Kulturkampf

[benji]

Honestly confused by the anger people express at the mere suggestion to use the American flag. Isn't the whole protest about letting people live in the US? How is waving the flag of foreign nations not a counter message to that? What exactly are they intending to express when they let the Mexican flag fly?

You posted above and it's true, the idea that America is evil and needs to be destroyed is an article of faith on the left. They love the idea of an image that Mexicans are reclaiming the territory from the Great Satan.

I think both of these statements are circling the same point, which is that its legitimately a shame that 'the left' have fully ceded the concept of patriotism to 'the right'.
Like, you would assume a left leaning individual would take pride in things like being a contributing member of society and paying their taxes, because your country is your society, and you can't have socialism without that sense of pride in your community and doing things for a greater good.

I'd like to think that maybe this happened because patriotism and nationalism are dangerously close, but the depressing truth is I think it's more likely a combination of 'intersectionality' creating tribalism and people deciding their own tiny inherently minority society is the only one that actually counts (and having its own flag!) and the knee jerk response of "I'm for everything those guys aren't!" as ideological stance

It's a remnant of the old leftist ideal of internationalism. They don't want to be part of the community that is America because America is evil. They want to be part of the superior global community, originally the Soviet Bloc but now the nameless faceless masses of poor colored people with "authentic" lives in tune with nature.

If you want to accept the disingenuous idea, put out by gas lighters,  that progressiveness is about the US "being bad" then go right ahead and be a fucking idiot.


I believe it was albert einstein that said patriotism isn't believing your country is perfect and infallible, rather that you strive for perfection while acknowledging the shortcomings.

It takes like two seconds online to find that what most progressives oppose about America are its ideals like due process, free speech, democracy, etc. And this has always been true back to the capital-p Progressives. A society that, however imperfectly, prioritizes the rights and interests of the individual stands in the way of "progress" as conceived as a single mandatory goal for all.

The great irony is that many of the laments of the modern progressive are things imposed on America by the original Progressives for the same reasons as modern progressives want to impose things. They both see a corrupt backwards society that needs to be fixed by unchecked state power. This has always been the position of the left. Stuff like the ACLU was a tactical momentary exception that had to be done due to be a minority position, once the left thought it "won" we saw how quickly they turned on its original mission.