Monday, November 14, 2005
Got gas...
Today I got gas as a local gas station. Next to me was a nice new red pick-up truck with the confederate flag on the back window. Next to him was a Pepsi truck, with an African-American man unloading soda into the station.
It bothered me.
I didn't take the opportunity to talk to either man. But I wondered what their thoughts were as they sat next to each other in the parking lot.
I may be wrong...and correct me if I am...but the confederate flag is a symbol of the Old South which embraced slavery. Why promote slavery. Why wave a flag of racism?
Unfortunately racism is still a part of our culture....on both sides of the hue. We've come a long way in the last 50 years, but we still have a ways to go. And promoting the confederate flag won't help the cause.
By the way, i have to wonder why people who love the confederate flag are not flying the American flag. Is their love of the Old South greater than their patriotism for our nation.
Anyway, symbols....more powerful than you think.
It bothered me.
I didn't take the opportunity to talk to either man. But I wondered what their thoughts were as they sat next to each other in the parking lot.
I may be wrong...and correct me if I am...but the confederate flag is a symbol of the Old South which embraced slavery. Why promote slavery. Why wave a flag of racism?
Unfortunately racism is still a part of our culture....on both sides of the hue. We've come a long way in the last 50 years, but we still have a ways to go. And promoting the confederate flag won't help the cause.
By the way, i have to wonder why people who love the confederate flag are not flying the American flag. Is their love of the Old South greater than their patriotism for our nation.
Anyway, symbols....more powerful than you think.
Comments:
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I think that your perception of the Confederate Flag is a little different because of where you are from. In many places in the South, it in not a symbol of racism. It is instead a symbol of independance. Sure, the South lost the Civil War, but they stood for more than just the right to own slaves. The main cause of the Civil War wasn't slavery. It was the federal government imposing its will on the states. (Does this remind you of anything? Perhaps, Roe v. Wade)
During the Crusades, the Christian armies fought under a flag that had a cross on it. If this same logic that you are using to denounce the Confederate flag was used, we wouldn't use the cross anymore. We might just decide that in order not to offend Muslims or Jews who were brutally killed and trotured under that flag, we should just avoid using a cross as a Christian symbol.
Symbols and the ideas attached to them vary from place to place and time to time. The Confederate Flag reminds many proud Southerners that we stood for what we thought was right. We may have lost, but we stood for what we believed was right. Can their courage and fortitude not also be remembered? Or, must we throw away the symbol and pretend that the Civil War never happened?
*Just as a disclaimer, I do not now, nor have I have flown a Confederate Flag. My heritage is not from one of those states of the Confederacy. I am just pointing out that it's just a symbol. Also, I am perhaps playing a little bit of the Devil's Advocate.
During the Crusades, the Christian armies fought under a flag that had a cross on it. If this same logic that you are using to denounce the Confederate flag was used, we wouldn't use the cross anymore. We might just decide that in order not to offend Muslims or Jews who were brutally killed and trotured under that flag, we should just avoid using a cross as a Christian symbol.
Symbols and the ideas attached to them vary from place to place and time to time. The Confederate Flag reminds many proud Southerners that we stood for what we thought was right. We may have lost, but we stood for what we believed was right. Can their courage and fortitude not also be remembered? Or, must we throw away the symbol and pretend that the Civil War never happened?
*Just as a disclaimer, I do not now, nor have I have flown a Confederate Flag. My heritage is not from one of those states of the Confederacy. I am just pointing out that it's just a symbol. Also, I am perhaps playing a little bit of the Devil's Advocate.
# posted by 
: 8:18 AM
: 8:18 AM
IT'S TRUE. CONTRARY TO POPULAR BELIEF THE CIVIL WAR WAS A LOT LESS ABOUT SLAVERY THAN PEOPLE THINK. IT WAS ABOUT LESS FEDERAL GOVT AND MORE STATES' RIGHTS (A VERY REPUBLICAN IDEAL) - IF I REMEMBER MY AMERICAN HISTORY CORRECTLY, SLAVERY BECAME THE PODIUM FOR LINCOLN IN ORDER TO PROMOTE THE UNION TO FIGHT. SLAVERY WAS ONE OF THE MANY ASPECTS THAT SOUTHERNERS WANTED THE STATES' LOCAL GOVERMENTS TO DECIDE. ALTHOUGH, I'M SURE NOT EVERYONE WHO FLIES THE CONFEDERATE FLAG KNOWS THIS, AND DOES IT BASED ON THE SLAVERY MISCONCEPTION WHICH IS SAD.
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# posted by : 10:00 AM
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