The Confederate Flag: A Disturbing Trend?

reply to post by TravisT

Your perception on what side of the states has more racism is laughable

Park one night in Bordentown PA, at either the Pilot or the Petro, and turn on the CB.

Then tell me I'm wrong. The north hides it in dark shadows, but it is still there.

TheRedneck

The Confederate flag has nothing to do with racism. It has to do with the attitude of F..U and F the Government. Few of the participants of the South during the Civil War owned slaves. In todays world slave owners would be the gated neighborhood types who owned the newest E-Class Benz and had a beach house. The majority were simply pissed off Southerners wher grew tierd of Federal medling in every aspect of life and decided it would be easier to pull a trigger than submit to D.C. mandates, Study history some time then condem. Slavery was an excuse..

Originally posted by TheRedneck
reply to post by TravisT

Your perception on what side of the states has more racism is laughable

Park one night in Bordentown PA, at either the Pilot or the Petro, and turn on the CB.

Then tell me I'm wrong. The north hides it in dark shadows, but it is still there.

TheRedneck

Yes, because we all know that all of the northerners are on our CB radios, and not using newer technology like a cell phone. Sounds more like a cultural thing for truckers, not necessarily a "north vs south" aspect. I'm not saying the north is perfect by any means, but to say the south is better is laughable. The cultural diversity hear in the north is much more apparent, and therefore, more accepting of others, because really, we have to be, cause we're all stuck on the same trains, buses, sidewalks, shops, restaurants, etc. Trust me, if racism was as "loud and widespread" in the north like you say, it would be a huge issue, but it's not.

reply to post by TheRedneck


Not really arguing the possibility that all parts of the country are equally racist, but the cb thing wouldn't prove much as the truckers using the cb radios are likely from completely different parts of the country and could very well be southerners driving in the area..

Originally posted by axslinger
I have one in the shape of an eagle tattooed on my shoulder. For me it represents Southern Rock, which I have followed since a teenager. Like it or not, the south had their own flag before the civil war; the flag represents the south not an ideology. People need to get over it and stop reading into things. Really, if I were that overly sensitive I think I'd just throw myself off a bridge.

Another one of my buddies has the stars and bars tattooed in the shape of Texas on his arm. And he is racist. But he has no problem being racist around plenty of black folks, including his roommate. I once heard him arguing with a girl about why he wasn't attracted to her. The excuse, "because you're black" just didn't sink in to her. She couldn't comprehend that a girl as pretty as herself would be entirely unattractive to someone just because she was black.

He is almost always found in mixed crowds, and he never has any problem, even when he speaks very bluntly.

The racism that is dangerous is the racism that isn't blunt. The racism behind closed doors, and in the shadows as TheRedneck talks about.

I saw a fat white women in Whataburger today, and she was talking entirely black. The (all black) staff behind the counter was appalled by her, and they tried to be nice, but eventually it got way to annoying, and they had to ask her to step away from the counter.

She was white, but she was the biggest (insert colorful language here) in the room, and the black folks knew it just as much as the white folks knew it. All of the folks here that think there is racism in the South, but at the same time think there are dangerous black neighborhoods where they live, should really immerse themselves into the situation instead of taking potshots from the sidelines. I can just about guarantee that most people in the North don't have a clue what the hell they are talking about.

As a person born outside the USA, can I make this observation without causing controversy?

The American civil war killed millions, the loser the south ....was forced to join the USA?

So why shouldn't there be a fair proportion of Southerners who see themselves living in occupied territory?

Like the Irish in Ireland, the Palestinians in Israel, ?
Fly the flag you belong to in your heart?
We have foreign people living in the west who still cheer their home counrty over their new country, so why not the South?....A land taken by gunpoint?

reply to post by blupblup


I agree with most of the things you said but heres a little history on the swastica
I dont the the rebel flag has anything at all to do with rascism thats what the racist want you to believe they tend to turn the true meanings of symbols into what they want them to be for their personal gratification or adgenda kinda like hitler did!!
Heres a link for all the peeps anyone else got links that prove otherwise please do

www.newsfinder.org...

reply to post by Dr Expired


I believe a lot of Southerners feel that is what they are doing. The reason that racism is brought in is because when the history books are written the government of course had to make people despise the rebels. You don't want people sympathizing with rebels so the textbooks say they were fighting pretty much only to keep slaves (which is ridiculous) and that they are all racists. That has had the affect of making most people dislike them thinking they are racists, and also making actual racists cling to that flag as both of those groups were taught it was about racism and slavery.

Originally posted by poet1b
reply to post by The Old American

 

I am out of time for this subject, so I will leave by saying that I did not state that Lincoln, or the Northern states which opposed slavery, did not have their prejudices. Nowhere did I say the North was perfect.

I pointed out that the civil war was about slavery, and your quotes only serve prove my original point.

And I have to add that the South was no better than the North, nor any less guilty of supposed crimes against humanity. Those who insist differently need to let it go, and start embracing the truth, to allow the healing to begin.

edit on 17-9-2011 by poet1b because: add last statement

My quotes show that the debates were about slavery. The debates had nothing to do with the War as they occurred 2 years prior to the War beginning.

/TOA

reply to post by GogoVicMorrow

Southerners don't have New York or Boston accents.

You can also hear the same thing driving I-95 north from there, all the way into Maine. A lot of these guys are in local trucks - day-cabs - or drive for New England firms.

You can drive all over the South and never hear language like that.

But hey, don't believe me. I'm a redneck. See, that's the beauty of racism... you can easily dismiss observations of others because, well, they're just not like you.

