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Title: You will be made to care… about the Confederate Battle Flag
Source:
hotair.com
URL Source: http://hotair.com/archives/2015/06/ ... t-the-confederate-battle-flag/
Published: Jun 22, 2015
Author: JAZZ SHAW
Post Date: 2015-06-23 23:39:46 by Gatlin
Keywords: None
Views: 4684
Comments: 37
By this time everyone has seen the news that the political correctness army has scored another victory and gotten Republicans from Nikki Haley to Lindsey Graham to call for the removal of the Stars and Bars from public grounds at the state house. (Yes, I know… the “Stars and Bars” is not technically the same as the Battle Flag but you’ll bear with me today for that as a generic salute to Southern pride.) You never know what’s going to happen in the heat of an election season when the eyes of politicos are on the polls and spines grow weak under pressure from the tide. The timing, of course, is no accident. Liberal, progressive forces will never miss an opportunity to turn a tragedy to their own advantage. Yes, the Governor is assuring us all that private citizens can still fly the flag on private property, but this declaration (as she made clear in her speech) is meant to show that the segment of the public who disagree with removing it are either in the wrong or should not be heard in proper society. The politicians have spoken and that piece of cloth should be reserved to the grounds of a disapproved segment of society. But before we pack the Confederate Battle Flag “off to a museum” as the President suggests, I would offer a bit of perspective. Some years ago, as I’ve noted in the past, our Red State colleague Erick Erickson penned a column on a completely different subject titled You Will Be Made to Care. Erick was talking about gay marriage, but what he described was the the ever present mode of operation for the modern American Left. It’s not enough to disagree with someone when there is a difference of opinion on social issues, government policy or even the color of the sky. It’s not even sufficient to shut down the conversation, as Guy and Mary Katharine so aptly identified in End of Discussion. Those who dissent must be forced to bend a knee and participate. We’re seeing the same thing today in the newly reignited, perpetual debate over the Confederate Battle Flag. Many Southern families still feel a strong association with the stars and bars even though they live in an era when everyone has written off slavery as an evil in our past which was engaged in by the male, landed gentry from both above and below the Mason-Dixon Line. They remember that the civil war was far more than some hotly debated policy discussion over slavery. (Though that was obviously a part of it.) They recall how the North used their enormous industrial advantage to craft policies which created hardship for the more agricultural South and drained them of their wealth. They know the family stories about how the North built up a huge population advantage and curried that into an electoral hammer they could use to write the rules in their own favor. They remember that and much more. Other Southern families may not even dwell on those concerns, but they know the pride they feel in the South. They know that their ancestors fought and died for what they, at the time, believed in and stood to defend their loved ones and their homes. And well into the modern era they have felt the sting of the constant derision from the North. Southerners talk slow, so they must be stupid. They are backward. They are ignorant rednecks. What a shame they can’t be as elite and as enlightened as their northern cousins. The fact is, they just don’t fit into proper modern America. Isn’t it a shame? This remains one of the few politically correct topics of “humor” in comedy shows. You can always make fun of the rednecks who speak with a Southern drawl. But these same people retain a modern pride in the heritage of their region. I frequently travel to various states in the warmer climes and constantly see signs and bumper stickers which proudly declare that the owner is American by birth, but is Southern by the Grace of God. But in keeping with liberal theory, we must eliminate some piece of cloth that reminds them of their heritage, even if it has nothing to do with racism or slavery in their minds. It does to us! That requires a trigger warning, mister, and you didn’t provide us with a safe space! And We Are The Perpetually And Righteously Offended, So You Shall Comply. What they forget is that there are plenty of flags out there and many people are offended by them. You can go to any number of liberal rallies and see a very famous banner honoring Che Guevara. “But no!” you say. “It’s not an “official” flag!” Yes, well neither is the Confederate Battle Flag. And we’ve seen the Che flag in all sort of rather official looking places, such as the offices of political candidates. You may be surprised to learn that a banner honoring Che Guevara is offensive to all sorts of people. If I have to explain why, then you didn’t read this column this far down anyway. And yet, for some reason, we don’t demand government action to ban it from being flown. We simply disagree with the sentiment and mock those who fly it. But that’s never good enough for the Left. You must be made to care. You will be made to participate. You will take the hateful piece of cloth down (though a piece of cloth has yet to ever shoot up a church or a school) and you will denounce it. Or we will destroy you. I should note, in closing, that this column is being penned by a Damned Yankee, born and bred in New York. But I’ve lived in enough places and met enough people to realize that you’re not always as wise and as righteous as you may think you are until you’ve sat down at the dinner table of another person’s mom for a plate of red beans and rice with cornbread. Every Southerner I know today abhors the idea of slavery and would immediately call the police if they found out about anyone keeping human beings as slaves. But they are also proud of their heritage and the many things the South represents, and for many of them the Stars and Bars is emblematic of that sense of history and pride. So maybe you can crack the politically correct whip and tear down some flags. I say go to hell. Our brothers and sisters who dwell below the Mason-Dixon are Americans first and always, but they are Southern by the Grace of God. 
