Subject:
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Re: What the Confederate flag stands for. (was Re: Just wh...)
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.debate
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Date:
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Fri, 14 Feb 2003 14:10:16 GMT
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Viewed:
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367 times
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In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Mike Petrucelli writes:
> In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Wayne McCaul writes:
> > You know, I never understood the Confederate flag's ability to still fly in
> > any official capacity.
> >
> > I mean, race-issue aside, isn't it the symbol of a treason nation? A
> > rebellion that was put down? Why wasn't it outlawed at the end of the Civil
> > War? (Seriously, I'm curious about that last one).
>
> Contrary to what most school teachers teach childern, the Civil War was not
> primarily about freeing slaves. Freeing slaves was the secondary purpose
> behind the Civil War. Consider the most famous Confederate General, Robert E.
> Lee. General Lee did not own slaves, he did not believe slavery was right. He
> fought to preserve the States individual right secede from the Union as a last
> resort check against the Federal Government overstepping its authority. Of
> course the Federal Government, the drunken rednecks, and the "Black Leaders"
> used the Confederate flag as a symbol of racism and oppression after the war.
> It was used in the State Flags as a representation of the right to secede,
> despite the fact that right was denied. Today most people see the flag as a
> symbol of racism and oppression despite its orgins, much as the swastika no
> longer represents the circle of life as it originally did. Personally I find it
> rather amusing that so many make a big deal out of the Confederate Flag when
> Louis Farrakan (of all people) thinks it should be left alone as a historical
> reminder. (Go figure.)
>
> -Mike Petrucelli
And whereas I'd be the first to be on-side with separating 'the stuff from
the Stuff', would you walk around waxing poetically about the wonderfulness
of the swastika in this day and age?
For the sake of peace and harmony, and for the sake of empathizing with our
fellow person, we don't go on about how the swastika *should* be perceived
outside a Nazi POV, we just say that this symbol has been corrupted to the
point where it cannot 'be redeemed'. So with the Confederate flag. I
watched the 'Dukes of Hazzard' when I was a kid ( a show where the
Confederate flag was painted on top of the main character's car) in the
'70's and '80's--there didn't seem to be this animosity towards the flag.
Maybe there was and I just wasn't aware. But times and people change. If
we are to try to live in fellowship with our fellow person, we should try to
understand their point of view.
There is a line to this, of course--we can't go 'writing off' every little
thing that someone and their dog may have a problem with--but today, the
Confederate flag seems to be the symbol for slavery and oppression, no
matter how much the historians try to put it in context.
So why the fuss on the people who support the flag? Do they get the fact
that many folks consider it an affront to themselves--that their
predecessors were oppressed 'under that particular flag'? Or are the flag
supporters just saying that these folk's own personal feelings just aren't
important enough to do away with this symbol?
Dave K.
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