[saimiam]

As a legal alien who used to live in the States, I would avoid any establishment showing the American flag.

It just felt like the place would be loudly and proudly nationalistic and as an alien, I would be more welcome elsewhere.

[otterley]

I’m sorry you felt that way. For most fellow Americans I know, displaying our flag is not intended to convey anti-immigrant or racist sentiment. It’s more often intended as an expression of support for the U.S. as our home and for freedom.

Canadians proudly do the same, FWIW.

[halostatue]

Canadians mount flags far less frequently than Americans do, especially on private homes.

There are neighbourhoods where nearly every single house has a flagpole with the American flag in it. In my ~4km x 4km area where I walk my dog regularly, I can think of one house that has a Canadian flag—and that’s the Kwakwaka’wakw design (https://www.canadiannativeflag.ca).

There are occasional flag decals, but many of them are also Pride variants of the Canadian flag.

I see more Canadian flag decals on businesses (but usually in a group of decals, including pride flag decals, city decals, etc.) or maple leaf accents to business logos, in part because there is some signalling going on that "we are a Canadian-owned business" (even if it isn’t really true anymore, like Tim Hortons). I rarely see Canadian businesses flying a flag or mounting a flag in store.

Canadians often have Canadian flag patches or decals on luggage &c. when travelling so that it’s a signal that ”we aren’t American” because we often get confused with Americans and treated poorly because the Ugly American Tourist stereotype exists, with reason.

There’s likely to be a bit of a drop in flag flying because the signals have been sent by Canada’s white nationalists that the flag is theirs given their raucous and obnoxious displays in Coutts and Ottawa, which has left an even bigger distaste for overt nationalistic displays than Canadians usually show. (We are proud of being Canadian, but we’re not obnoxiously patriotic most of the time, and we are mostly disdainful of outright nationalists.)

There’s one other point: it is seen as downright unAmerican for a politician to not be wearing an American flag pin on their lapel. The Canadian equivalent is not wearing one of those crappy disposable Legion poppies in early November (we’ve seriously had politicians called out for wearing an enamelled poppy).

[scarecrowbob]

Most of the folks I know flying confederate flags think the same thing about that flag.

Personally, I care less about what I mean when I write and more about how people might read my writing.