# Is it respectful to wear a flag on your clothing? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 21, 2005, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-respectful-to-wear-a-flag-on-your-clothing/327337 "2005-10-21T21:25:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Nonsuch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nonsuch/32/2922_2.png) [@Nonsuch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nonsuch)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2005, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-respectful-to-wear-a-flag-on-your-clothing/327337/21 "2005-10-22T06:15:49Z")
> [@Freddy the Pig](#): > > Question for Brits: Was wearing the Union Jack _ever_ considered disrespectful? The Rolling Stones reference a “guy who’s all dressed up just like the Union Jack”: Would this have been kosher during the 1960’s? Pete Townshend used to wear a Union Jack jacket for a while, and I think Keith Moon had a penchant for iconic, Mod gear in that vein. I imagine if the Who took to it it must have been at least **a little** radical. ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2005, 9:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-respectful-to-wear-a-flag-on-your-clothing/327337/22 "2005-10-22T09:39:22Z")
I’m a Boy Scout leader. Every leader and scout in our troop (and in every troop in the U.S. if their boys wear regulation class A shirts) wears a flag on his clothes. A bunch more respectful of the flag, you’ll find nowhere. You should see our flag retirement ceremonies–it’s actually very moving. Which I guess is an apt comparison here: Is burning the flag disrespectful? Not when the Boy Scouts do it. Yes, in other instances. So, I’ll agree with the sentiment that context (if I can use that relative to clothes) is everything in determining respectful intent. ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2005, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-respectful-to-wear-a-flag-on-your-clothing/327337/23 "2005-10-22T13:05:13Z")
If it’s good enough for Steve Rogers… ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2005, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-respectful-to-wear-a-flag-on-your-clothing/327337/24 "2005-10-22T15:26:54Z")
I have no problem with it. I remember the debate though. Patches had become popular in my home town (and I guess elsewhere, although I suspect that we would have lagged behind by a few years…) There was a big debate as to whether or not you could wear a patch of the American flag. My school banned them. I thought it was silly then and I think so now. ---
**Author:** ![whiterabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/cab0a1/32.png) [@whiterabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whiterabbit)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2005, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-respectful-to-wear-a-flag-on-your-clothing/327337/25 "2005-10-22T16:22:39Z")
I once saw a display of flag thongs. And not the sort you wear on your feet. I thought that was just too much somehow, though I’m not fanatical about the whole “respecting the flag” business. But having it up your asscrack seems…well…disrespectful. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2005, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-respectful-to-wear-a-flag-on-your-clothing/327337/26 "2005-10-22T21:51:39Z")
> [@Kyla](#): > > Esperanto has a _flag_? I think I missed the bit where Esperan (?) became a nation. _[Jen](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esperanto_flag)_. (Voilà.) Lots of cultural groups have flags. The linked Wikipedia entry does state that some people consider having such a flag to be too ‘nationalistic’. > [@wolfstu](#): > > It’s become something of a tradition for young Canadians traveling abroad to affix a Canadian flag patch to their backpack. No one thinks of it as at all disrespectful, though a few people find it tacky or too suggestive of what’s perceived as an “American thing”: overt patriotism, particularly of the in-your-face type. When I went overseas, I did _not_ put a Canadian flag patch on my backpack, partly because I had just read that a lot of Americans were putting Canadian flags on their backpacks to avoid being hassled as Americans, and I did not want to be confused with an American pretending to be Canadian. Partly, I wanted to stand on my own two feet, and not say “I am a Canadian” right off the bat. Partly, I wanted to find an Esperanto flag patch and use that, and I didn’t have one. Mostly, though, it was because I was using a borrowed backpack. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![wolfstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d6d6ee/32.png) [@wolfstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfstu)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2005, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-respectful-to-wear-a-flag-on-your-clothing/327337/27 "2005-10-23T02:29:46Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > Partly, I wanted to stand on my own two feet, and not say “I am a Canadian” right off the bat. Yeah, I had a similar thought, but decided to go for it anyway. It was small, and not especially noticeable, really. Despite having it on my bag, I was routinely mistaken for all manner of foreigner. An American only once, and variously a Dane, a Spaniard, a Turk, a Frenchman, a German, a Briton, a Russian, and “an ordinary Belgian”. 😃 I was only once recognized as a Canadian, and the guy who was sure I was Russian grew up in Ottawa. How the same guy can [look like a Turk \*and \*a Dane](http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v723/wolfstu/ThatBigRedShirt2.jpg), I don’t know. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2005, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-respectful-to-wear-a-flag-on-your-clothing/327337/28 "2005-10-23T02:42:42Z")
