I met someone on a different site. Seemed like a decent guy. Then as I was browsing his pictures, noticed a couple with confederate flag.
He's from Indiana. I'm from Indiana.
He said it's about southern pride and OUR heritage.
I disagreed.
How could two people in a northern state have such varying opinions?
Also, I sent him a book about Indianas role in the Underground Railroad. Never got a thank you note.
I can understand PART of the argument about " pride". Except that most people who have a Confederate BATTLE flag are less Bo and Luke Duke, and more David Duke.
" Pride" is shorthand for "I hate the government and would rather think with my gun and dick then my brain".
Those who flaunt Confederate Flags (which were invented After the war was over specifically for the KKK reign of terro, btw) are nasty inside!
IMO the display of Confederate flags means little or nothing in most cases, except maybe as a cry for attention. It certainly has nothing to do with national allegiance.
I give it about the same importance as a football banner. Have a big reaction and you play right into their hands.
I think it depends on the individual. Some of it is just a subcultural tic so to speak. Sometimes of course they are full-on redneck and entertaining romantic Gone With the Wind fantasies and imagining the South "rising again", probably along with the KKK.
One can of course argue that in using these cultural tropes and symbols one is unwittingly playing along with various white supremacist dog whistles, and there's some truth to that.
It's a little bit like religion, sometimes people hold it very strictly and other times very loosely. It's all bullshit, held loosely or not ... but liberal religion isn't generally a payload delivery system for anti-intellectualism either -- in fact sometimes quite the opposite. I'm sure the same is true of someone who would have a rebel flag framed in their living room. I wouldn't assume it's meant as the secret handshake for the KKK or something.
That was rude of him. He's obviously very confused about history.
"southern pride". what is that. you notice there's no such thing as "northern pride"? you never hear that phrase.
the only "heritage" of the south exemplified by that flag is the right of people to own other people. there is no other meaning. all arguments about the subject lead back to "they wanted to form their own country because they were afraid of losing the right to own other people".
It's highly ironic because Indiana was/is not a southern state.
How he decided otherwise, is beyond me.
@Nichole765 these types think the Southern States were somehow part of the United states, and will argue that the heritage of rebellion is shared. Completely ignorant of the fact that if they were part of the united states, he's flying the flag of insurrectionist slavers, and if they weren't, he's flying the flag of the enemy of his country.
as for "decided"...he didn't. likely he was indoctrinated or convinced, there was never a rational moment of "decision". but if he did, then he did it based on false information fed to him by "I'm not a racist but" people his whole life.
@HereticSin luckily I missed out on meeting his family. So I have no idea why he thought this way. Honestly, after some thought, I know I didn't like him enough to even bother.
Doesn't sound like you found a match with this person huh
Confederate flags in Kansas really bother me. It wasn't called Bleeding Kansas for no reason.
I have several relatives in Kentucky.
They scare me with their viewpoints. ?
That argument always cracks me up, these young people with second hand knowledge of the civil war era. Good on you for attempting to educate him.
We were roughly the same age. Late 30s.
Just must have read different history books in school.
@Nichole765 Probably read the same or similar books but through different filters, with resulting different takeaways.