Most countries have a flag. A nation's flag has some kind of symbolism or meaning to it. Oftentimes, the flag is shown in public to show something cultural. Since this is being posted on Nov 12, I had the bright idea to link a national holiday to netizenship.
American flag for Veterans Day (Nov 11) in honor of military personnel. This is an example of nationalism; during this day:
Ceremonies are held at military memorials
Stores run major sales with discounts
Government employees get paid holiday (not always true for private sector)
Notably, during Veterans Day, I notice posts either thanking Veterans or graveyards. Mostly somber imagery. Also, I am neither venerating nor criticizing military service and servicemembers. Actually, this is an impersonal post because I am trying to incorporate the netizenship topic into my PTC629 blog!
A soldier mourning someone who died. Probably someone he knew very personally (like a close friend or family member who died in service). Otherwise, why kneel and mourn?
Notice the iconic U.S. military salute? It's universal across all branches of the U.S. military.
A lot of businesses use social media to market products.
The old jeep style, military warehouse and the "Thank you" are used to advertise Jeep as a pro-Veteran business. The use of hashtags, like #VeteransDay, #itsajeepthing, #jeeplove and #jeepfamily is for marketing purposes. Supposedly, it appears personable.
(I am not endorsing Jeep. Actually, I hate the brand, but that is a different post).
In social media, I noticed posts about veterans who had passed away (usually about family members and close friends). As per the NY Times White Paper, it is either for connecting, altruism or boomerang. Common words were:
missing
love
respect
admire
sad
hope
honor
service
proud/pride
flag
day
brave
I also noticed posts by current servicemembers who pridefully post about their military service online. For OPSEC reasons, I believe this is very inappropriate, but I will not go into that issue here. A lot of these hedonistic posts will show them drinking and partying with their military friends or thanking their best military friend who hasn't done anything while in service. I respect peoples' decisions to join and serve in the armed forces. However, such posts are clearly for hipster purposes. The poster just wanted attention, like a special (and UNDESERVED) "Thank you" for being the 1% who serve in the U.S. military (or whatever the statistic currently is). In addition, the hipster servicemember wanted to feel like they have obtained "military netizenship".
Basically, "military netizenship" is when servicemembers (current and past) connect via social media by posting random military posts. Many of which could compromise their location, their status, or (at the very least) looks like adolescent attention-seeking.
Beware: "military netizenship" is useful for nefarious entities. If I was anti-U.S. and knew that Private Joe was in Fort Leonard Wood, MO (via PVT Joe's hipster social media post) I could use that information to compromise him or other servicemembers....
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