I disagree. It’s obnoxious for any person to be so into their nationality they can’t go without wearing it on their sleeve. Even well liked countries wouldn’t change my mind. My thoughts are “I get it you’re from there, but what makes YOU interesting? The fact you associate so much with your country you have to tell everyone you meet?”
What are accents for then? If you come up to me speaking with an accent I’m going to ask where it’s from. That’s going to acheive the same result as wearing your flag. The only place I can see it not being obnoxious is as Ohai said - if you’re in a country where your nationality isn’t accepted and you wear another country’s flag.
I think your view on this (that it is “obnoxious”) is extreme. Just because I have a flag and am proud of where I am from doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate where you are from or have no other sense of self or individuality. In general, when I find that someone else is from another country, that is an invitation to talk about a whole range of experiences. Cultures are interesting, and getting people’s take on their culture and my culture and the similarities and differences is in fact something that makes people far more interesting than talking about whether they prefer the NY Jets or the SF 49ers.
When I lived in Brazil, I fell in love with that country. But at the same time, being there helped me recognize what was good and unique about the USA too. I didn’t walk around with an American (or Canadian) flag (in part because it can be an invitation to get mugged), but I certainly welcomed questions about my nationality, and they created many interesting conversations…
If I wear a shirt with my favorite rock band, will you refuse to talk to me because I’m clearly way too defined by that rock band that I can’t relate to anyone else?
The appropriateness of flag wearing comes down to which country you are from. It is almost never acceptable to wear a US flag while travelling. This is due to the role of the US in the world and the resulting perception of the US among the international community. Wearing a US flag is like trying to tell everyone that you have a 13" member.
Wearing a Brazilian or Bermudan flag tells people you want to have a good time, because like it or not, that is how people perceive those countries. Wearing a Canadian flag is like saying “I look like a US person, but I am not one”. For the most part, international people know nothing about Canada, other than that the country is near the US, and maybe whatever South Park tells them.
I found the level of friendliness and just overall customer service went through the roof in Europe immediately after the server finds out you are not American.
That’s a misconception from the Bush era. Most people are totally fine with Americans. Obviously I wouldn’t go to Syria wearing my flag sweater, but you’re not going to get into any trouble having an American flag on your backpack going around Europe.
And, if anyone does give us trouble, in typical American fashion we’ll just shout at them until they like us.
I agree that people from other cultures are interesting and speaking to people from different countries can lead to fun conversations. Where we seem to disagree is the method on how a person finds out that they’re from another country. You mentioned that you never advertised your nationality while living in Brazil - yet still people understood you were not Brazilian. This is bound to happen because you have a complexion, accent and set of mannerisms foreign to this area. You don’t need to wear an American flag to be seen as an American.
Maybe part of the reason why a US flag is not necessary is that everyone can recognize an American. However, I don’t know about you, but I can’t tell Swedish or Swiss people from Dutch people. So, maybe one of those guys might wear a flag for some positive value.
If I met a Swedish, Dutch, Norwegian or Finnish person I wouldn’t know which of those nationalities they were. I would ask them though, because I would hear their accent and see their clothes are different. Are they wearing the flag because they’re the ambassador of their country?
Americans must be happy now that Chinese are traveling more and pushing them down the list of worst travellers.
I’ve never worn a Canadian flag but have noticed a difference in people when they find out I’m Canadian. Asians seemed to be disappointed that I’m not american while Europeans seemed relieved and opened up more.
I think you’ve just laid out the checklist for such differentiation attempts.
At first I thought the brazilian flag could be a free pass since, like Ohai and Bchad pointed out, we have that fun image. It could be a little like wearing a sign that says “you can come here to talk about soccer, beaches and carnival”. I definitely don’t want to make a statement supporting Brazil’s government, institutions, or even patriotism in general.
However, I can empathize with lxwarr’s points - a lot of people may agree with that position. Wearing a flag may be perceived as borderline xenophobic, since many people actually behave that way.
Bchad’s bracelet idea is very nice - interesting enough, but not too “loud”.
There are upsides and downsides to every culture, and that definitely is one of the downsides. Fortunately, I’m more loyal than most of their alternatives, and do my best to subtly remind them of that whenever possible.
The irony is that it is a heck of a lot easier to be failthful to a woman when she is not constantly accusing you of being unfaithful. When she trusts you, I find it’s an additional motivation to be worthy of her trust. When she doesn’t trust you, it’s easy to slide into the line of thinking “I’m going to be accused of banging this other chick either way, so why not just go ahead and do it.”
