Well well well, looks like I hit a nerve. I never would’ve expected to find that nerve here of all places, but hey, I can go with it.
If some football commentator wants to wear a flag lapel pin, I obviously can’t stop him. However, I can recognize that it’s purely a PR move. When each guy behind the desk and calling the game all have the exact same pin, it’s quite likely that they were given to them by the CBS brass with instructions to wear them. “If we look patriotic, it’ll improve ratings.” That anyone would think that is sad.
I also can’t be 100% sure of the reason the average schmoe wears one. If you wear one and tell me it’s because you love your country, I’d ask why you feel the need to advertise that. I like living in the U.S. too, but it’s kind of dumb to announce it by wearing a pin IMHO. You disagree? You’re entitled.
I believe the majority of people in this country are afraid of being thought of as unpatriotic, what with all the “Why don’t you support our troops?” talk that’s been going around for the last few years. People care too much what others think.
No it doesn’t. I can’t even begin to try and figure out how you got that out of my OP.
That’s funny. If your OP had stated your hatred of everyone wearing sneakers, and the response that resulted was, “Why the hell do you care if someone wears sneakers?”…you’d feel like you really hit a nerve, eh? Okay, if it makes you feel better.
I doubt that people wear the flag pins because they want to be sure that everyone knows how patriotic they are…I’ll bet most people who wear them just believe that it represents something important to them, like wearing a religious medal.
I always fly the flag at my house, despite the fact that in my neighborhood, it probably gives people more of a negative impression of me than a positive one. I don’t care what people think…I just like what the flag represents. If someone else doesn’t, then they are perfectly free not to fly it, or to fly a different flag if they want to. It’s a free country!
The only time anyone around that time talked to me about any sort of pin I was wearing was when some old guy got in my face for wearing a “U.S. Out of the Middle East” button that I had left over from the first time a Bush warred it up over there.
During the Gulf War in '91 I wore peace sign earrings one day to work at my waitress job and two young guys (my age at the time) at a table asked me belligerently if I was against the war. Actually, I was just in favor of peace, and I didn’t realize that anybody was against peace. Live and learn.
I was in school during September '01 but when I went back to work in January '02 I was told to take a peace symbol button off my backpack because it was “disruptive.”
For the record, given the ongoing brouhaha about how left-leaning this board is, this is yet another thread in which the OP posted an opinion that would, at least in a stereotyped fashion, be considered leftist/liberal. And yet the “Usual Suspects” basically all disagreed with the OP, almost as if they were thinking individuals rather than a hivemind. Odd.
No prob here with flag lapel pins, bumper stickers, etc.
I don’t know how this is holding up in redder areas of America than mine, but 9/11 seemed to drive off the Confederate flag bumper stickers, and here in southern Maryland, which is definitely more red than blue, they still haven’t made a comeback.
Right. We’re disagreeing. But you hardly “hit a nerve”. Don’t flatter yourself. People whose Pit threads “hit a nerve” have them mushroom to 2 pages and counting by suppertime.
The Cosmetics gal at my store is a veteran only in the sense of having worked for Walgreens since Hector was a pup. And I doubt whether any top brass anywhere ordered her to wear her flag pin. And I doubt whether she wears it so that customers may question her about her political beliefs.
I have not the slightest doubt that she wears it because she loves her country, plain and simple. And if she rang up your purchase of Walgreens Men’s Zone stuff, and you interpreted her flag pin as some kind of in-your-face political stunt, well, that’s your loss, in that you failed to recognize a pure and simple heart and saw only a non-existent agenda.
I can’t see any reason not to wear a small flag pin. I’ve worn one myself from time to time. I realize it means different things to different people, but to me it symbolizes all of things America’s done right over the years.
That’s funny. If your OP had stated your hatred of everyone wearing sneakers, and the response that resulted was, “Why the hell do you care if someone wears sneakers?”…you’d feel like you really hit a nerve, eh? Okay, if it makes you feel better.