I don’t care much for the design, so I don’t wear it. But I’m not offended in the slightest no matter how it’s displayed. It’s a symbol and I think this country is entirely too fixated on the symbol and completely forget about what it stands for. Wrap sammiches in it for all I care! I’d rather see less flag and more understanding of what America is all about. ---
**Author:** ![Seven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Seven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seven)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2005, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-respectful-to-wear-a-flag-on-your-clothing/327337/29 "2005-10-23T09:08:46Z")
> [@Freddy the Pig](#): > > They probably _would_ say that, which is baffling to those of us of a certain age (I’m 45) who were taught in school that wearing the flag is a gross violation of [flag etiquette](http://www.ushistory.org/betsy/flagetiq.html): We were also taught that it’s improper to use the flag for advertising, and nowadays that’s considered patriotic as well. Agreed. While I’m not sure I’d say it is entirely disrespectful, I would say it is tacky at best. I feel the same about flaggy bumper stickers. That said, a patch on the arm of a postal worker, police or GI seems ok. ---
**Author:** ![DMark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@DMark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMark)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2005, 10:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-respectful-to-wear-a-flag-on-your-clothing/327337/30 "2005-10-23T10:01:40Z")
I am amazed with all of the banter over creating a law to ban flag burning (as if you see someone burning a flag every day in your local Walmart parking lot) but there is no mention of banning fat women wearing American flag thongs at 4th of July picnics, dressing dogs in stars and stripes, and stupid bumper stickers (Proud To Be An American!) for the pleasure of other Americans to see, in America. “I’m more American than you are…na na na na na!” I hate the fact that the American flag has turned into some sort of a Republican icon to be used as they see fit…a holy icon that is acceptable to be worn up your butt crack but burning it should become a felony. So, wearing it? Sure…why not? Some people wrap themselves up in one and get elected. ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2005, 10:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-respectful-to-wear-a-flag-on-your-clothing/327337/31 "2005-10-23T10:36:29Z")
> [@ArchiveGuy](#): > > Let’s be honest–they do it so they _won’t_ be confused as Americans. Let’s be honest: Americans only start wars so they won’t be confused with Canadians. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![MizGrand](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cdc98d/32.png) [@MizGrand](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MizGrand)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2005, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-respectful-to-wear-a-flag-on-your-clothing/327337/32 "2005-10-23T13:07:27Z")
Well, Disney’s website sells t-shirts with a flag on them and I bought both a gray one and a white one. The gray one is my favorite – oh, this isn’t MPSIMS! Sorry. I don’t feel it’s disrespectful to proudly wear our Nation’s symbol, I mean, it’s not like you’re wearing some w\*\*\*\* power kind of shit, I mean shirt. Unless of course it reads … “My Nation can kick your Nation’s butt” 🆒 ---
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2005, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-respectful-to-wear-a-flag-on-your-clothing/327337/33 "2005-10-23T17:02:32Z")
> [@Case Sensitive](#): > > Let’s be honest: Americans only start wars so they won’t be confused with Canadians. 😃 It’s working, too. ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2005, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-respectful-to-wear-a-flag-on-your-clothing/327337/34 "2005-10-23T20:31:03Z")
I’ve got my Med cruise cruise jacket, still. It has a US flag, the NYS flag, and the flags of the countries we visted on that cruise embroidered on it. I really don’t think it’s a disrespectful thing to wear. It’s showing my military service. Boasting of it, really. It’s tacky as all Hell, of course, but that’s what a cruise jacket is supposed to be. 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-respectful-to-wear-a-flag-on-your-clothing/327337.md?page=1)