Some people are offended by the confederate flag and say it shows that you are a supporter of slavery and don't like African-Americans, etc. . Well, that's nonsense. It is part of American history and it is a symbol of that history and therefore I do not have a problem displaying that flag or wearing that symbol. To remove the confederate flag is to remove part of history. Simple as that.
45 comments
Yes, it's to remove a part of American History. The one which saw slavery as natural, which pretended to divide people into two countries, one parasite of the other, and which enabled a kind of political apartheid a la South African. To put it is to remove part of American history too. The one of a nation which has a wall of separation between religion and state, who enables you to vote and treats you as a human being despite your race. Something you seem not to remember.
What's amusing is when people with the Confederate flag on their things (I've seen it on hats, mugs, shirts, license plates, etc.) tell me that I'm unamerican for some reason or another. I just love pointing out that they're the ones celebrating the time half the nation attempted armed secession.
Some people are offended by the swastika and say it shows that you are a supporter of antisemitism and don't like Jews, etc. . Well, that's nonsense. It is part of German history and it is a symbol of that history and therefore I do not have a problem displaying that symbol. To remove the swastika is to remove part of history. Simple as that.
As a lifelong Southerner I'm very conflicted about this issue. I'm all for free expression; wear a star's'bars shirt if you want to, but don't bitch at me if I judge you by it because the last 27 people I met who wore that shirt were racists. (I'm not kidding--the vast majority of the "heritage not hate" crowd I've met were all about the hate.)
Look, folks, many who wear the Confederate battle flag as a symbol are racists. Many others who wear it aren't. But it represents brave men -- brave American men -- who were fighting for their homeland. I'm inclined to doubt that there were many slaveholders among Confederate enlisted men, or that their primary motive was to preserve that institution. For what it's worth I was born in the north and lived there almost my entire life. Let's chalk one up for Mandy.
Not fundie, I know plenty of southern people who feel that the confederate flag is an important part of who they are as southerners, and they abhor racists. I also know plenty of people trying to detach the swastika from the nazi party, while we're on the subject.
Mandy, feel free to hang the flag outside your house or where it on your chest, but because it is a symbol of insurrection against the lawful government of the US, I think the US Army should show up and have a little talk with you.
Actually, it isn't a symbol of US history. It's a symbol of the now-defunct country The Confederates States of America. By the same logic, we should be waving the Canadian flag in the US because it's part of the Americas. The Confederacy included land that was once and is now part of the US, but the flag symbolizes separation from the US, not inclusion.
People do have freedom of choice, but because the flag was a symbol of the South seceding from the North, I really don't think it belongs on state buidings, either. Also, yes, the Confederates were fighting for what they saw as their country, for states' rights, but those included /the right to have slaves./ If you will forgive the comparison, it would be like fundie Muslims fighting for the right to treat women like cattle because it's part of their way of life.
This is a perfectly legitimate viewpoint and not at all fundy (in itself). I--a Massachusetts liberal--take a somewhat wider view that, because slavery was really an American problem, something that the North supported even when they didn't actively participate, to call a distinctly Southern flag inherently racist because of it's connections to slavery is little more than a cop-out for the North.
The North returned runaway slaves and benefited from their enslavement, but kept its hands clean by declaring itself "free." Bull. And its bull when we do it today, too. <i>America</i> committed the atrocity of slavery, not just the South, and <i>America</i> continues to be racist today. North and south have different styles, true, but it is not a "Southern" vice and never was.
The comparisons to the swastika are laughable. Most of you say not to generalize groups and peoples, then turn right around and do it yourself whith thigs like this. Yes, much of the south was pro-slavery, but that flag was about state rights, not slavery, and there were and are many, many southerners that are anti-slavery. That flag is part of the southern heritage, and has just about as much to do with slavery as the british flag has to do with lollipops.
Considering this is a primarily atheist site, you're all not half hypocrites... If you find this to be racist or fundy you're generalizing just like the "OMG Teh atheists love teh murdering kids" types. He's clearly stated he doesn't believe in racism, he's speaking out to the generalisation.
& comparing this to the Nazi's or the KKK is miles off. May as well compare the french flag to the canadian one.
However, in some respects you're right, if you see 30 people with this type of gear & 1 of them turns out to do it for a different reason then it's hard to segregate it on first glance. But it doesn't make this post any more or less valid.
They-uns need them they confederate flags, and the Jeff Davis money, too - 'cause the Wawa ain't ovah.
Yet . . .
Oh, the Nawth is ahead a tad bit rat now - but Ol' Dixie will rise agin. Then ALL the state cap buildins'll have them.
To paraphrase Redd Foxx; I wouldn't go down south to get my mother out of jail. I'll send her bus fare, but damn if I'm going.
I don't think the confederate flag represents racism as a lot of liberal southerners are proud to fly it. It's a regional flag these days and legit.
It's just too bad some racist, redneck, inbreed, uneducated, klanish, sexist bastards associate themselves with it.
so did the dukes of hazzard, and that car looks naked without it
Then we should allow people to keep some ducking stools in Massachusetts, too. After all, the Salem Witch Trials are a part of history, too...doofus.
This isn't bad. Originally all it stood for was the confederacy, but today it's more of a southern pride symbol. This quote isn't bad at all, aside for the fact that this guy's wearing it for historical reasons, which is kind of weird, but not racist, and definately not fundie.
The thing about many things which are parts of history is that we have since STOPPED doing them, as they were deemed stupid, mean, inefficient or hurtful.
You can't remove parts of history (not that recent, at least), it's there for us to learn from. But you don't have to brag about stupid things from the past, do you? You don't see Germany displaying the Swastika or the Star of David that often, do you?
Confused?
So were we! You can find all of this, and more, on Fundies Say the Darndest Things!
To post a comment, you'll need to Sign in or Register . Making an account also allows you to claim credit for submitting quotes, and to vote on quotes and comments. You don't even need to give us your email address.
