Should displaying Confederate symbols be illegal in the United States?

[Green Gaia]

I'm not saying they should be outlawed, I saying they shouldn't be glossed over and everyone pretend they are not offensive and disgusting symbols of hate. .

 

[DreamQuickBook]

I'm not saying they should be outlawed, I saying they shouldn't be glossed over and everyone pretend they are not offensive and disgusting symbols of hate. .

They are not symbols of hate, and the only thing disgusting here is the ignorance of history.

 

[Jaymes]

I've lived in the south all my life, and to be honest I've never thought about the Confederate flag much before. It's just always been something that's around. On the back of trucks, hanging on porches, until a few years ago on the state flag...

I also grew up with being told it's my heritage. 'This is part of what you are, it symbolizes the struggle of your great-great (however many greats) grandparents,' etc. Now that I really think about it I can see how it's hateful, though. By displaying it it seems that people agree with the Confederacy... and slaves. I don't think it should be illegal (that might just start another civil war. The 'good old country boys' down here sure do love their flags :areyoucra), but I don't think it should exactly be smiled upon either.

 

[Green Gaia]

They are not symbols of hate, and the only thing disgusting here is the ignorance of history.

Are you saying that those who fought under that flag were not fighting to keep their slaves? Do you not recognize that to some people it is offensive and threatening to fly that flag? Do you even care?

 

[DreamQuickBook]

Are you saying that those who fought under that flag were not fighting to keep their slaves? Do you not recognize that to some people it is offensive and threatening to fly that flag? Do you even care?

Yes. I am saying that those who fought under that flag were not fighting to keep their slaves. In fact, hardly any slave owners actually fought in the civil war. I do recognize that some people find it offensive to fly the flag, but that is because they are ignorant or completely misinformed of the flag's history and the causes for the Civil War. However, if my flying a confederate flag offends someone, no I do not care. Though, I prefer to fly American, Virginian or Maryland flags, as they have a more immediate meaning and significance.

The bigotry people have against southerners is extremely offensive to me, especially because it is bred of ignorance.

 

[jewscout]

i agree w/ both jocose and maize...
the civil war was about maintaing a way of life, states rights and economics...
but all of those things are tied to one institution...Black Chattel Slavery.
it is the jenga block that holds the whole thing up.
of course this is not to say the north was coming down to bring equality nor did they fight the confederacy for abolitionist purposes

 

[Dr. Nosophoros]

No, absolutely not, we have enough "thought" policing in this country as it is.

 

[Watcher]

Freedom of speach all the way..... When you study the civil war, you see that it had almost nothing to do with slavery! It was about the North wanting to take control of the south! They felt threatened! So they moved in!

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.

EXACTLY! This is part of why I wrote that "My America" poem! We can't wear hats in school because it SHOWS DISRESPECT FOR THE FLAG! I pissed my principal off so bad, because I asked (not kidding) "The flag needs worshipped now??"
(not to mention that we can't have clothing with Beer and tobacco brand names, or anything about drugs [or nude figures, lol])
FREEDOM OF SPEECH AND EXPRESSION! This means I should be able to display confederate flags, swastikas (ROFL, i drew the backwords swastika [hindu symbol of peace] all over my backpack last year, that also irked the staff off), Pentagrams, inverted pentagrams, heck, let me cut up the american flag and wear that as well!
A flag is a flag, a symbol of the past. People who are offended should just get over it.

 

[Quoth The Raven]

Do you not recognize that to some people it is offensive and threatening to fly that flag? Do you even care?

Some people find it offensive and threatening that homosexuals want the right to marry...do you care that what you want upsets them? Not having a go, just asking.
I'm not particularly up with the history of the Civil War, but it seems to me that saying it's all about slavery and the South were fighting FOR slavery and the North were fighting AGAINST it is a little simplistic. It's like saying that WW2 was all about the extermination of the Jews, and everyone who fought against Hitler was against that, whereas Nazi Germany and it's allies were quite obviously for it. Which we all know is cobblers, otherwise the Jews who left Germany while they still could wouldn't have had so much trouble finding somewhere to go.
If people want to take offense, there's always going to be something they can take offense at. Once you start banning stuff based on the fact that some people may find it offensive then where do you stop?

