A forum for discussion of regional topics including oil depletion but also government, society, and the future.
by Sixstrings » Sat 27 Jun 2015, 03:52:36
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('pstarr', 'I')f you bothered to follow this story you would know that the confederate flag had basically died 100 years ago, after reconstruction, and was only resurrected in the late 1950's and '60's. It resurfaced in response to the Civil Rights Movement, meant to trick and terrify integrationists and their good works.
I already made that same point, upthread. I know all of that pstarr, I know American history very well.
My state took it down from the capitol back in the 90s.
What's going too far though is ebay banning things. They have banned confederate flags, but yet still sell nazi swastikas. We're into some off the rails territory here. This is America, we have freedom of speech, Southern culture is a very big thing and it is not just this one crazy KID or David Duke back in the 90s or the horrors of the KKK in the great depression (mostly) and then the civil rights era.
If we want to talk about real responses and measures then it should be background checks on guns, and also about the voting rights restrictions in some red states, but you can't come after core culture and civil war re-enactors and people talking about pulling up war dead memorials and who knows what is next -- maybe some national parks and heritage sites shut down, other historical sites losing funding, etc. That's not the answer.
That's what my concern is here. You have to realize the South does have a culture and it is not all racists, ok?
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')he argument that the flag represented States Rights was/is pure hogwash.
They were different times. People were from their STATE, identified that way, and then north vs. south, moreso than "American." We were a younger country. It's just how it was, if "Virginia" went to war, that meant Robert E. Lee had to be with Virginia.
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')hat was also made during the Civil Rights era.
The flag was/is about slavery--plain and simple. No, it's not. Look I don't have a rebel flag and I don't want one, but neither do I want to be made to feel guilty because I see the good and not just the bad in our American history, ok?
Pstarr, do you really think Robert E. Lee was an evil man, or something?
What's your opinion on Thomas Jefferson? President Andrew Jackson?
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'I') knew you were a warmonger, but had no idea you were a closet racist also.
I'm concerned historical sites may get shut down and that monuments are going to get pulled up. What do you think about that.
What about these civil war re-enactments. Is that unacceptable now, as well?
I think I'd like to hear how other Southerners feel, about this.
* I'm in 100% agreement on taking the confederate flag down from government public places, I think monuments and historical sites may be a different matter -- we have several old forts in my state that actually fly every flag that's ever flown over it, including the union jack and Spanish flag.
Maybe historical sites and museums would be different, and memorials. Whenever i've seen this flag, it's always flown next to the stars and stripes.
* I consistently speak out about the voting rights situation, if someone wants an issue then go after that but not civil war re-enactors.
Anyhow I'd rather hear what other Southerners think about this. Honestly I have never thought of racism when I see that flag, we've had the New South since the 1970s for goodness sake, the whole history is always presented. A flag represents culture and history it's not just the bad things, pstarr.
(guys look, all I'm talking about are the kind of people that do civil war re-enactments. If you know anything about these kinds of people, they are not "kkk" or racists or white supremacists.
Things seem to be fine in my community, there was an article about our confederate memorial and the NAACP chairman interviewed said it's not offensive. So it looks like we don't have a problem. Look folks we've got CONQUISTADOR historical sites as well, ok? Those were seriously bad dudes, ok?!
In recent years they added sections about native americans, AND THAT IS HOW IT SHOULD BE handled.
It's history, folks. There is good and there is bad to it, and lessons to be learned.)