College professor calls American flag a source of anxiety, fear: 'Patriotism quickly slips into nationalism'

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Douglas Murray on professor calling US flag a source of anxiety: ‘These people are trying to divide us’

Fox News contributor Douglas Murray reacts to a Marquette University associate philosophy professor claiming the U.S. flag makes him ‘anxious.’

A Wisconsin college professor is facing backlash for voicing his discomfort with the American flag, arguing the symbol is a source of anxiety for "non-White people."

Dr. Grant Silva, an associate philosophy professor at Marquette University, made the comment during an interview on Flag Day. He explained, "I get a little bit anxious around the excessive imagery of the flag, in part because in my experience, patriotism quickly slips into nationalism."

"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?," he continued. "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."

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Three Oaks claims its Flag Day parade is the largest in America, this year boasting 126 bands, floats and other participating groups, including local farmers. (Three Oaks Flag Day Parade/Bill Bielby)

Fox News contributor Douglas Murray called the interview "extraordinary" while noting Silva's identity as a Mexican American.

"He, I'm sure, knows that if you go to Mexico, you see quite a lot of Mexican flags. If you go to Britain, you see quite a lot of British flags. There's nothing unusual about that," Murray said on "Fox & Friends" Wednesday. "So talking about his sort of experience of feeling alienated by it, once again it’s extraordinary narcissism you see in our age."

"The problem might be you. It might not be America, might not be the American flag."

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Murray went on to argue that critics are often celebrated for voicing complains about America, adding the reporter who conducted the interview with Silva remarked she felt "unsafe" as a Black American. 

"These people sort of whip themselves up – these extraordinarily narcissistic, self-obsessed people whip themselves up and reward each other for saying these untruths," Murray said.

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American flags are seen in field. (Katie Muir Stankiewicz/Exchange Club of Mooresville and Lake Norman)

But America, Murray believes, provides opportunity for many around the world. 

"America remains the number one destination for migrants worldwide. Number one, by a long way. And it's been like that for a very long time," Murray told host Ainsley Earhardt.

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"People fought for this flag. They died for this flag. They came to this country for this flag. The flag is a unifier of the nation," Murray explained. "These people are trying to divide us."