A “woke” Wisconsin college professor has complained that seeing the American causes him to feel “anxious.”
During an interview with National Public Radio on Wednesday, Marquette University Philosophy Professor Grant Silva blasted American patriots.
Silva told an interviewer with WUWM, an NPR affiliate station in Milwaukee, that “excessive imagery” of American flags is borderline “nationalism.”
The professor also took aim at patriotism in general.
“I also get a little bit anxious around the excessive imagery of the flag in part because, in my experience, patriotism quickly slips into nationalism,” Silva said.
“Especially the simplistic version of patriotism, the flag-waving, my country love-it-or-leave-it kind of attitude.
“That is just a hop, skip, and a jump away from becoming nationalism.”
Silva also said that the flag has several different meanings and can represent “exclusion” for some.
“As much as I would like to see the flag displayed in a proud manner, it all too quickly takes on the stakes that, as a non-white person, can mean a lot, right?” Silva said.
“It can mean a sense of inclusion or exclusion.
“A sense of belonging or the ascription of perpetual foreigner, perpetual outsider status; that that flag is not for me unless I’m willing to abide by the assimilatory paradigm that some of these individuals that you’re talking about tend to put forward.”
Silva’s comments resonated with radio show host Teran Powell, however.
Powell discussed her own anxiety “caused” by the national flag.
She continued by telling the story of how she saw several American flags while traveling through Illinois and all she wanted to do was “hurry up and leave.”
