What does the Confederate Flag mean to you?

[opebo]

It simply means Racism.. so both option one and option two. 

By the way the other day I was out scouting properties for the family and I accidentally drove up a poor pocket - a hollow full of shacks and double wides (there are a lot of those still left among the new high end developments in the suburbs here.)  Anyway I saw a mobile home with a huge confederate flag flying above it.  Who knows what the intent of the owner was, though hatred was very likely a part of the message he wished to send.  Naturally my skin crawled.

[opebo]

It simply means Racism.. so both option one and option two. 

By the way the other day I was out scouting properties for the family and I accidentally drove up a poor pocket - a hollow full of shacks and double wides (there are a lot of those still left among the new high end developments in the suburbs here.)  Anyway I saw a mobile home with a huge confederate flag flying above it.  Who knows what the intent of the owner was, though hatred was very likely a part of the message he wished to send.  Naturally my skin crawled.

you need to get out more. next time you see one try and talk to them and you will realize that they are just like you.

The people to fear are the people that run away from alchohol or refuse to go into a sex shop. you can talk to them but they live in world that resembels the 19th century.

I agree that those people are even worse, missCatholic, though these are two groups that largely overlap.  I have been advocating on this board that they be fed to lions for many months now.

[opebo]

Racism.  It is a flag for heritage, but a heritage that thought slavery & racism was fine

To be objective, the U.S. flag would also stand for racism under that logic. After all, the American heritage involves racism, slavery, discrimination against immigrants, and so on; these were not exclusive to the South.

The U.S. flag does in fact stand for racism, as well as fascism, genocide, imperialism, and subjugation of the poor.  My skin crawls around that one as well, but less so as one sees it so much more often.

Of course to be fair I hate the idea of flags in general.

[opebo]

My extensive study of the history of the issue has led me, without a doubt, to see it as a symbol of racism and hatred.  This is not to say that there are those who are proud of it without seeing it this way, but I feel that they are misguided in being selective in their views of history.

I'd ask for a refund on your history education in that case. Someone ripped you off.

No, he's completely correct, StatesRights - in fact that is why you and your fellow Southerners are so fond of the rag:  you're still just as racist and hate-filled as ever. 

[opebo]

My extensive study of the history of the issue has led me, without a doubt, to see it as a symbol of racism and hatred.  This is not to say that there are those who are proud of it without seeing it this way, but I feel that they are misguided in being selective in their views of history.

I'd ask for a refund on your history education in that case. Someone ripped you off.

Yes, you're completely correct, StatesRights - in fact that is why you and your fellow Southerners are so fond of the rag: you're not racist and hate-filled at all. 

Indeed.

You like the black?  How about if your daughter brought one home?

And the gay?  Are you fond of the gay?  Maybe the other daughter likes the ladies?

[opebo]

Ignorance, racism, bigotry, hatred, slavery, white supremacy, segregation, rednecks, illiteracy, Jim Crow, immorality, gilder, philistinism...

Funny,  I think some of the same things upon seeing  Old Glory.  Ignorance, apparently knows no boundaries.  Oh, wait, it *IS* more prevalent among those who are supposedly more educated than anyone else.

No, 'old glory' means pretty much the same awful things as the confederate flag means - Racism, genocide, intolerance, etc.

[opebo]

To say that the Confederate flag is on par with the Nazi swastika is completely bogus.

namely because the latter was the official symbol of a legitimate and recognized government, while the former was the symbol of a failed rebellion against my country.

still, I agree largely with you.  when I see folks, whether in California or Mississippi or anywhere else, with their battle flag I always get the impression that it's a matter of great pride to them that their ancestors battled against the Great Satan.  Though they are often shat-upon and derided, those hicks recognized the US imperialism and over-reaching long before anti-USA sentiment became fashionable in most of the world.  Let's not forget that.  Problem is, Uncle Sam is my uncle.  And this is probably true of most forumites.  (except those foreigners who post here.  And those hardcore rebels still fighting the US Civil War)  And we yanks don't take too kindly to folks bashing our country.  Especially those who have actually waged war against it.  So Al Quaeda, the Nazis, and the Confederate States of America are a hard sell to true American patriots.  Know what I mean?

Some of us are neither foreigners nor Southerners, and yet we do not share your assinine patriotism, angus.  One can simultaneously dislike both the US and the 'confederacy' - there is only a subtle difference in character anyway.

[opebo]

It's a proud emblem of Southern heritage.

[opebo]

I'm sure way back when I voted 'slavery, etc', and probably commented as such, but looking at it now, and remembering how I actually felt when I did see (rarely) in Missouri - I always felt 'oh, white trash here, and particularly dangerous ones... avoid'.  I remember the last time I saw the offensive thing was on a trailer up a dead end road in a floodplain.