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I am getting SO tired of hearing that displaying the Confederate Flag is racist. I am an 18 year old black northerner from Philadelphia, and I believe that the Confederate Flag is just a show of Southern pride. I do not get intimidated, nor do I shout "racism" when I see one or somebody displaying one. There may be some racists who use the flag to promote their own racist agenda, but that does NOT mean that the flag itself is a racist flag. The only thing that those aforementioned racists are doing is diminishing the historical value of that flag, which is more about rebellion than racism.
First of all, are you kidding me? Malcolm X was totally racist! He said that white people were "devils", and that black people need to go back to Africa to create a separate state for blacks. He recanted much of this later on in his life before his assassination, but what he said was very much racist.
Also, WHO CARES if it offends someone else? I am getting tired of the PC society that we live in today. We are so afraid of offending someone else that we create new terms. For example, how did "illegal alien" get morphed first into "nonresident alien" to "dreamer"? Neither term takes away from the fact that they should not be in this country, but we are so afraid of offending the illegals that we create new terms to dance around the old ones.
Hmm, you are pretty young. You might want to talk to someone about your grandparents' age who might have a very different take on this, who lived through the Jim Crow era.
This issue, as well as many other issues pertaining to the war of Northern Aggression, or Lincoln's War, or the War to Prevent Southern Independence, pick your title, have been debated and explained here before. Many, many times. After a rather quick perusal of the thread, it appears that my northern cousin from Philadelphia has the most intelligent insight.
African slaves were delivered to the shores of the US on ships flying the stars and stripes, NOT the stars and bars. Yes, folks, slavery was also alive and well in the northern states during this time. In fact, among the last states to apply the 13th amendment was Rhode Island. The Emancipation Proclomation did nothing to free anyone. Unfortunately for Bubby, the technicalities are how laws are judged. The war was started to end secession. Secession was brought on by the moral usurpation of the rights of the southern states. I don't have time to teach the entire lesson today, so I encourage all y'all to do some research of the Tom DiLorenzo kind, not the Doris Kearns Goodwin type.
If secession was illegal and unconstitutional, the how was the US born? Slightly off topic, but very important as it relates to the topic.
Honestly, most of my redneck cousins down here have less that considerable knowledge on the subject. They fly the flag because they love that it pisses you off. They are all terrified that Bloomberg will move south and make the entire region a designated victim zone. Fly your flag, I say, no matter which one it is. If I will be forced to tolerate the rainbow flag, the mexican flag, or any flag of offense to me, then why can't you suck it up and endure the devastating effects of glancing at my stars and bars?
Meh, I think you are right and like your insight into the issue.
Do you have any additional resources on this because you are one of the only people on here seeming to make sense of the gray issue.
I believe we are all biased because we live in the country that ''granted our freedoms'' because that's how we are born. When you look at it from a different perspective, we terrorized British citizens (tar and feather) and commuted treason/felonies to get where we are today. Would be a good topic to start, but yeah I can see why it's so difficult to talk about.
Last edited by Oldhag1; 08-06-2014 at 07:24 PM..
Reason: language
I believe we are all biased because we live in the country that ''granted our freedoms'' because that's how we are born. When you look at it from a different perspective, we terrorized British citizens (tar and feather) and commuted treason/felonies to get where we are today. Would be a good topic to start, but yeah I can see why it's so difficult to talk about.
That. And let's face it... you don't know what you don't know. In other words, if I am to understand any issue, I need to dig into all of the history that led up to it. Great conversation here. We'll talk more tomorrow.
The same argument could be made for the swastika--it's actually an ancient peaceful symbol from Nordic (and Hindu, I believe) cultures. The nazis adopted it and turned it into something else entirely. It doesn't really matter how it started, when a symbol is hijacked and widely used to inspire hatred and fear, the original meaning is irrelevant. The fact is, KKK and white supremacy groups used the confederate flag to inspire fear.
