[globetrotter]

There is a scene in an episode of The Simpsons where Apu is taking his citizenship test. He is asked the question "What was the cause of the Civil War?" He begins to explain that there were actually several causes, social, political and economic, when the man giving him the test interrupts him and says "Just say slavery."

For some people, this is all they can understand: The war was about slavery. The North were the good guys, the South were the bad guys.

Trying to explain that it was actually much, much more complicated than all that only confuses these people. It's best not to try (I also learned that from The Simpsons.)

But it is that simple. The people of the south based their economy and culture on a huge evil. They wanted to beak away from the union because they felt that the rest of the union would, eventually try to force them to end this huge evil. That is pretty much all there is to it. Everything else is window dressing.

Look, so some of your great great grandparents were indirectly involved in something pretty horrific. So what? Why go to such lengths to try to hide it? If you go back far enough, many of our anscestors did pretty horrific things. We don't need to put so much effort into rewritting history to protect their honor.

 

[Terpoxon]

Thanks for proving my point.

 

[jamgood]

....Motoring through the village recently. Four way stop. Opposite, a compact car with the entire hood painted as what is commonly referred to as the Confederate flag. Also, front license plate frame ensconced matching rebel flag. Groaned inwardly. One of rgrossicone's stereotypes, methinks. Glanced leftward as encountering and noted the driver as a very dark hued gentleman. Truth stranger than fiction in the "new south"....

 

[tantive4]

Why do folks get bent out of shape by the "Battle Flag" but have virtually no opinion on the "Stars and Bars"? I attended Marion Military Institute for my first two years of College, where the Stars and Bars originated (the city of Marion, AL), so it adorns the city water tower.

Organizations like the NAACP (and others) have gone crazy over the fact that Mississippi and at one time Georgia had incorporated the Battle Flag into their state flags, or that it flew above the state house in South Carolina (when's the last time anyone here has been to the original Piggy Park in Columbia?!!!). But no one cares about the Stars and Bars. Does anyone see any resemblence between the Stars and Bars (the offical Flag of the CSA) and the new flag of the State of Geogia?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flags_of_the_Confederate_States_of_America

The Stars and Bars and the Battle Flag, to me, represent a region of our Country, everything south of the Mason-Dixon, including Maryland (where my mother's family has been residing for 300 years). If someone has one on their car, they're most likely labeled a racist or someone holding on to an archiact past. What about folks from England living in the United States who fly Union Jacks on their car? How many times have you driven around town and seen someone fly a Puerto Rican flag from their rear-view mirror or bumper? Do they automatically belong to some "group" of people who hate America and should renounce their citizenship (if their a citizen)?

Are people offended by the Battle Flag because out-lying organizations and groups use it as a symbol or that other organizations and groups tell us that it is a symbol of hate.

I'm a Southern man, born in Savannah, and who has lived in the South most of my life. I didn't know racism until I was ten years old when the Army PCS'd our family from Columbia, SC back to Germany for a second time. I was accosted by two African American students in my class on my first day of school in Germany who wanted to "beat my cracker a$$" (the two students happen to have been from NY). Before that I had spent five years in Columbia, only hearing the "n" word once, and the student that said it got more than an earful from my third grade teacher. I didn't know racism, all while growing up in a State who flew the flag on top of their State Capitol and every year in school touted our "Southern Heritage" as we took a flied trip to the State House and meet state leaders.

For the record, I don't have a "Confederate" flag on my car, but I do have a "Gadsden" flag, which I have no problem with affixed to the back of my vehicle. Oh, and in a month I'm marrying a beautiful woman who was born in Puerto Rico and whom I love teasing when every I see a PR flag on a car. She absolutely refuses to have one anywhere near her beloved Jeep Wrangler.

I know now that my post is a little incoherient, espeically since I only wanted to pose the question about the "Battle Flag" vs. the "Stars and Bars". Sorry if I got a little off topic.

 

[globetrotter]

What 'system' are you talking about?

The South cira-Civil War error and NS-era Germany were two completely different political systems.

The Germans sought to remove the Jews from positions of power in Germany and have them leave the country so they could fulfill their goal of having a homogeneous German nation-state.

The United States around the Civil War was (and still is) a democracy but several states allowed slavery.

It was the British who were progressive in that they actively sought to rid the world of slavery. In fact, in the scheme of things, the U.S participation in the slave trade was rather low when compared to the British, the Portuguese and the Spanish. Hell, slavery still exists in Africa and existed before European explorers purchased people from warring tribes on the West African coast. And, of course, slavery still exists and is widespread in Africa today.

I don't understand how one could draw parallel to the South circa-Civil War and Nazi Germany. There aren't any similarities. And quite frankly, globetrotter writes like an uneducated 11th grader who is simply regurgitating whatever propaganda he is learning in his world history class.

this is a great thread. any of you who are in love with the old shouth - remember that you are on the side of this knuckle dragger. that should make you feel proud.

 

[Cruiser]

I know now that my post is a little incoherient, espeically since I only wanted to pose the question about the "Battle Flag" vs. the "Stars and Bars".

I specifically used the term "Battle Flag" in my post yesterday to see if anyone would comment. They didn't. My guess is that 999 out of 1000 people would not recognize the Confederate National Flag (the Stars and Bars) and would instead think that the Battle Flag was the Confederate flag.

Cruiser

 

[tantive4]

I specifically used the term "Battle Flag" in my post yesterday to see if anyone would comment.

I did notice that in the OP, and actually that's sort of my point. I would think that the Stars and Bars would represent the CSA, and that the preception people have about the "Battle Flag" really isn't of the CSA, but the hate people and organizations have pushed.

There were many flags that flew in the South during the Civil war, many of which I believe better represent Southern Heritage and the South as a region more, including the Stars and Bars and the Bonnie Blue.

With out going on and on, I really see the "Battle Flag" as a perpetual rebellion against reconstruction (of which no one still alive ever experienced), there are still places I've lived where anyone who comes down from above the Mason-Dixon is still labeled a carpetbagger.

 

[PedanticTurkey]

Have you no conscious? With every post you make yourself look a bit dumber, which in your case is quite hard.

Gotta watch that spellchecker, bud.

 

[PedanticTurkey]

And, no, I'm not going to cut you any slack. It doesn't give you license to be a bigot or a nuisance.

 

[jpeirpont]

Gotta watch that spellchecker, bud.

Ha, that's your refuge. My friend I have no need for you to cut me any slack. No one here takes you serious, so your ad homs will continue to slide right off of me. But you can keep giving it the good ol' college try ic12337: