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[–] Tythetyrant 0 points 3 points (+3|-0) ago  (edited ago)

I no way shape or form am I trying to convince anyone that I am correct. I know that I am probably wrong, but as a southerner this is my honest feelings, and if we are going to have a serious discussion you should to understand where the other side is coming from.

Normally I never ever weigh in on these kinds of discussion but I think that enough time is passed so that I can explain what my feelings are about the flag without being drowned out. I'm a southern I was born, grew up and still live in Tennessee. I have college degree from a highly ranked, and large university, not some bullshit community college. I say that only so you know that this opinion is not coming from some guy living in a trailer, that is married to his cousin. That's my neighbors, just kidding. When I was growing up the flag never represented hate to me. Although I totally understand why most people think that it does. Most people didn't fly the flag but those that did were not looked down upon in my community. What Northerners need to understand is that if you don't grow up in the South around the people, and the culture, it is very difficult, maybe impossible for you to understand all the nuanced feelings about the flag. Mostly because you can never get past the narrow view point that was drilled into your heads during history class in high school. I can describe my point best this way. The "don't tread on me" flag, now associated with the Tea Party is a historical flag that dates back to the American revolution. Way before the tea party, that flag had a totally different meaning then what it does now. When the Tea Party started filling up with crazy religious zealots the flag got associated with them, and that ruined it for me. I was mad because I don't agree with those people but I agree with the original message the flag represented. Over the years the confederate flag has been used for many different causes and represent many different feelings to individuals. Some of them horrible things, but we don't stop flying the American flag because of the trail of tears, or the internment of Japanese Americans in WWII. ( I understand that its not even on the same scale but im trying to make a point so give me some slack, im trying to be honest) We say those things were horrible, we condemn them and keep on moving. For me personally the flag represents rebellion against federal authority and overreach, southern heritage, southern pride, states rights, and an independent spirit. I know that im in the minority and that's fine. For the common southerner (95% percent of southerns never owned slaves) that died on the battlefield, they were fighting their war of independence, not for slavery. Many of those feelings still resonate in a way. I hate that the flag has been associated with the KKK and other racist, those inbred racist fucks are ruining my flag. Many southerns will avoid flying the flag because of those racist groups, including myself. I want to fly it, but i cant because racist people are fucking retarded, and i don't want to have to explain myself ever 5 seconds or be called a racist. So I fly this flag Northerns dont know what it is and southerns usually get what im trying say. It has all the southerness without the stigma.

If South Carolina wants to take the flag down I really don't care, but it should be up to people in South Carolina. They probably should.

The vast overwhelming majority of people that I know and have known that grew up in the south are not racist and have told me that the the flag doesn't represent racism to them. However those southerns that do choose to fly the flag know that many other people think that it does represent racism, they just don't care. They dont bitch or complain like SJW's they just say "fuck them, i dont care" and move on.

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[–] dweazy [S] ago 

I really truly appreciate this response. As a northern it does help me better understand why so many Southerners do still fly that flag. The history major side of me does it make it difficult to understand why it is okay to fly a flag used by legitimate rebels, but I guess that is really neither here nor there.

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[–] Tythetyrant ago 

I know its been a few a days but I thought this video should be added to the debate.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbvDRY0O30E

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[–] Piotr 1 point 0 points (+1|-1) ago 

I appreciate you sharing that opinion as it was very interesting.

After reading your comment, I've come to think that the problem lies in the fact that some people are trying to selectively choose what the flag represents. The Nazi flag may just have been the flag of a country of people most of whom had nothing to do with the Holocaust, but that doesn't mean that it doesn't have an association with hate and genocide. Likewise, I understand the state's rights arguments you presented, but the confederate battle flag is still a reminder of slavery. EVEN IF the flag had nothing to do with slavery, but people still associated it as such - shouldn't you respect the feelings of others enough to not fly it openly (I'm not saying you shouldn't be allowed to fly it, but that you perhaps should choose not to do so).

As for southerners choosing whether or not the flag should fly at state capitols, I don't understand why that should even be an option. You yourself associate the flag with a political stance rather than a representation of any real government entity.