 

[ch'ang]

It seems to me Maize that the only reason that you think the confederate flag is a sign of haltered is because your reasons for why the civil war was thought, now this might shock you but the textbooks in school are not always all knowing. Just last year I was learning about the Civil War and over and over the book said that the south was fighting for slavery and the North was fighting for freedom, it constantly demonized the south and idolized the North. Now I can't say for sure why this is I can say that the Civil War was not started solely because of slavery. From the research I have gathered here is how I understand the Civil War at least the slavery part, I haven't even started on states rights yet. This is a very simplified explanation but I think it will do, first their was the controversy of slavery, the North having very little slaves and all around not needing them to much thought that slaves should be set free immediately but the south whose economic stability depended on slaves wanted to slowly ease out of slavery so they could avoid an economic collapse. The North seeing this as unreasonable told the south to set the slaves free now. The south seeing their future at stake declared independence from the North (which is constitutionally legal I might add) The North basically wanted the south back in the Union so they attacked and started the war.

 

[Pah]

Freedom of speach all the way..... When you study the civil war, you see that it had almost nothing to do with slavery! It was about the North wanting to take control of the south! They felt threatened! So they moved in!
EXACTLY! This is part of why I wrote that "My America" poem! We can't wear hats in school because it SHOWS DISRESPECT FOR THE FLAG! I pissed my principal off so bad, because I asked (not kidding) "The flag needs worshipped now??"
...
A flag is a flag, a symbol of the past. People who are offended should just get over it.

Most people know me as a champion of free speech. That being said, I have no trouble recognizing the Confederate flag as a symbol of a pus-filled cancer that nearly killed America.

The great heritage of the south blindly overlooks that all that was "good" in southern society was based on the sweat of men considered animals and property. All the politics of the old south rested on preserving that slave institution. All commerce in the old south originated in the labor of slaves. The "genteel" society with it's cotton wealth and grandious manner came from the inhuman conception of slavery. What exactly has the south to be proud of from it's history? Anything based on evil is evil. I truely bemoan the fact that my life has led me to live in the south where the honor and glory of evil is still practised.

The hospital I use is adjacent to the Confederate Museum and I shudder every time I have an appointment there and have to pass that building and it's proud sign.

 

[Majikthise]

No banning the Confederate flag.

Anyway, the North had slaves too, they just called them immigrants.

 

[Natas]

"The curious thing is that although slavery was the moral issue of the nineteenth century that divided the political leaders of the land, the average American had very little interest in slaves or slavery. Most Southerners were small farmers that could not afford slaves. Most Northerners were small farmers or tradesmen that had never even seen a slave." Causes of the Civil War


I have to say most people who fly the Confederate flag do not attatch the racist meaning to it. They attach instead a feeling of rebellion and a more rural culture (they see many northerners as city-folk who've never hunted for food, picked their own crops, or done any living off the Earth). Many had relatives that fought in the war (myself included) and they truly do see it as historical. For right or wrong, agree or not, they find the attempt to bury the actions and memory of their fore-fathers more heinous than any negative stigma that people attach to the flag.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

I read this one thing my American Government shared with the class that said because it took so many slaves to tend just one field, the cost in man power would have caused slavery to end itself. Then Ellie Whitney invinted the cotton gin. It was suddenly very economical to harvest cotton, as it could then be done much faster.
The Civil War was not about slavery. It was about a government telling the states they couldn't be themselves, live thier lifestyle, and form thier own nation.
It can be argued that Lincoln wasn't a great president. During the Civil War, he done away with many rules and regulations concerning arrest and prisoners of war. He was actually rather oppresive during the civil war.

