I know people in the West are socialised to think that propaganda is something Other People do (preferably ones that can be thought of as Bad) but I'm afraid I have to inform you that displaying political symbols (such as flags) _is_ part of spreading propaganda. Why exactly do you think that there is an entire etiquette surrounding the proper display of a flag, or that flying particular flags has been variously criminalised around the world (such as flags associated with socialism/

At best you can say that one is simply being an unwitting vehicle of propaganda, but to claim that the public display of such a strong political symbol as a flag is not intended to spread and reinforce what it represents is just absurd.

> I'm afraid I have to inform you that displaying political symbols (such as flags) _is_ part of spreading propaganda.

While propaganda requires displaying symbols, displaying symbols does not necessarily entail propaganda. The entailment is simply not bidirectional, ie. surgery requires a scalpel, but cutting my steak with a scalpel does not make it surgery.

> At best you can say that one is simply being an unwitting vehicle of propaganda, but to claim that the public display of such a strong political symbol as a flag is not intended to spread and reinforce what it represents is just absurd.

No it's not. Someone who grew up on the Dukes of Hazzard maybe just really loved that car and associates it with great memories of a happy childhood. To call this "being an unwitting vehicle of propaganda" is losing the plot completely.

Is it? Someone displaying a political symbol because it was fed to them without context in a popular media seems like the exact definition of an unwitting vehicle of propaganda.