Why is it so hard for Confederate Flag supporters to realize that the flag symbolizes un-American values?

I currently live in North Carolina, the loudest people in support about the Confederate Flag are members of the Sons of Confederate Veterans—in the fifties an sixties some of the members of that group wore white bed sheets and marched down the main street with KKK banners.

Nuff said

GQ I find it hard to believe that the South would sacrifice life and limb just for the principle of states’ rights, without the impetus of impending Northern abolition efforts.

Or that the South would shift from blue to red by the efforts of Republican politicians promoting states’ rights, without the resistance to desegregation efforts by the Feds.

The battle flag was basically shelved after the Civil War, and re-emerged in the fifties as a defiant symbol of resistance to desegregation.

In my opinion, people are naive, or pandering to the naive, when they imagine that the objectionable thing that a symbol stands for will disappear when you erase the symbol.

It doesn’t, it’s still there. It just goes underground and when it comes back out, it is even more objectionable.

@josie So following your logic, it would be ok for an official government building in a German city to fly a swastika?

@josie You’re right to a degree. That’s why it’s taken so long for desegregation to be accomplished in the U.S. It’s been a process of eliminating flagrant violations, one at a time. From lunch counters and buses, to schools, to housing enclaves, to voting, and now the flag.

At each point, the diehards are forced to retreat and reassemble. The resistance is dwindling, but it’s not over yet.

@gorillapaws
Didn’t say that. Just said what I thought of people who think they can erase a problem by erasing a symbol.

No one is saying that racism will disappear if Confederate flags are taken down

Here are several reasons why:

1. The Confederate flag has evolved into a symbol of Southern pride for those that display it. Having lived in the South in various places for most of my 52 years, the number of times I’ve spotted one, be it an actual flag, a fake license plate, bumper sticker, etc., are few and far between. Why South Carolina’s state capitol chooses to fly it is a mystery to me.

2. Lack of empathy and not necessarily education. I have yet to see anyone sporting a Confederate flag that isn’t white.

3. It is still legal to display a Confederate flag in the US. This is where the comparison to the Nazi flag in Germany differs, amongst many other reasons. It’s an apples to oranges example.

4. There are bigger fish to fry. (See @bossob‘s post.) Here are some statistics from a Gallup Poll conducted in 2000. Americans Divided on Southern States Flying Confederate Flag

Thinking removing the flag will erase racism is stupid. But it would be one step closer to vilifying it.

As a northerner, I was never offended by the flag, until I began to realize how frequently it was adopted by white supremacists and showing up at public events with racial undertones.

I still think the South has a unique history to be proud of, despite being on the wrong side of history. But the world has changed, and it’s past time to let go of generational beliefs. A couple days ago, I saw a clip of Strom Thurman’s son delivering a speech to the SC state legislature. Even he, son of Thurman, knows it’s time to leave that part of the past behind.

My opinion is much like @bossob.‘s Most times I’ve seen it up North, it wasn’t from people that moved up from the South, but rather from bigoted peopel who had colorful things to say about people with color.

What I don’t get is why they use a battle flag as a symbol of “Southern Pride” rather than use the official flag of the Confederate States of America. That tells me that they care less about the nation they briefly had and more about running across a field shooting Yankees.

A nazi flag would symbolize un-American values. The Confederate flag is part of American history, our values may change but history remains the same.

@cheebdragon Your comment doesn’t really say anything of importance.The Confederate states wanted to succeed from the union because they hated the United States for wanting to abolish slavery. That sounds un-American to me.

@rockfan Are you saying that the Civil War is not a significant part of American history?

Of course not

@cheebdragon ”A nazi flag would symbolize un-American values. The Confederate flag is part of American history, our values may change but history remains the same.”

But you haven’t acknowledged that the Confederate flag represents un-American values. Of course it is historical. That’s a non-sequitur with respect to this question.

Depends on what part of murica you live in souths gonna rise again whoowhoo yeah!

As the issue unfolds, I have to say that some people are going a little overboard.

Apple, for instance, no longer allows Civil War games in it’s App Store due to the Confederate Flag. I think that’s bullshit! I expect the Confederate Flag there as it is historically accurate, just as I expect to see swastikas in any game set in Europe during WWII.

Even The Dukes of Hazard are getting retconned to remove the flag from the roof of their car which is named after a prominent military officer and thus is intrinsically tied to a battle flag. It’s entirely possible that the Duke boys were just military history buffs who really admired Robert E. Lee the same way many WWII buffs admire Erwin Rommel and object to it’s use by racists just as much as us Yankees.

Either way, the Civil War happened just as 1980’s TV shows happened, and you can’t rewrite history by removing flags.

@rockfan Good, So you agree that the confederate flag is very much a part of American history?

@dappled_leaves How can a flag that was made in America, by Americans, for Americans, be un-American? Does that mean the nazi flag is very un-German?
A flag “is a piece of cloth or similar material, typically oblong or square, attachable by one edge to a pole or rope and used as the symbol or emblem of a country or institution or as a decoration during public festivities.” They do not represent current moral values and laws.
The guy on our $20 bills was responsible for the Indian Removal Act that killed thousands of Native Americans. Are $20 bills un-American?

@cheebdragon What part of this is difficult to understand? The question is:

“Why is it so hard for Confederate Flag supporters to realize that the flag symbolizes un-American values?”

It is the values that are un-American, not the flag. The flag is 100% American, as you said. That’s still not relevant to the question. If you’d like to actually answer it.

@cheebdragon ...except for the part about the South only considering themselves part of the US when it’s convenient for them to do so.

US bombs Iraq? They’re proud to be American.
SCOTUS allows same-sex marriage? They won’t allow that.
They need federal money because their state funds ran dry? They’re American again.
Romneycare becomes a national policy? They’re fighting the US government like it’s 1861 again.

If they didn’t have a history of going against what the majority of people in the area between Canada and Mexico want, if they played by the same rules the West coast and Northeast (where most people in the US live) do instead of having to have SCOTUS and the National Guard make them comply, then maybe. As it stands though, I’ve seen enough people that are more proud of their great-great-great-grandpappy fighting the US than they are of being part of the US now that, in my eyes, whether or not they are Americans is a valid question. It seems quite a few either think or wish they weren’t.

@jerv GA That’s a perspective I hadn’t considered. The South does behave like a brat who needs a nap.