What is up, my friends? Welcome to another episode of Speak Easy English, the number one podcast in the world if you ask my dog. Okay. Thanks for joining me. My name is Brandon. I will be your host. This is Speakeasy English, the podcast to help you become completely fluent in English without any boring grammar and without having to study.

How does that work? Well, basically you establish the daily habit of listening to English and then you become fluent. It’s that easy. Check out the first ten episodes where I discuss natural language learning and exactly how this process works. I also give lots of tips and suggestions on how you can accelerate your learning by reading and speaking in addition to daily listening. So if you have not already, go back and listen to the first ten episodes because that will be very beneficial for your learning process. As always, the transcripts are free on our website speakeasyenglish.club, that is Speakeasyenglish.club. And if you have questions, comments or concerns, shoot me an email at Brandon@speakeasyenglish.club.

Okay, today we are going to continue talking about, uh, topics that are a little bit controversial. Controversial means that many people have many different ideas about the topic, and maybe there is a lot of disagreement on a certain topic. Today’s topic is about how the perception (that is, how things are perceived, how people understand something) –  the perception of the American flag has shifted. It has changed here in the USA. Let’s get started.

So to begin, I want to tell a quick anecdote. An anecdote is a short story about something that happened 7 or 8 years ago. My wife and I were lucky enough to go to Spain for the first time. We went to Andalusia, which is southern Spain. At the time I spoke very little Spanish. Um, and it was actually that trip that inspired me to come back and really get serious about learning languages. Anyway, we were in Spain spending time with a Spanish friend of ours. He is about the same age and was born and raised in Spain. And I remember a moment when we were driving and we saw a house that had multiple Spanish flags flying. So a flag is a rectangle of fabric that has the emblem of a country. So the American flag has stars and stripes and it is red, white and blue. The Spanish flag is red and yellow and red again with the Spanish coat of arms, which is more or less a royal symbol, um, in the yellow portion. Anyway, I hope this helps you understand what a flag is. They are normally attached to tall poles up in the air, and when the wind blows, they wave back and forth in the wind.

So anyway, we are in Spain and we drive by a house that has multiple Spanish flags flying. And my friend made a funny face and said something like, “well, you don’t have to guess how they vote”. I will repeat that. He said, “well, you do not have to guess how they vote”. And he was saying that the political beliefs of that homeowner were obvious, as in, he knew for sure exactly how those people vote and think politically. I found this very strange and fascinating because I did not understand at all why flying a bunch of flags for your country would be indicative (that means would indicate)  how you vote. Remember, this is 7 or 8 years ago. Actually, I will correct myself. Time flies! This was probably closer to ten years ago. So we’re talking 2014. Maybe 2015 anyway. This was before Donald Trump in the United States and before the current political climate here in the United States. At that point in time, the American flag had no political association with the right or the left. As in, the American flag was not more associated with the Republicans than it was with the Democrats. It was just the American flag. Many people, including at the home where I grew up, had American flags hanging outside. It was simply considered patriotic. That means that you love your country and are proud to be a citizen of your country. It was simply patriotic to fly a flag, or even to wear clothing like a hat or a t shirt with the American flag on it.

So when my friend seemed to indicate that the Spanish flag had political associations, that really surprised me. He explained that in Spain, that dates back to the Spanish Civil War and the dictatorship under Franco that followed, during which time that national flag was prominently used by the regime. That means it was used often as a major symbol by the regime. Many years later, for a lot of people, the flag still is associated with nationalism and conservativism. Of course, this is not everyone’s view, but it is definitely more associated with the right wing, conservative, and nationalist leaning political views. So when my friend saw multiple Spanish flags flying in front of a single house, he immediately assumed that the people that lived there adhered to a right wing nationalist and conservative political mindset.

Let me pause here to say I am not passing judgment. That means I am not saying this is good or bad, and certainly it is not black and white. That means it is not simple and objective. Instead, ideologies and political views and how people interpret a national flag… these are very nuanced and complicated concepts, but I think it is interesting and worth discussing. Okay, back to the story.

We returned home to the United States and within a year or two Donald Trump emerged on the political scene. He quickly took over the Republican Party and dramatically changed what the traditional Republican Party stands for and means here in the United States. Again, I am not passing judgment. I am just making an observation. Along with the changes that Donald Trump brought to the Republican Party came a much more nationalist ideology. Nationalism can be complicated, but basically it is a mindset where you love and respect and appreciate your own country, often to the point where you believe it is superior (that means better than other countries), and you want to protect and promote your own country and your own culture and your own interests more than outside countries or outside cultures and different cultures that immigrants may bring when they come to your country. Again, this is a complicated concept, but that is basically nationalism. It’s a very strong love and interest, a very strong belief, that your nation is something special, and there exists such a thing as being a “true American” or a “true Spaniard”. Okay, so that’s nationalism. And Donald Trump definitely brought a sense of nationalism to the Republican Party.

Years ago, the Republicans favored more globalization, meaning international trade, including moving jobs (like factory jobs) to other countries where labor was less expensive. Donald Trump is the opposite of that. Quickly, you could see that his supporters believe that they are the “true Americans” that are fighting to defend our country against the Democrats and whatever other groups they decide are hurting America and true Americans. Once more I will say that I am not judging this mentality. This concept is much more complicated than I can properly discuss in these podcasts. So my point here is just to say that the nationalist mentality associated with Donald Trump and his “Make America Great Again” mantra came along with a lot of American flags. This has continued for eight years now, to the point where when I drive by a house and I see three or four or ten American flags, I will almost certainly also see a sign supporting Donald Trump. This is a massive change in the way that the American flag is perceived and the way that it is used.

Now, on the other side of the political spectrum, the Democrats and independents and all of the other political parties are frustrated and resisting this idea that the American flag is somehow the Republican flag, the Donald Trump flag. And instead they are fighting back saying “no, this flag is for everyone and this flag stands for compromise and democracy. It does not stand for conservativism or nationalism or right wing politics. It stands for the United States of America and our Constitution. And that is something that we all share equally”. Nonetheless, the flag continues to be more and more associated with right wing politics (that is, the Republican Party), and this shift happened very quickly over the course of the last eight years.

Now, it’s interesting for me to think back and remember that conversation with my friend in Spain, because I remember thinking, wow, that’s wild, that’s crazy. That is so different than how we see the flag in the United States. And then eight short years later, you see the exact same thing happening in the United States. I would have never guessed that the flag and its perceptions and connotations (that means things that are seemingly associated with it) –  I would never guess that a change like this would happen in the United States.

Okay! Thank you for listening to this entire episode. I know these topics might not be interesting to everyone, but I hope that it challenges you and pushes you to think about how you view your own country’s flag and what your own country’s flag means to you, and what it seems to mean to your fellow citizens. As always, the transcript of this episode and all episodes is available on our website. Speakeasyenglish.club. If you enjoy having this free resource, please leave a five-star review! That will help us immensely to reach other English learners just like you. And don’t forget, listen to this episode multiple times! That will allow your brain to do what it does best and acquire English easily, naturally, and without studying any boring grammar. Alright, thanks for listening. We will see you next time. Cheers!