There are plenty of ways to honor southern heritage without displaying that flag. I would never, ever use it, simply out of respect for my neighbors and anyone else who understandably sees it for what it has become.
There are plenty of ways to honor southern heritage without displaying that flag. I would never, ever use it, simply out of respect for my neighbors and anyone else who understandably sees it for what it has become.
I see it flying over state capitol buildings and on license plates all the time. It will continue to be an issue for exactly as long as the southern states continue to make it an issue. Can you imagine what the Allies would have said if Bavaria decided to change their state flag to a blue-and-white-checkerboard with a swastika in the middle, just for old times' sake?
I am from Canada and people here will fly the Confederate Flag. White pride neo nazi groups that is. Everybody knows it is offensive except for those with their head in the sand. We all know it stands for slavery and the subordination of black Americans to second class status. Look at the segregationists of the 50's what flag did they ralyl with? The CSA battle flag while the black and white integrationists fighting for freedom and equality flew the US flag. Either way the CSA was an anti-USA movement so when you fly that flag you are representing slavery of blacks and anti-US sentiment. What a bunch of losers who would belittle their own country, the USA, while reaping all of its benefits. Oh and people all around the world know what the CSA was all about. Its no secret to us. Its only a secret to the morons who still buy into the "lost cause" movement 150 years later. Would you fly a Nazi flag and then tell offended Jews that they are actually idiots because he swastika it's just an ancient Indian symbol? I think you know what you are doing.
The bottom line is this: If you know that you are offending huge swaths of the populace why would you keep shoving it in their face? Says something about you and your character.
I am from Canada and people here will fly the Confederate Flag. White pride neo nazi groups that is. Everybody knows it is offensive except for those with their head in the sand. We all know it stands for slavery and the subordination of black Americans to second class status. Look at the segregationists of the 50's what flag did they ralyl with? The CSA battle flag while the black and white integrationists fighting for freedom and equality flew the US flag. Either way the CSA was an anti-USA movement so when you fly that flag you are representing slavery of blacks and anti-US sentiment. What a bunch of losers who would belittle their own country, the USA, while reaping all of its benefits. Oh and people all around the world know what the CSA was all about. Its no secret to us. Its only a secret to the morons who still buy into the "lost cause" movement 150 years later. Would you fly a Nazi flag and then tell offended Jews that they are actually idiots because he swastika it's just an ancient Indian symbol? I think you know what you are doing.
The bottom line is this: If you know that you are offending huge swaths of the populace why would you keep shoving it in their face? Says something about you and your character.
I completely agree with this. It's amazing the amount of people on here who have no problem being offensive to others. They revel in it, they take great pride & joy in it. It certainly does say something about their character, it says that they complete lack any character. Everyone knows what that flag represents, everyone. To suggest otherwise is just showing everyone their complete either ignorance or obvious offensive nature. I would never ever associate with such a person.
To suggest otherwise is just showing everyone their complete either ignorance or obvious offensive nature. I would never ever associate with such a person.
Willful ignorance. Facts Moderator cut: language reality is what these people believe it to be. Earth is 6,000 years old. Moses rode a dinosaur to work. The Confederate flag isn't a symbol of hate. Evolution is a liberal ploy. There is a war on Christmas.
When people quit caring about facts, we end up with a society that has one foot stuck in the middle ages.
And there are also the overt (and covert) racists who believe in what that flag stands for. There are more of them than we would care to admit. And a certain election in 2008 whipped these people into a lather. They're too busy clinging to their guns and religion to see that society is changing.
It's just a flag. It has an interesting, sometimes-toxic history, but it's no where near, say, the Nazi Flag. You can legitimately fly the Stars and Bars without being branded a racist, at least I believe.
I may lose friends by posting this, but this is what I believe.
If you hate slavery and racism, you should not like that flag. Nor any flag that incorporates the confederate flag.
If you are nostalgic for slavery, I do not understand. I addition, the states that succeeded from the United States were i violation of the Constitution.
It should be irradiated. As the Swastika was in Germany.
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