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Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 8.
#1. To: Gatlin, ALL (#0)
The Left is determined to have their way in all areas of our life. The current issue with the flag is simply one battle in their prolong war against American ideals.
Click here for confederateamericanpride.com
The problem is the Stars and Bars only started to fly again in the 50s onward as an FU to the Federal govt's effort to end Jim Crow and introduce Civil Right legislation. We assume this flag was always flown there for like a 100 years but that was not the case - that is why there is a push back against the Stars and Bars - because of what pro Jim Crow southeners against Civil Rights made that flag be a symbol of.
If you’re gonna talk about the current issue with a Confederate flag, then you gonna have to become knowledgeable about the flags of the Confederate States of America. The is absolutely no problem with the Stars and Bars. The first national flag of the Confederacy: "The Stars and Bars" has not been referenced while discussing the current situation.
#9. To: Gatlin, Pericles, redleghunter, Vicomte13 (#8)
Since the Confederacy had three official flags, I've never read much about the distribution of Confederate flags and how often they got replaced. I assume the first Confederate flag (Stars And Bars) got the widest viewings across the Confederate states. Probably everyone in the South had seen this flag. Many would have seen the second Confederate flag, especially in bigger towns in the Confederate heartland. Probably relatively few ever saw the third Confederate flag, adopted only a month before the Confederate military collapse. These are the flags, via Wiki: The flag being protested at the SC capitol grounds most closely resembles the battle flag of the Army of Northern Virginia, the command of Robert E. Lee (anti-slavery Confederate supreme commander from 1862). This army faced off against the Army of the Potomac repeatedly and eventually contained elements from the area and formations from all over the Confederacy, as far away as Texas. But the battle flag of the Army of Northern Virgina changed during the war as we see below. However, the actual flag of the Army of Northern Virginia during the command of Robert E. Lee was the following. My favorite feature of this flag is that the star pattern resembles the bad guys in an old Atari version of Space Invaders. Now that we've totally nerded up this thread with flag minutiae, we may as well start making some nice YouBoob vids about flag history like this one.
The first national flag of the Confederacy: "The Stars and Bars" has not been referenced while discussing the current situation. YOU think that this distinction among Southerners who care about the petty niceties of the flags of a lost and evil cause matters. The rest of us think "Stars and Bars" describes that flag and its variants quite nicely and will use it. In other words, I'm not going to use your language. The Confederate Flag that everybody sees is the Stars and Bars as far as the general use in the population goes. The precision you would like to impose the blacks managed to impose in all of the different racial descriptions of themselves, making people jump through hoops of "Negro", "Colored", "Black", "Afro-American", "African- American", "Person of Color", and every other manifestation of "Look-at-me-and- call-me-what-I-demand-to-be-called". It worked for blacks, because they had a legitimate historical grievance and people cared. But nobody gives a shit about the "precisions" that neo-Confederates want to apply to their old rags of their lost cause. The Stars and Bars were hoisted over the cause of slavery, then went into the history books, but then were revived, in just exactly that current form of Stars and Bars, as the flag of segregation. Maybe it wasn't exactly a flag of racism in 1862. Maybe there were other causes. And maybe there were variants in the Civil War. Nobody but neo- Confederates cares. And nobody is going to be MADE to care. I don't. The Stars and Bars were hauled back up in 1962, in that current form, to defend segregation. That's what it BECAME about. And that's what the symbol is about. People bent over backwards to try to accommodate the blacks in their endless word-mongering about what to call themselves. Nobody gives two fucks what Southern racists want to call the Stars and Bars. The Confederates lost. The segregationists lost. History's losers do not get to control the language. All Confederate flags that have that Stars and Bars symbol on it are "Stars and Bars" and the PARTICULAR one that everybody knows is "The Stars and Bars" in normal everyday English. Blacks get a pass on what they're to be called, but even that got boring, so now they're either "black" or "African-American" and that's that. Confederates and their sympathizers do not even get that courtesy. You can call it whatever you'd like. And you can call people like me "idiots" for refusing to adopt your precious little terminology. Your cause was evil in 1862, and 1962, that flag only ever flew over evil, the Stars and Bars stands for rebellion against decency and equality, and you're not going to win the battle over the terminology. Every single cause that flag stands for is always going to get defeated, and we're going to wipe our collective asses on the Stars and Bars again and again. Now we're going to make it be hauled