snowyowl.13 wrote: I have read this entire thread and found it fascinating. My vehicle has veteran's license plates and small Canadian and Canadian Forces Medical Services flags are on my bumper. In my experience, we Canadian ex-military feel just as passionately about the Canadian flag as the veterans of any other country. This summer we spent 1 July and 4 July in up state NY. I had a small Canadian flag displayed on our RV and I asked our neighbours if they were concerned that i didn't have a US flag. I explained that I would happily go somewhere to get one if it was a concern. Our most immediate neighbours were US vets who said that they were not concerned about our lack of a US flag.
This winter we will be in Florida for several months and I fully intend to fly a Canadian flag however I will be following correct flag protocol and fly a US flag in the correct position and at the correct height beside it.
I get very annoyed at people who come here and fly flags from other countries above the Canadian flag. I admit that I don't even like to see Provincial Flags flown without a Canadian flag being displayed. I am an immigrant to Canada (I've been here for 55 years) and this country has given me a wonderful life. Flying a Canadian flag is a small way for me to show my gratitude to this country but implies no disrespect towards the flags of other countries.
A couple of people (and only a couple) in these forums have made negative comments about Canadians taking up space in US campgrounds or buying US property. Come for a visit up here in summer, if you can find space among all the Americans filling the campgrounds. The difference is that we welcome them and know how much money they bring into the province. The ones that are buying up all the shoreline property are regarding maybe a little less warmly but nothing too negative.
You are correct in all respects… flags are not and should not be flown as a decorations… they are a symbol that identifies the heart of a country and a display of your pride and respect for your country and the sacrifice of those that serve it…there is protocol established so everyone knows the proper way to display the flag and the proper reasons for the use of this symbol… displaying it without following proper protocol only shows ignorance of or disrespect for what it symbolizes... It is hard to show pride and respect for your country by disrespecting the symbol of pride and respect for a host country…
I am not for some reason surprised at the number of Americans that fail to know or follow proper protocol and how they unceremoniously treat their own flag, I am however mystified by those that would promote misuse, just because we have been good and supportive as neighbors… it is because of the respect I have for our Canadian neighbors and the pride I have in my country I would not fly my flag in place of or in prominence of their flag, while in their country…
In America we may have reached the point where we may need to change our flag to a dollar bill… we have reached the point that the American flag is used more for commercialism than patriotism anyway…
A American flag with a American Harley Davidson emblem on it is not a sign of pride or respect… it is a display of what we have become discounting the meaning and the cost of how we got here…
Where is here??? Here is where American people, American companies, and American politicians for quick profits are willing to set aside for the good of the country…
Love my mass produced, entry level, built by Lazy American Workers, Hornet
In America we may have reached the point where we may need to change our flag to a dollar bill… we have reached the point that the American flag is used more for commercialism than patriotism anyway…
Here is where American people, American companies, and American politicians for quick profits are willing to set aside for the good of the country…
Here is where American people, American companies, and American politicians for quick profits are willing to set aside for the good of the country…
Especially the politicians in Washington DC where they put their political parties above the welfare of the their country.
JJBirish: you could not have summed up my feelings regarding flags any better!
I'm a person who joined the military in early sixties and later endured the flak associated with our country striving to exemplify our identity by adopting a completely unique flag without any of the "motherhood" involved. On the one hand our predominantly Britsh Isles heritage and a country full of vets crying: "I've fought 2 wars under the 'Jack' and want no part of a Pearson Pennant" to the other much younger population claiming "it's time we illustrated our own unique personality and what better way than through a truly uniquely Canadian flag" only to then witness the thing being used as everything from curtains in the back windows of the hippie culture vans of the day to bar stool seat covers!
I still bristle when visiting tourist locations like Niagara Falls and gaze at all those trinkets from China with our flag adorning them, talk about crass commercialism, doesn't that stuff have to pass a protocol check somehwere and if not, WHY NOT?
Today is just the tomorrow you worried about yesterday!
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After spending a great deal of time (31 years) in the service of my country -The United States of America - I'm probably not going to be very happy with someone invading my Florida campground and hoisting a flag from another country. Come and spend your six months. Make friends and go home. Why would you want to consider offending your hosts? As unofficial ambassadors of your country it would behoove you to be friendly and congenial guests of our country.
