# Tacky Patriotism **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 10, 2003, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tacky-patriotism/200775 "2003-09-10T15:46:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MidnightRadio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecd19e/32.png) [@MidnightRadio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MidnightRadio)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2003, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tacky-patriotism/200775/1 "2003-09-10T15:46:35Z")
All things considered, I think I’m a fairly patriotic person, but I’ve never really understood the need to fly a flag in your yard or stick one on your car. I think it’s tacky, although I’d be hard pressed to say exactly way. But [this](http://www.flyingcolorflags.com/flyingcolorflags2/) takes the cake. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2003, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tacky-patriotism/200775/2 "2003-09-10T15:56:28Z")
There’s nothing wrong with flying a flag in your yard… though I think flying one on a car is a bit overboard. That particular link is extraordinarily tacky, though. ---
**Author:** ![Casey1505](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2003, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tacky-patriotism/200775/3 "2003-09-10T15:59:03Z")
What’s so tacky about it? It’s ugly as hell, but I wouldn’t say tacky. ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2003, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tacky-patriotism/200775/4 "2003-09-10T16:00:03Z")
I can see flying a regular, 50-star American flag in one’s front yard. That’s not especially problematic. I do think that 9/11 is being commercially exploited by everyone from state governments (I live in PA, so I see a lot of the 9/11 “Fight Terrorism” Virginia license plates.) to private individuals looking for a quick buck. On the PA Turnpike, near the Johnstown exit, there is a sign advertising tours of the Flight 93 crash site. What’re you going to see? An empty field. There’s nothing there anymore, and even when there was, you couldn’t get close to the crash site. Don’t get me wrong. There’s nothing wrong with having a memorial service for the people who died that day. 9/11 is a significant day in American history, and it should be remembered. Exploitation for financial or political gain is more than tacky, it’s just wrong. It cheapens the events themselves, and it cheapens the loss that all Americans suffered. That’s JMHO. You’re perfectly free to tell me to sod off. Robin ---
**Author:** ![Isabelle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b5a626/32.png) [@Isabelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isabelle)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2003, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tacky-patriotism/200775/5 "2003-09-10T16:20:21Z")
The flag you show **MidnightRadio** I think is going to the extreme. I see nothing wrong with flying a “normal” flag in the yard. The car is a tacky idea. ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21825_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2003, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tacky-patriotism/200775/6 "2003-09-10T16:33:22Z")
That flag is tacky, bordering on cheesy. It saddens me - patriotism has been reduced to tattered flags and angry bumper stickers. And by golly, if you disagree, then you’re not patriotic. Very sad. ---
**Author:** ![ShadiRoxan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@ShadiRoxan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShadiRoxan)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2003, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tacky-patriotism/200775/7 "2003-09-10T16:40:58Z")
A few months after 9/11 I saw a car that had seven flags. Four of them sticking up at each corner of the roof, two reflecting from his dash onto the windshield, and a full size one covering his trunk. I think it was a little overboard. ---
**Author:** ![Casey1505](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dc4da7/32.png) [@Casey1505](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Casey1505)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2003, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tacky-patriotism/200775/8 "2003-09-10T16:46:08Z")
What’s tacky is when someone puts a flag out and then ignores it. Sure it looks great waving in the breeze at first, but after a few months, it starts to get frayed, tattered, and weathered. Soon, instead of flying the old Red, White, and Blue, they are displaying the pink, grey, and faded blue. I would rather see the flag shown in the OPs link from every flagstaff in my neighborhood than see careless neighbor’s rag flag. Same goes for flag bumper stickers on cars. If it fades, replace it. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2003, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tacky-patriotism/200775/9 "2003-09-10T16:47:56Z")
I saw one of those flags the other day. Definitely tacky. ---
**Author:** ![whiterabbit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/cab0a1/32.png) [@whiterabbit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/whiterabbit)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2003, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tacky-patriotism/200775/10 "2003-09-10T17:15:16Z")
Those are tacky, no doubt about it. A regular flag is one thing, something like this is a profiteering abomination. It still bothers me how many people must be making millions off of this sort of stuff, ever since the afternoon or so of 9/11…certainly the flags were sprouting like weeds the next day! And please don’t call me unpatriotic. The faddishness of it is what bothers me, and that’s died down considerably. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2003, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tacky-patriotism/200775/11 "2003-09-10T17:34:09Z")