TheRedneck

Wow I never have seen the flag around town but then again I do live in Ohio but this state has just as much racial tension as the others. Race continues to be an issue and it will til the end of time.

reply to post by TravisT

Yes, because we all know that all of the northerners are on our CB radios, and not using newer technology like a cell phone. Sounds more like a cultural thing for truckers...

Oh, sorry. You're right. It can't be your culture that has the problem; it has to be... let's see... those darn Southerners! Yeah, flying their rebel flags all over the place! They're responsible! They caused it all! Er... wait... no, it's not just them; it's the truckers too! Yeah, the truckers! And I'll bet they're from the South and they fly those racist rebel flags and probably try to run down blacks on the freeway!

Sheesh, man, do you hear yourself?

TheRedneck

Originally posted by reeferman
reply to post by xEphon

 

the Confederate Flag is NOT about racism..

its about FREEDOM....

It's about freedom to be slavers.

Originally posted by RedRebel5
Wow I never have seen the flag around town but then again I do live in Ohio but this state has just as much racial tension as the others. Race continues to be an issue and it will til the end of time.

Chances are you wouldn't see the flag in the north, because the North didn't rally behind the flag. The confederate flag in the north would be like flying the russian or chinese flag in the north. It was the flag of the enemy.

Still, it has nothing to do with racism. Racism in the north is just as bad as the south. Therefore, proof that the flag is not a sign of racism, but instead is a sign of the independent southern spirit that lived on after the civil war.

Racism requires no flag.

Originally posted by MissingRonnieR
The Confederate flag has nothing to do with racism. It has to do with the attitude of F..U and F the Government. Few of the participants of the South during the Civil War owned slaves. In todays world slave owners would be the gated neighborhood types who owned the newest E-Class Benz and had a beach house. The majority were simply pissed off Southerners wher grew tierd of Federal medling in every aspect of life and decided it would be easier to pull a trigger than submit to D.C. mandates, Study history some time then condem. Slavery was an excuse..

This is historically false. The states pushing for secession and war were quite explicit about their reasons and cited them in resolutions, on the record. The ability to maintain slavery was front and center. There was no other reason as divisive to cause war.

Everybody at the time knew what it was about. It was later in the 1890's or so that the revisionists attempted, quite successfully, apparently, to alter the perceptions of historical facts about the Civil War to make the South seem like aggrieved victims instead of stubborn pro-slavery bigots.

The 'majority' of supposedly pissed off Southerners obviously excluded the substantial population of slaves who were unable to vote, and yet whose numbers and labor contributed to the south's wealth and political representation.

OK... let's pretend that 100% of the people who decide to fly a confederate flag are absolute raging, black-hating racists... SO WHAT?!?!?!?! Are they NOT entitled to their own opinions, even if you disagree with them? Is there really a difference between ranking people based on race, ranking female attractiveness based on weight, or ranking icecreams based on flavor? It all boils down to personal value based judgments and preferences. If you think someone is a pig because he only wants to date skinny chicks, don't date him...if you think someone is a moron because they prefer strawberry icecream over vanilla (although YOU KNOW that all icecreams are perfectly equal in every way) then don't have him over for desert...

I was thinking about this today when I saw a bumper sticker that said "My Flag is Not Offensive."

Well, of course it is to some people. It is an enemy flag, it does remind people of slavery, but for some people it means "the South" and to others it's just a cool design.

Obviously, it's a 1st Amendment right to fly it or wear it or whatever. It's just insensitive, bordering on bad taste.

I'm reminded of an employee who used the term "fudge-monkeys" instead of F***. One of my black employees found it offensive, because she insisted it referred to black people. It didn't, of course, but the mistake was understandable and, to her, offensive. I asked the other to refrain, not out of censorship but out of courteousness.

Courtesy goes a long way...

Originally posted by blupblup
It's like any symbol I guess... It's the connotations that go with it.

The Swastika wasn't a racist symbol and is an old Hindu symbol.... The Iron Cross, Celtic Crosses.... all manner of things are used and have been hijacked by racist and white power groups and often get mistaken for something sinister.

I don't know man.


Is the Confederate flag relevant now?

Are people trying to take it back to it's original meaning?

Or is it just a subtle racist trend on the rise?


We'll see I guess

The swastika, called a "sunwheel", is actually a runic symbol. norse background. the nazi's used runes for many of their symbols. the "S" used in the "SS" symbol is a rune called "sowilo". these runes have occult meanings, rooted in norse mythology, and the nazi's were heavily into the occult.

Originally posted by getreadyalready

Racism in the north is just as bad as the south. Therefore, proof that the flag is not a sign of racism, but instead is a sign of the independent southern spirit that lived on after the civil war.

Racism requires no flag.

Truth.

When the Underground Railroad funneled runaway slaves to the north and into Canada, George Washington wasn't all that pleased:

An organized system to assist runaway slaves seems to have begun towards the end of the 18th century. In 1786 George Washington complained about how one of his runaway slaves was helped by a "society of Quakers, formed for such purposes."

Quite strange, though, because in retrospect, Canada had a lively program dedicated to dispersing the native peoples to reservations and destroying their cultures. That program was still alive and at work well into the 20th century.

I suppose no-one likes to call that racism either.

Originally posted by mbkennel

Originally posted by reeferman
reply to post by xEphon

 

the Confederate Flag is NOT about racism..

its about FREEDOM....

It's about freedom to be slavers.

Didn't George Washington have slaves?

en.wikipedia.org...