Comments on: Flag-Waving German Patriots vs. Flag-Hating German Patriots

By: Matt

Matt — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 21:15:36 +0000

Wow, Charlie.

Way to add to the debate. I’m sure Joe and the rest of the site’s readers had no idea that Germany was linked to Hitler. In the 30′s and 40′s, the Germans did a terrible thing. Everyone agrees on that. What is less clear is whether or not they must be ashamed of existing for the rest of time.

Personally, I think that a renewed focus on regionalism is probably the best solution, in Germany and elsewhere. But it does not automatically follow that Germans are somehow more likely to kill again if they wave a flag that has no connection whatsoever to the one the Nazis flew.

By: Charlie Collier

Charlie Collier — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 15:58:03 +0000

Start watching this video at the 6:50 mark, and you’ll see why Germans in particular might feel deeply uneasy about the widespread display of their nation’s flag. Never again.

By: Kafbst

Kafbst — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 03:48:53 +0000

I will also disagree with your thesis. When I lived in Germany I saw many flags flying, as many as you would see here in America on a non-patriotic day. Our countries seemed very similar in this regard. Where we veered wildly apart was in our attitude toward the immigrant. This man of Lebanese descent may consider himself German but, according to what I heard from native Germans, no German would consider him German. Coming from our melting pot I was flabbergasted at the disdain the Germans had for others living in their country, especially Middle Easterners. It’s possible the leftists didn’t think this man had any right to fly the German flag.

By: Erin Kelly

Erin Kelly — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 00:21:13 +0000

I’m not sure I can agree with your thesis that such excess caution as tearing down German national flags can be considered a form of patriotic display for the simple fact that these flag-stealing jerks are obviously contemptuous of the property rights of their fellow citizens and have no problem extending their own rights into the area of infringing upon the rights of others. It was such misguided thinking, taken to the tragic extreme, that helped allow the rise of their catastrophic Nazi ideology in the first place.