If you have managed to have any sort of conversation with anyone who has been raising flags on lamp posts and telegraph poles in recent months you can guarantee that, at some point, a certain phrase would be trotted out.
"We should be proud of our country, just like they fly flags everywhere in America."
It's a comment of unbelivable naivety and lack of understanding of different cultures.
It is true that Americans are undeniably proud of their national flag and treat it with reverence, for them it is a symbol of a created new nation with its peoples drawn together by conflict rather than a centuries older organically evovling one as is the case with England and our United Kingdom. In that sense our two nations, USA and UK are altogether horses of a different colour.
But in establishing that reverence, for American citizens, the flying of flags is not just about tying an Amazon sourced bit of polyester to a post with cable ties, but rather a process that is fundamentally about dignity.
In America the flying of flags is governed by the 'Flag Code', a non-binding federal law that dictates how a US flag should be displayed.
Perhaps those with cable ties and ladders should take notice of it.
The code states that the flag should never touch anything physically beneath it. In other words, it shouldn't be painted on roundabouts.
It goes on to state: "It is the universal custom to display the flag only from sunrise to sunset... the flag may be displayed 24 hours a day if properly illuminated during the hours of darkness." I haven't seen the usual suspects out lowering flags at night with the same reverence, have you?
Finally, the code states that when a flag is so tattered that it fails to serve as a symbol, it should be replaced in a dignified manner, preferably by burning. As the lamp post flags fray and run maybe it's time for those lads to start going round again, and showing the patriotism that people who are really proud of their flag show?
I very much doubt that they will, because it was never about patriotism, it was always performative.