Is displaying a Confederate flag similar to displaying a Nazi flag?

[Goldwater]

similar, sure.  Also similar:PRC flag, USSR flag.

The people that fly the PRC flag are usually rich Chinese expats or Chinese student associations with very little understanding of Chinese politics. Very few pro-PRC people actually fly that flag instead of their own banners.

The USSR flag flyers are disproportionately queer, interstate white migrants in larger metros, and addicted to awful vaporware music—probably the worst trend to catch on among the left—and disproportionately nonviolent compared to the general population. Not at all comparable to the real danger of a swastika flyer.

I'll agree that it's probably wise to be more leery of a flyer of a swastika over a flyer of a PRC or USSR flag, but it's still flying the flag of violent, authoritarian racists.

Not the same, but similar.

Not similar at all, the demographics are different and in the American context the USSR flag is an anti-racist symbol.

That's a weird way of spelling "only used by edgy 14 year old communists".

[Goldwater]

The answer is obviously no in most contexts. The confederate flag's intent actually does depend on the context, unlike the Nazi flag which is essentially synonymous with the Holocaust no matter when and where it's used. And I think everyone here knows this too, by the way.

To test that, imagine you're in a parking lot and you see a truck with a confederate flag bumper sticker on it and elsewhere in the lot you see a truck with a swastika bumper sticker. Which one of those guys are you more eager to avoid?

With the confederate flag truck, it very well could belong to a dangerous member of a hate group, but more likely it's just some tone-deaf fat guy who listens to Lynyrd Skynyrd, likes hometown southern country values, thinks he's tougher than he is, and doesn't like being told what to do. But when it comes to the truck with a nazi flag bumper sticker on it, you know with damn near 100% certainty that that guy is crazy and probably dangerous.

Saw a guy with Valknut and Sonnenrad tattoos a few weeks ago. Got the f**k away from him as fast as I could, even though this was in a very public place. Seeing a confederate flag inspires no such reaction.

Being pro-treason and pro-slavery doesn't inspire that reaction?

Come on now, there is no way you seriously believe that everyone who displays a Confederate flag actually supports slavery.