Identification

I am starting to get a feel that lots of people here identify themselves to the world by brands
- more than just brands of clothing, but stickers on their car, universities on their clothing, key chains, mugs, car licence plate frames, etc. Lots of veterans have caps that record what ships they were on, in what war, and I see quite a lot of "Navy mom" or "Proud Parent of XX school honor student". And of course, there is the ring thing - rings that say you've graduated from the Naval academy, rings that say you won the football, rings that say you're married to someone who graduated from the Naval academy, etc. I'm assuming its some sort of club identification or subtle (and not subtle) preening.