down. And the more it pisses you off, the more we're going to piss ON it, and the more we're going to call it exactly what you hate. Because guess what, we hate the flag and everything it stands for, we've beaten it twice, and every time you raise that shit rag we're going to shoot it down and stomp on it. EVERY cause it stands for is blighted by the fact it's there, like a canker. I'm not an idiot for calling the Stars and Bars the Stars and Bars. You're an idiot for defending the flag of slavery, racism, and defeat after defeat after defeat. So go ahead and raise a rebel yell over the flag, and divide away from me - somebody who would normally be on your side, over that shit rag and everything it ever stood for, and go stand with the losers. Because the one thing that is clear: that flag ALWAYS LOSES. Sometimes the French flag flies over victory. But the Stars and Bars are the sure mark of a cause that is consigned to death and eternal disgrace. The Stars and Bars are the disgraceful symbol of a disgraceful cause. And all forms of it amount to the same thing: a great big KICK ME flag. Ok. Then we'll kick you. Again. That flag is going down, once again, and once again your side is not going to be able to stop it or defend it. And once again those who rally to it are going to be further diminished. When you hoist that flag, you diminish yourself. That's the bottom line. The Stars and Bars is a spiderhole. Crawl down it if you want. It flies over meth labs all over the fruited plains, and over monuments for dumb white hicks who got themselves blown away fighting for the cause of rich men owning the slaves that put the white hicks down into white hickdom. Tragic, really. The Stars and Bars are an idol. Idols warp people's minds and make them do stupid things. Burn idols and smash them and you'll be better off. The Stars and Bars never did anybody on earth a lick of good. They got the Southerners all riled up to go get killed fighting for evil, and then to hold out for evil for a century. And now they're still doing what the always did. And always will. It's a great big starry, barry "Kick Me" flag. Fly it high. On private property, Because it's coming off of public property. One more defeat for the symbol of stupid lost causes.
Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/LatestI should note, in closing, that this column is being penned by a Damned Yankee, born and bred in New York. But I’ve lived in enough places and met enough people to realize that you’re not always as wise and as righteous as you may think you are until you’ve sat down at the dinner table of another person’s mom for a plate of red beans and rice with cornbread. Every Southerner I know today abhors the idea of slavery and would immediately call the police if they found out about anyone keeping human beings as slaves. But they are also proud of their heritage and the many things the South represents, and for many of them the Stars and Bars is emblematic of that sense of history and pride. So maybe you can crack the politically correct whip and tear down some flags. I say go to hell. Our brothers and sisters who dwell below the Mason-Dixon are Americans first and always, but they are Southern by the Grace of God.
#5. To: GarySpFC (#1)
(Edited)
#6. To: Gatlin (#5)
#8. To: Pericles (#6)
If You're Gonna Play in (Dixie), You Gotta Have a Fiddle in the Band.
The problem is the Stars and Bars…
Replies to Comment # 8. The first national flag of the Confederacy: "The Stars and Bars" has not been referenced while discussing the current situation.
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The first national flag of the Confederate States of America. Name "The Stars and Bars" Use National flag 
Adopted March 4, 1861 (first 7-star version)
November 28, 1861 (final 13-star version)Design Three horizontal stripes of equal height, alternating red and white, with a blue quadrilateral in the canton, inside the canton are white five-pointed stars of equal size, arranged in a circle and pointing outward. Designed by Nicola Marschall .svg)
The second national flag of the Confederate States of America. Name "The Stainless Banner"[a] Use National flag Proportion 1:2[b] Adopted May 1, 1863 Design A white rectangle two times as wide as it is tall, a red quadrilateral in the canton, inside the canton is a blue saltire with white outlining, with thirteen white five-pointed stars of equal size inside the saltire. Designed by William T. Thompson[c][1][2][4][5][6][7] .svg)
The third national flag of the Confederate States of America. Name "The Blood-Stained Banner" Use National flag Proportion 2:3 Adopted March 4, 1865 Design A white rectangle, three to two times as wide as it is tall a red vertical stipe on the far right of the rectangle, a red quadrilateral in the canton, inside the canton is a blue saltire with white outlining, with thirteen white five-pointed stars of equal size inside the saltire.[d] Designed by Arthur L. Rogers[10]
The white-fringed version is apparently the one used at the monument on the grounds of the state capitol. 
Battleflag made out of silk from November, 1861 
Battleflag made of wool, 1862 
Battleflag made from wool, 1863 
The official flag of the Army of Northern Virginia during the command of Robert E. Lee, June 1862-April 1865
#17. To: Gatlin (#8)
The is absolutely no problem with the Stars and Bars.
End Trace Mode for Comment # 8.
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