Confederate Flag

[KG's Supra24]

There seems to be a swing of states (surprisingly led by republicans) pulling down their confederate flags. Being in the south, I'm seeing no shortage of opinions but we have people on the board from all over; thought it would be interesting to hear some thoughts .... (and of course a little debate is always fun :) )

Mods, pull it down if it's too far off topic from "off topic"

Go ....

[kaneboats]

Yes, they will all keep raising non-issue issues to keep everyone from looking at what is really going on.

[KG's Supra24]

Yes, they will all keep raising non-issue issues to keep everyone from looking at what is really going on.

I can agree with that .... this 24 hour "news" has become an obvious channel to create tension and divide.

[CookieMonster]

This is going to come off harsh, but understand it's because I'm tired of hearing about it. Just like Kane said, it's a non-issue used to distract us from the important things. Like Rand Paul's push to completely change the federal tax code; head anything about that from the mainstream media? Of course not. Here's my .02: what flag was backing the people who put 120,000 Japanese in internment camps in WWII? (Simply for being of Japanese descent I might add) What about the Jim Crow laws? What about the flag that represents killing innocent civilians in the Middle East with drone strikes? It's just a flag. You can't pick and chose what that flag stands for, you have to accept that every nation has made mistakes and you can't ignore history, although a lot of people try. Back to the Confederate Flag; people seem to think its all about white supremacy and racism. That's a load of bull. The Civil War wasn't about slavery, no matter how much your history books and liberal professors disagree. It was about Lincoln wanting a strong central gov't and the Confederation fighting to keep their individual state's rights, in keeping with The Constitution. The abolition of slavery was a side benefit. Brazil had many more slaves than America, and yet they ended it without a war because people eventual agreed it was immoral and inhumane. Lincoln was not some warrior out to free the slaves, he wanted to send them back to Africa. Don't believe me? Read up on some of his letters and speeches.

One last thing to add, I live in south Louisiana, I don't own a Confederate flag, partly because I feel like the war is long over and it's time to let it go and partly because of the people I see with it tattooed on their arms, on the back of their trucks, etc. I don't want to be grouped in with those people.

Rant over. :-|

[mmandley]

I own a Confederate flag. Claudia hates it. We had a couple chats about it and i said i respect her thoughts and i won't fly it out of mutual respect. But i refuse to get rid of it. I have had it for 30 years and is part of this countries history. I'm not racial, not a white supemist but i do believe in the history of it.

I feel like the debate about this flag is no different then taking the pledge of allegiance out of schools, and no different then allowing people to walk on and burn the American Flag out of their first amendment rights.

Is just a pile of S**t they have thrown out to stink up the area so you can't see the real issues

[blackout_58]

I agree with the bait and switch with mass media, just have to stay on your toes. From my experience growing up in Alabama with a good bit racism and celebrated confederate flags abound, it falls back to perspective. If you have never experienced it first hand or lived around it, the perspective is skewed. I respect history, freedom of speech, the constitution, etc, I just cannot for the life of me understand supporting the losing side....... just my opinion. Either way any disagreement should be handled like professional adults and not children. In other news, anyone wanting to get rid of a wetsounds Bluetooth eq?

[viking]

"bingo" Mike!
And we can pass laws about taking Chito's and soda pop out of school vending machines and blame businesses for people being obese yet we can't get our elected officials to balance the books and figure out how to fix a pension and health care system that they vote themselves exempt from! COME ON AMERICA!!! WTH is going on with common sense in this country. I think it is long gone out the window to never come back? ....................

[Fastest1]

Common sense has never been common.

There was a time when you had to sleep in the bed you made.

Want to be lazy? Not an issue. Go live on the street.

I and or any tax payer owe you nothing, and in most cases wouldn't approve of government techniques to place you back into the workforce. Where is the incentive?

[rdlangston13]

I don't own a confederate flag but I do own two T-shirts that have the flag on it. Both are shirts for the musician Kevin Fowler and I have never heard a racist line out of his mouth or in any of his songs. I think the flag can be meant to signify different things to different people, no different than anything else. I think it is stupid to make Mississippi remove it from its state flag since it is part of their heritage. No idea why the confederate flag is so bad but building satanic monuments on government property is ok. It almost seems as if the people pushing to ban the flag think that if the flag would have been banned that this wacko would not have shot up that church. Seems a little off base to me.

[Fastest1]

The sooner they can erase evidence of slavery, the sooner they can implement it.

[Fastest1]

Nobody is offended except the irritants. They want to control you.

[z28ke]

I'm a southerner with both sides of my family residing here for many generations, including a documented great, great, etc grandfather that fought in the civil war out of the county just a few miles north of where I live. He was injured twice in battle and returned to battle both times and lived a long and prosperous life as a businessman. That's my heritage and I'm proud of it, but I also understand that southern African American heritage stems from slavery, abuse, voting suppression, segregation, and a real fight for civil rights, the latter only removed a couple generations. I can understand that they don't agree with a flag flying over their courthouse, as equal American citizens, that represents a painful part of their heritage no matter how misconstrued it is. People should always have the right to fly whatever flag they want no matter who it offends, but the government should be held to a higher standard when it comes to the people they represent. Just my .02

[BensonWdby]

You can't ban history. It's like burning books. Just plain stupid. However, there have been a lot of US flags since the original 13 stars. We don't fly any of the previous flags at government facilities because the one with one with 50 stars is the current flag - the rest are HISTORY. You can't deny it but you can't live in the past. When Puerto Rico becomes the 51st state - the flag will change again and the flag with 50 stars will be history. The point is that the flag should not be banned because it is what it is - but we don't need to fly it at government buildings - it's history.