 

[Pah]

Yes. I am saying that those who fought under that flag were not fighting to keep their slaves. In fact, hardly any slave owners actually fought in the civil war. I do recognize that some people find it offensive to fly the flag, but that is because they are ignorant or completely misinformed of the flag's history and the causes for the Civil War. However, if my flying a confederate flag offends someone, no I do not care. Though, I prefer to fly American, Virginian or Maryland flags, as they have a more immediate meaning and significance.

The bigotry people have against southerners is extremely offensive to me, especially because it is bred of ignorance.

The states rights issue originated in the 1830's when the Madison Court rulerd against state rights. It was thought at that time that slavery would be jeapodized. Source: John Marshal and ther Heroic Age of the Supreme Court by R. Kent Newmyer. The state's right in the Civil War was exactly to allow the state to decide the issue of slavery.

Those that fought under the flag and the officer corp, as in most conflicts, are not to be dishonored - they were all granted pardons. However those that ruled the Confederacy and led the army were not pardoned and still retain the stigma of treason. These are the men "honored" on the streets of Richmond and elsewhere - criminal traitors.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

I really don't consider slavery an issue of the Civil War at all. "We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal and endowed by thier creator with certain unalienable rights..." Thomas Jefferson drafted these words, saying all men are equal, all men except for his black slaves. Many of the people that signed the Declaration agreed, all men are equal, except for thier black slaves. This nation was originally a slave holding nation. The North just decided it didn't want it anymore, and the South continued what America had been doing for the past 100 years. White men are equal, Indians, blacks, and any other race isn't.

 

[turk179]

As much as I hate the symbols and what they stand for I have to agree with most everyone else. My ex girlfriends son wears confederate symbols all over him and it makes me sick. But he has the right to wear those symbols of hatred (which is exactly why he wears them) just like anyone else. Still makes me sick.

 

[Fluffy]

Symbols only have as much power and meaning as we decide to give them. If I plastered myself with swastikas, there would not be a fibre of my being which would want to go out and kill Jews or follow Hitler's ideals. Many people would turn around, take one look at me, and decide I was evil. They are the ones who are still fueling meaning into a collection of black lines.

I am against hatred, intolerance and oppression. If you feel more oppressed by a strip of material than by the person flying that strip of material then you are creating problems for yourself. Similarly, if you agree that it is the feelings behind flying such a thing which are important, rather than the object itself, and such feelings are ones of peace, tolerance and equality, then you may feel free to exercise as much of an objection to such feelings as you deem necessary. I wouldn't be able to support such a thing, however.

 

[michel]

Symbols only have as much power and meaning as we decide to give them. If I plastered myself with swastikas, there would not be a fibre of my being which would want to go out and kill Jews or follow Hitler's ideals. Many people would turn around, take one look at me, and decide I was evil. They are the ones who are still fueling meaning into a collection of black lines.

I am against hatred, intolerance and oppression. If you feel more oppressed by a strip of material than by the person flying that strip of material then you are creating problems for yourself. Similarly, if you agree that it is the feelings behind flying such a thing which are important, rather than the object itself, and such feelings are ones of peace, tolerance and equality, then you may feel free to exercise as much of an objection to such feelings as you deem necessary. I wouldn't be able to support such a thing, however.

I must admit I err on the safe side (I have 'grown' into that mindset) - I always think more of what someone's reaction might be rather than how I see it myself. It works too, I don't seem to upset people anymore.

 

[jewscout]

I read this one thing my American Government shared with the class that said because it took so many slaves to tend just one field, the cost in man power would have caused slavery to end itself. Then Ellie Whitney invinted the cotton gin. It was suddenly very economical to harvest cotton, as it could then be done much faster.
The Civil War was not about slavery. It was about a government telling the states they couldn't be themselves, live thier lifestyle, and form thier own nation.

a lifestyle, the central focus of which was an agrarian society built upon chattel slavery