Should displaying Confederate symbols be illegal in the United States?

[Green Gaia]

Following Germany's ban on Nazi symbols, should displaying Confederate symbols be illegal in the United States?

 

[Jayhawker Soule]

No, it should be protected expression.

 

[CaptainXeroid]

Absolutely not! No matter how offensive we find a symbol, we cannot allow government to dictate which symbols are acceptible. That's part and parcel of Freedom of Speech. If we expect to enjoy it, we are required to allow those with unpopular ideas to enjoy it as well.

That being said, you will not find one on my car, clothing, body, or house. The Civil War ended in 1865. That's 140 years ago! In Georgia, I see plenty of people who are still fighting it, and it makes me sad that they don't see hope in the future and feel a need to live in the past. Well...the past, and the Jerry Springer show.

 

[Green Gaia]

Being new to Virginia, I was quite shocked to find the city that was once the capital of the fight to keep slavery, romanticizing it's shameful legacy. Confederate generals are regarded as heros and have beautiful statues in their honor. Why? Why do people still fly the Confederate flag when it stands for such an evil institution (slavery)? Do these people still support slavery? What does it say to the African-American when his white neighbor flys a Confederate flag outside his house? Perhaps these items are best left in museums and history books, because the past should not be forgotten, but neither should it be glossed over in the name of holding onto an infamous past. I don't know that we should ban use of these terrible symbols, but I think we should at least stop romanticizing them and say what they truly represent and what that says about those who choose to continue to use them and honor them.

 

[DreamQuickBook]

Following Germany's ban on Nazi symbols, should displaying Confederate symbols be illegal in the United States?

I am quite proud of the Confederate's history and I would cause all kinds of trouble for our government if they started banning flags of any kind.

 

[jewscout]

Being new to Virginia, I was quite shocked to find the city that was once the capital of the fight to keep slavery, romanticizing it's shameful legacy. Confederate generals are regarded as heros and have beautiful statues in their honor. Why? Why do people still fly the Confederate flag when it stands for such an evil institution (slavery)? Do these people still support slavery? What does it say to the African-American when his white neighbor flys a Confederate flag outside his house? Perhaps these items are best left in museums and history books, because the past should not be forgotten, but neither should it be glossed over in the name of holding onto an infamous past. I don't know that we should ban use of these terrible symbols, but I think we should at least stop romanticizing them and say what they truly represent and what that says about those who choose to continue to use them and honor them.

welcome to ole Virginy:areyoucra lol
since almost the end of the war that whole period has been overly romanticized by the south and america in general
that being said i don't think it should be banned as an image...that could just set a bad trend...

 

[CaptainXeroid]

...Why do people still fly the Confederate flag when it stands for such an evil institution (slavery)?...

Remember that symbols have different meaning to different people. Less than 10% of Southerners owned slaves, so most of the people who display it today don't see it as standing for slavery but rather defiance against 'Northern Aggression'.

 

[DreamQuickBook]

Remember that symbols have different meaning to different people. Less than 10% of Southerners owned slaves, so most of the people who display it today don't see it as standing for slavery but rather defiance against 'Northern Aggression'.

In the northern neck of Virginia, I've seen white folk and black folk flying the confederate flag side by side, in their yards. The Confederate Flag only stands for slavery for those arrogant SOBs up North who pretend that their invasion of the South was about something other than Federal power.

 

[Apotheosis]

It should be protected expression, there should be no ban against confederate symbols, unfortunately the confederate flag is banned in my school, seems schools have a different view of constitutional rights, freedom of speech being one of them.

Captain Xeroid, I believe that is the reason many southerners honor the Confederate Generals, not because they were fighting so they could keep slavery, but because they were fighting for their rights. While they were fighting in support of slavery, which is wrong, they were also fighting to defend their rights, which is very right. Hope that made sense.

 

[jewscout]

In the northern neck of Virginia, I've seen white folk and black folk flying the confederate flag side by side, in their yards. The Confederate Flag only stands for slavery for those arrogant SOBs up North who pretend that their invasion of the South was about something other than Federal power.

...and for those SOBs who continue to harken to the words of Alexander Stephens and claim white domination and slavery as a cornerstone of the confederacy...

but they aren't hard to miss they enjoy wearing white and dunce hats

 

[DreamQuickBook]

It should be protected expression, there should be no ban against confederate symbols, unfortunately the confederate flag is banned in my school, seems schools have a different view of constitutional rights, freedom of speech being one of them.

lol I would cause so much trouble for that school. I don't know how they get away with that.

 

[Apotheosis]

Heh the same way they get away with taking other constitutionally guranteed rights from students, apparently the constitution does not apply in schools, or at least not in my school. Can people wear shirts with BudLight on them in your school? Or Marlboro hats? Not to mention swearing in school can effect your grades, or get you suspended, which is an outrage.

