like. I’m crazy that way.
And yet I can see how it could be meant inoffensively, by an Elbonian. It’s more acknowledgement than not flying my country’s flag at all, right?
Do I care? Not really. I don’t have much affection left for my land’s flag.
Wait. Is this in my country? Or are we both immigrants/expats? Because if we’re both living in a third country, then it’s weird.
Interesting responses so far. I asked about a dozen people this question before I posted it. Half said it wouldn’t bother them. The other half said it would. One person said she would call the cops. Yes, I tried to explain to her that it wasn’t a felony.
I’m another one who wouldn’t be the least bit bothered.
The example in the OP doesn’t sound at all disrespectful to me - an immigrant is proud of his original country and his adopted one and flies both flags.
There again, I am English and just do not get the “flag respect” part of American culture.
For a lot of us Yanks, the symbology of the flag is a big deal since a flag is a visual identifier of nation (duh) and culture. By putting your old country’s flag above the flag of the country you moved to you are sending a message that you identify more with the nation you chose to leave. Kind of like a rank thing, where the higher flag among two flown is the higher in status. Some of us see that as insulting. Not a big deal, I won’t get spun up about it, but the tiny little insult is there.
However, flying the US flag on a house in many other countries might lead to a confrontation. My wife is Indonesian/Dutch, and I asked her what would happen if I flew the US flag at her mother’s house. She said it would put her mother in danger. She is not joking or being cute. Doing that would not be wise. Indonesia is not alone in this regard.
Why does it matter if it is an immigrant disrespecting the flag? Also, most improper flag flying is usually not intentional (not everyone has a vexologist in the family tree), and finally even if it is intentionally disrespectful there is that whole freedom of expression thing that is more important than the flag itself. I get really offended by support our troops stickers on gas guzzlers, but I don’t go up to the owners.
I don’t go up to the owners either. Agreed about the whole freedom of expression thing and its importance. You are correct. Some people see a hierarchy in the order of US flag height relative to others. After moving to the USA, you fly your originating nation flag over the US flag, it bothers me. Will I act out like my wife’s neighbors in Indonesia might? No. I see it as a rather impolite thing to do, and I would never do that in your country. In fact, I would go as far as saying it is impolite to do in any country I permanently move to.
Now, if your old country kicked USA butt in soccer or the Olympics or something like that, sure go nuts with the flag. I get it. Cool. I’ll have a celebratory beer with you. Routinely flying your old country flag above the US flag is impolite. And the people doing it here know this.
It’s a fucking flag. A piece of cloth. Get over it all ready.
Hah, I was just about to post almost the exact same thing in the same words. When your immigrant neighbors start actively plotting to overthrow the US, then OK, feel free to take issue. The flag is just a piece of fabric. Who gives a shit?
A piece of cloth is a piece of cloth – use it however you wish.
I doubt I’d even notice. If I did, I wouldn’t care. None of my business what he does with his cloth.
I wouldn’t care a bit.
Even if he is saying he thinks Elbonia is way better than America, what do I care?
I’ve lived in different countries, and while I respected the countries I lived in, if asked I would say without hesitation that I think America is pretty awesome in a number of ways.
Anyway, he may not be a permanent immigrant. If he’s here for a year teaching the Elbonian or doing research or whatever, I certainly wouldn’t expect him to suddenly start siding with America on everything. He may even be having a tough time with American culture or may find that he has deep incompatibilities with American society. That happens, and it’s not something you can really predict until you are already there. Finally, it may not even be his choice to be here. Perhaps he’s in asylum and desperately wishes to return to his homeland. Perhaps America even caused some of the problems his homeland. Or perhaps he’s just a bigot who doesn’t like Americans. What do I care?
What if… the Elbonian in the OP took down the American flag, made a loin-cloth out of it, and began wearing it for bbq’s in the yard?
It’s always the Elbonians.
At least if he attended a bbq he’d be assimilating.
I’m not seeing why it is important that the person is an immigrant. S/he is entitle to the same rights and privledges as anyone else in the country. If it was a third generation American of Irish heritage flying flags this way, would that somehow be different in you eyes?
I don’t care; it’s a piece of cloth dyed in a specific pattern and tied to a fucking stick. It means nothing unless you choose to go out of your way to decide that it does. Of course, this is but one of the millions of fantastically irrelevant things that people somehow find time each day to give enough of a fuck about to decide to judge other people’s individual worth as a result of.
If I live a thousand years, I will never understand how people manage to go about their lives while caring about things like this…but again, this is but one of a countless number. The guy who doesn’t think he’s better than you because of the vertical orientation of his dyed cloth pieces probably thinks he’s better than you because he likes onions in his spaghetti and you don’t. This is the world in which we live. Good luck to you, hypothetical flag-having man, and I hope nobody decides to fucking kill you for this most grievous of offenses.
I think it rather unlikely that an immigrant would be intending disrespect. For many years after moving to America I had no idea about the height/rank thing. In the unlikely event I wanted to fly flags, if I had chosen to fly an American flag it would have been intended as a mark of respect, not disrespect, wherever I flew it. Just as on the frequent occasions I see the British flag being flown upside down in the US, I do not perceive it as being an intentional mark of disrespect.