Do you consider yourself a patriotic person?

[Flake]

Yes. And frankly, I immediately lose respect for people who aren't. My country isn't just maple leafs and lumberjacks; it's the people who live here and help make Canada great. Same goes in the US. To me, denouncing patriotism is to denounce your neighbour, your friends, your family, and, in many cases, your ancestors. No one person is better than the collective.

What?

[Flake]

Yes. And frankly, I immediately lose respect for people who aren't. My country isn't just maple leafs and lumberjacks; it's the people who live here and help make Canada great. Same goes in the US. To me, denouncing patriotism is to denounce your neighbour, your friends, your family, and, in many cases, your ancestors. No one person is better than the collective.

What?

I just mean that patriotism, to me, is about more than the abstract consumer icons. In the US, the hicks who wear eagle shirts with stars and stripes aren't necessarily more patriotic than the people who don't.

But... everyone in America is a hick who wears eagle shirts with stars and stripes?