Anyways enough of my views on public education, back on topic-

 

[DreamQuickBook]

...and for those SOBs who continue to harken to the words of Alexander Stephens and claim white domination and slavery as a cornerstone of the confederacy...

but they aren't hard to miss they enjoy wearing white and dunce hats

Yes... while I can't stand alot of those SOBs up north for their mindless arrogance, I REALLY can't stand anyone running around in sheets. I consider them GDSOBs. When I was at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va, there was a town called Pulaski just a few miles a way. TONS of KKK there. Very disturbing. I always wanted to do something about it, but I never knew who any of them were. They tried to hold Rallies at Radford University a few years back (just about twenty miles from Va Tech), but it didn't work out well for them. College Studants + Racists in Sheets equals serious problems.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

The Confederate flag should never be baned. The flag doesn't represent slavery, but the Dixie Land's way of life, which, yes, did include slavery, but many other things as well, some positive and some negative.
My brothers house, as well as mine when I get one, has a Confederate flag proudly displayed. We are not ashamed of being from the South.

 

[Green Gaia]

Should the public have to pay for elaborate statues and memorials honoring and glorifying the people who fought to keep slavery?

 

[jewscout]

Should the public have to pay for elaborate statues and memorials honoring and glorifying the people who fought to keep slavery?

are we refering to "Loser Lane"? lol
well they do have arthur ashe there now if that makes it better

 

[DreamQuickBook]

Should the public have to pay for elaborate statues and memorials honoring and glorifying the people who fought to keep slavery?

Not the Federal Government. But if Southern States want to pay for elaborate statues and memorials honoring and glorifying the people who fought for liberty and independence, then yeah, I think that is more than fair. I can understand if The Imperial, Federal Union dislikes likes that which was opposed to it & certainly no one in California or New Mexico should be paying for memorials for confederates who fought and died for The South.

 

[Green Gaia]

But if Southern States want to pay for elaborate statues and memorials honoring and glorifying the people who fought for liberty and independence, then yeah, I think that is more than fair.

Should the descendents of slaves in those states be forced to pay for such monuments as well? The civil war wasn't about liberty and independence, it was about slavery and those who thought that non-whites were sub-human.

The flag doesn't represent slavery

It does to a great many people. How can it NOT represent slavery?

 

[CaptainXeroid]

Should the public have to pay for elaborate statues and memorials honoring and glorifying the people who fought to keep slavery?

Aren't we all forced to pay for lots of things we don't like or disagree with because our state legislatures and Congress spend OUR tax dollars in lots of wasteful ways??

I agree with you that slavery was evil, but I think you are mis-stating the point by saying these people 'fought to keep slavery'. Men such as Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson were fighting the US Army that Lincoln directed to invade their states and bring them back into the Union under terms of surrender. They weren't fighting to keep slavery any more than American soldiers in WWII were fighting to keep segregation of blacks or their German counterparts were fighting to keep persecution of the Jews.

Cycling back to the topic about whether or not displaying Confederate symbols should be made illegal, I don't know how much press it got nationwide, but back in 1956, in defiance of school integration, the Georgia legislature changed our state flag in include the Confederate Battle Flag like Jocose mentioned. Back in 2001, the NCAA threatened to pull the basketball tournament from Atlanta if GA didn't change its state flag. The legislature, bowing to economic pressure, did change the flag.

Even though the display of Confederate symbols is not illegal, it certainly has become politically incorrect and almost taboo in many places to display them. The problem I have with making it illegal is that we do not need government approval for freedom of expression. To carry this a step further, the current administration could be called 'not-gay-friendly'. What if Bush used the current sentiment against gay-marriage to outlaw rainbow flags and pink triangles?? Once you abridge Freedom of Speech, you open the door to its destruction. Are we really willing to give up this right just because we don't like what some other people have to say?? I am not!Knockout

 

[DreamQuickBook]

Should the descendents of slaves in those states be forced to pay for such monuments as well? The civil war wasn't about liberty and independence, it was about slavery and those who thought that non-whites were sub-human.

It does to a great many people. How can it NOT represent slavery?

How can it not represent slavery? Quite simply. The fact that the civil war was not about slavery pretty well exonerates the flag in my opinion. I would suggest reading up on the history of the Civil War. I think you will find that it was a very complex situation created by different political philosophies, economic inequalities and "national" identities. Slavery's only role in the civil war was in the debate over it's future. Most everyone had accepted that slavery would end, but the process in which it would end was important to the economic survival of the south. Most of the young nation's industry was in the North, while the south depended greatly upon the raising of crops, such as tobacco and cotton. Eliminating slavery without having an organized and deliberate plan for doing so, would have crippled the South's ability to farm their land. But Slavery was only one of many economic and political issues that were being debated on. The Confederates did not want to give up their states rights to the federal government. Virginians believed that Virginians should decide what goes on in Virginia, the same with the other southern states. The people in the North were just as bigoted and racist as the people in the South; if not more so. Read up on. They hide a lot of knowledge in books.