FastEagle
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I spent 15 months in the Vietnam theater of war. 12 as a combat engineer In the US Army 1970 to 1971. Then I returned to the Nam theater of war in 1975 and spent 3 months off the coast in 1975.
I have a neighbor that flies the flag incorrectly. He flies it 24/7 without lights. This man I love like a brother, he retires next month after over 30 years in the Marine Corps. I haven't confronted his minor infraction, Why? Because there are People, citizens, that use the flag in more disrespectful ways to show their disrespect for a country that gives them the right to do that.
So why would I give flack to anyone trying to fly the flag in a respectful manor? So what if it is a little low or a little high? At least it is there and its display and it is meant to be respectful.
As far as Canadians are concerned. When you vacation here Fly your flag, be proud of your country. After all the help we have given each other over the years, in my mind kinda makes you like the neighbor across the street. Your trying to show your patriotism and trying to show it respectfully. I will defend you for it.
Considering the big picture where most of our enonomic deals are now done with Communist countries like China. The same commies that, like the Radical Islamics and Radical Islamics themselves want to bury us and blame us for their problems, when their problems stem from within.
I am presently sitting in my Florida trailer, flagless, thank you very much.
While most replies to my original question were both reasonable and supportive,
there were enough who think otherwise that my wife and I have decided that displaying a flag, Canadian or otherwise is probably not a good idea.
To the poster who fears me invading "his" campground, fear not, we are quite happy where we are and have no plans to move.
Sea Dog wrote: What do you think?
We have a fiver pernamently set up on a Florida lot.
I am thinking of taking along a smallish Canadian flag to either hang or fly.
I realize that foreign flags are a touchy subject in America, there was a big blowup a few years back when a Canadian snowbird attempted to fly a Canadian flag in Florida.
I do understand the protecal of the American flag being larger and flown above a foreign flag.
Just wondering, dont` want to get tossed out of our park.
I think it's great to fly your Canadian flag! It's a nice way of chatting with people about where you're from. We're neighbors, after all. Having an American flag is a nice gesture, but I would not be upset to see your flag by itself.
I very well know what the impression is of Quebecers is beyond our provincial and US borders. What irks me however is the ignorance that folks display when they paint everyone with the same brush.
I spend much of my time between May and October in the US along with many fellow camping friends some of whom really cannot speak much english. I've had this conversation with them several times about the impression of people from outside Quebec.
Reality is there are some folks who are very narcissistic and feel that they are owed everything and can't understand why store workers or waiters etc... don't understand when they speak to them in french. These however are the very small minority.
Many of my non-english friends become extremely shy when approached by the outwardness of Americans; they have a tendency to clam up for fear of saying something wrong or speaking out of turn. In the end they will actually avoid gestures or eye contact which can easily be construed as being impolite or indifferent.
Personally I'm a social animal who can get into a conversation with a tree BUT I do appreciate there are those who are very shy and are unable to respond. Just don't paint everyone with the same brush.
... Eric
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Eric
2009 Holiday Rambler Admiral 33SFS (34' 3")
2008 Jeep Liberty - North Edition
FQCC/Camping Quebec, KOA, Good Sam, Coach-Net My Photos
Eric... I found your comments very interesting, and they present an aspect that I had not considered before and I thank you for them.
When travelling in Quebec, my Franco-Ontarian husband insisted I try out my meagre french when talking to people or ordering food in a restaurant. I expected (because of preconceived notions) laughter or derision at my attempts, but met nothing but helpfulness (mixed with some amusement).
On the other side of things, when travelling in Quebec years ago as a chaperone for my daughter's youth orchestra, we met many Quebec youth. They were shocked that some of our kids were conversing in French (their mother tongue). They did not believe that anyone outside of Quebec spoke french and thought our kids were from Quebec. When we told them that no, we were from Ontario, and that the kids attended French schools and spoke French in their homes, they outright called us liars. Those are some of the attitudes that hurt Quebecers' reputations and those were just kids...
I also have a friend here in Sudbury who is from Amos, QC and thinks that French-Immersion schools should be abolished and that only kids who's mother tongue is French should be allowed to attend French schools, as the anglophones are "bastardizing" THEIR language. And she's told me this to my face.
Both my kids and my husband are fully bilingual and proud of their heritage.
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