Something like that would never fly in Canada. We have our standards. (Sorry.) Seriously, though-- that thing is obscene. I guess it might be good for collectors – at last, something to put next to the November 22nd, 1963 flag – the one with 50 particles of bone and brain being splattered over the blue field. ---
**Author:** ![Short](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b38774/32.png) [@Short](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Short)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2003, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tacky-patriotism/200775/12 "2003-09-10T18:04:37Z")
Not just tacky, but someone should explain lossy v. nonlossy picture formats. The other day I saw a jeep with two (count 'em: two) full sized American flags flying from it. It was like the lead car in a clown motorcade. Of course if we all had flags in our cars, homes and places of work, that would show Osama bin Hussein we mean business. ---
**Author:** ![bayonet1976](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/77aa72/32.png) [@bayonet1976](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bayonet1976)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2003, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tacky-patriotism/200775/13 "2003-09-10T18:07:34Z")
Well, I can’t really decide about that flag, some might consider it tacky, some commemorative art. But I wanted to pipe in and say that I for one find American patriotism refreshing and endearing. I grew up in a culture where outward displays of “patriotism” were compulsory, so when I first arrived in the US I took the patriotic displays for granted as more of the same. It took me several years, a better command of English, and a large number of American friends to decide that Americans, yeah I’m generalizing but you get the point, really and truly are as patriotic as they seem. They love their country, its institutions, its symbols, and its history. Believe it or not that is not true everywhere else, and the contrast is yet another thing I love about the US. ---
**Author:** ![Dogface](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9d8465/32.png) [@Dogface](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dogface)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2003, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tacky-patriotism/200775/14 "2003-09-10T19:06:38Z")
Oog. My tackometer just pegged. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2003, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tacky-patriotism/200775/15 "2003-09-10T21:10:02Z")
I’m not a flag flyer. I had to discreetly put my complimentary CUBE FLAG in a drawer. My husband, on the other hand, is a combat marine and flies a regular American flag and a POW/MIA flag on our garage. Whatever. It doesn’t bother me TOO much, but I’d rather people just show their patriotism by being good, thoughtful Americans rather than the stupid, empty gesture of flag flying with nothing in their behavior to back it up. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2003, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tacky-patriotism/200775/16 "2003-09-10T21:23:28Z")
The offering would seem to violate [Section 8, paragraph g of the Flag Code.](http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/4/8.html) And flying a shredded or faded flag is definitely in violation of paragraph k. Some patriots. DD ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2003, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tacky-patriotism/200775/17 "2003-09-10T21:45:37Z")
Just curious, **bayonet1976** , what country do you come from, and when did you come to the US? ---
**Author:** ![emmaliminal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7bcc69/32.png) [@emmaliminal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emmaliminal)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2003, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tacky-patriotism/200775/18 "2003-09-10T21:49:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by DesertDog \* > \*\*The offering would seem to violate [Section 8, paragraph g of the Flag Code.](http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/4/8.html) \*\* It sure would. I don’t get it. How exactly does someone go about making up the size and quality of flags they seem to have had produced and not think to check the code? Putzes! ---
**Author:** ![BiblioCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ed8c4c/32.png) [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2003, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tacky-patriotism/200775/19 "2003-09-10T22:04:18Z")
I agree, that flag is cheesy and tacky. I don’t like the car flags that are tattered and shredded. They look awful, and I’m sure they violate the flag code. I have a small flag decal in the back window of my car. We also fly our flag every day. Almost every house in our neighborhood does it, too. I think it looks nice. We used to just put it out on holidays, but ever since 9/11, we’ve put it out every day. It hangs from a pole at a 45° angle on the window frame. It’s not a huge one or a “commemorative” one; it’s a regular 50-star flag. ---
**Author:** ![WolfpackJeep](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpackjeep/32/2921_2.png) [@WolfpackJeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WolfpackJeep)\ **Post date:** [September 10, 2003, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tacky-patriotism/200775/20 "2003-09-10T23:54:55Z")
Definitely one of the most tacky things I’ve ever seen. I’ve never bought any car flags–they’re way too fragile to travel at highway speeds, and they get dirty so fast. I have had a flag decal on my back window since October 2001. The colors are still nice and bright. The tire cover on my mom’s new Jeep has a flag printed on it. It actually looks good. I’ve seen a variant of this cover that has the “There’s only one” slogan printed under the flag. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tacky-patriotism/200775.md?page=2)