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26 comments:
I think in this day and age ANYONE can be offended by ANYTHING.
I'm sorry, but I don't look at the confederate flag and think anything about it until some looney starts ranting about it. Look how many people are offended by God -- even that is under attack these days. Where will it end?
But what you are failing to see is that what matters is not what YOU see when you look at it, but what those affected by it see. I remember drawing confederate flags for fun when I was a kid because it was just a design on top of the General Lee. I had no idea what it stood for. When I did learn, it just made me look at it from a different point of view.
But that's just it -- not everyone see's that. So my question is do we have to accomodate EVERYONE that is offended in this country - because that is what it is coming to. And that offends me. Just because it means something to some people, doesn't mean it does to everyone. Obviously there are quite a few people in this world also offended by the American flag. I'm just wondering where does it end? It is impossible to accomodate everyone.
It ends when you treat others the way you would like to be treated. It ends when what others think matters to you as much as what you think or almost as much.
I do not bristle at those who feel the need to taunt with that symbol of American dehumanization and the history of their "fight to the death" conviction for enslavement of one race of people by another or even their amassing of wealth via free, brutalized and “genocided” labor.
I just wonder why anyone would want to revel in such an infamous legacy. It's especially confounding since one the hallmarks of the Old South and Confederacy, Strom Thurman, was left on the earth long enough to be faced with the hypocrisy of his separatists views by owning up to his fathering and long term relationship with his daughter born of an African American servant woman.
All of that is what is displayed in that Confederate flag each time I see it.
i love the confederate flag .
fly it proud
I WILL
that flag means none of that charles , but since you said it i guess i am wrong ,
i see that it means that to you , so what , there are things that bother me to but i let it go because i realize that the world is bigger than just me or my feelings , i say not flying the flag because a group says so is stepping on my rights , your rights stop where mine start and so on
its just a flag
get over it
There are countries all over the world that used slavery -- especially in Africa. Didn't the African people sell their own people for slaves? Do all those countries around the world have to cease using their flags as well? It is only a symbol for that if you choose to see it that way.
I don't want for anyone to be offended or reminded of those bad memories -- but they are a part of our history. You can't erase it. When I see a confederate flag, I just think of the South and not in a bad way.
Wow, I have to say I agree with Charles on this one. Like I said in the second post, it does mean different things to different people. So does the swastika. It became a symbol of racism only after Hitler adopted it. The same can be said for the pentagram. It was originally used to ward off evil, yet is a symbol of satan or satan worship to most modern Christians. There are many many examples of symbols being totally benign to one group, while being caustic to another.
The point is, no matter what a symbol means to you, you should care enough about the feelings of others to not want to hurt them. I wouldn't hang a swastika outside a jewish center, or a pentagram outside a church, or a conferate flag anywhere.
Good posts on this subject. Very well articulated and discussed.
We are headed toward a slippery slope of political correctness by abolishing it...but this flag is so very divisive. And, I agree completely with Charles's point of view regarding what I see in it.
However, I'm also reminded of Voltaire: "I will defend to the death your right to say that which makes my very blood boil."
This is - at its core - a freedom of speech issue. For individuals...we're going to have this flag around for a long time. As a symbol of government ...that will be for the voters to decide.
and that is your yankee opinion
Well, Kansas was for the North. So calling us Yankees is a compliment.
I have heard it said many times that those who forget their history are doomed to repeat it. Maybe it should be tattooed to every southerner's butt so they can remember the whooping they took.
ok so the flag makes you think of bad things that have happened in the past , you say we should not fly it because of how it makes you feel , right .
well the flag makes me think of happy memories and warm summer days , no bad things at all , because the flag has never hurt me or my family i really like it , so why are your feeling more important than mine ?
(No proofing no editing no time)
To demonstrate my sincerity in my oening comments "It ends when you treat others the way you would like to be treated. It ends when what others think matters to you as much as what you think or almost as much."
I say thanks to you all for the responses including those that were critical of my thoughts as well as those who seemed supportive.
I don't think the world will come to an end if we stop trying to be offensive or even if we apologize when someone is offended when it was not our intentions.
If anything, we may build a better society in doing so.
On the other hand, historically, (if one believes the factuality of the Bible) the first to be enslaved were people from Isreal. they were enslaved by Egyptians. COntinetally speaking that means Eastern Indian (Asians?) were slaves to Africans.
Even so, my moral compass, which is the Bible, called that wrong and met Egypts' persistence in maintaining that chattle system with the severist of punishments.
Cruel behavior is not something we ought to seek to justify by reason of other examples of cruel and inhuman behavior. But, I do see the potential for mimicing the memorial established by those liberated Isrealites via the confederate flag.
It can serve as a reminder to folks who do not seem to value their liberty of a time when their ancestors were willing to risk their very lives to gain their own liberty.
So fly that flag and I will teach life lessons from it. And the church said.........
"the flag makes me think of happy memories and warm summer days , no bad things at all , because the flag has never hurt me or my family i really like it , so why are your feeling more important than mine ?"
Knowing that you are offending someone and not caring is being a jerk, no matter how you dress it up. If I curse in my home, or to my friends, and they curse too, then there is no harm, but if I go in public and start screaming curse words for everyone to hear, that is offensive, and anyone with common sense should realize it. That's not to say that there aren't a lot of hicks around here that do just that, and I would have to lump you and your offensive flag waving into the same group.
the flag is not offensive , you calling name calling is though
What flag do you fly ?
what gives you the right to call me names ?
i will fly mine proudly , come take it down
i am not offending anyone i know ,
awnser my question , why are you hurt feelings more important than mine
more name calling ,in that last post that person sounds bitter , still no awnsers to my question
some see it as offensive others dont , so who's right , i say both are it just depends on who and what you believe , but just because flying it offends you does not mean its wrong , you see taking it down offends me , you see my point
Well, obviously the thoughts of others mean nothing to you then. You should look up the meaning of "self-centered" in the dictionary. And I mean a real dictionary, not the one with Jeff Foxworthy on the front of it.
the thoughts of others mean as much to me as my thoughts mean to them , its called mutual respect , look that up in source you choose
We should all be proud of where we come from, but I do not understand the posters that still feel in this day and age that think it is ok to fly the confederate flag. Most people I know do not think it makes you look all that cool. Guess I might ask my black neighbors how they feel about their potential son in law flying the confederate flag. Anyone that studies their history knows that flag represents hate groups, racists and extremists. How bout getting those warm fuzzy summer memories some other way instead of stomping all over others heritage?
oh you mean by letting you stomp on mine ,
The impact of feeling offended is not the end all of things. If the Confederate flag were the greatest offense I suffered, life would be most comforting.
I am equally offended by folks who feel at liberty to utter profanity in public places, by folks who impose their obnoxious loud music on neighbors, by scantily clad folks in common places whose attire provokes lustful thoughts in vulnerable young minds, by African Americans who feel at liberty to debase themselves and the race by espewing the N word openly.
However, I insulate myself from any offense by knowing who I am and whose I am. My anchor exhorts me to endure suffering and inconvenience in good spirit.
In time, I believe all will be rectified and offenses will addressed sufficiently.
Fly that flag. Live your life. No need to escalate the discussion to the near threatening levels of the last couple of posts. Fly that flag.
Okay, I've been on Charles' side of the argument right up until the part about not wearing skimpy clothes in public. haha
I kid, I kid!
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