"The Economist" endorses Kerry

[budullewraagh]

Dont forget, history is writen by those who won. Saying I have no idea what I am talking about is not right either. The civil war was about state rights, not slavery. Abe pulled a political stunt and said it was to end slavery. You have much to learn in your life, once you get out of school and you are out on your own and thinking for yourself, you will start to understand what real life is about. Yankees see the Confederate flag as a symbol of hate, slavery, and racism because some skin head neo nazis use it. The swastika was not always a symbol of hate, but when Hitler used it, it became one. It was first recorded in Tibet as a symbol to ward off evil spirits. So dont tell me I dont know what I am talking about kid.

your post means to tell me that you didn't read the latter two paragraphs of my last post. try again and see what you get from it

[Mad Mardigan]

There is no positive context for the use of the confederate flag in modern times. It was added to the Georgia flag almost a century AFTER the Civil War, as a pro-segregation statement. People slap it onto their pickup trucks out of either rebellious *biggotry* or rebellious *ignorance*. There is no other dynamic for that act. It is NEVER a statment about "states rights". Ever.

 

I am not a racist, I have several friends from all over. Now with that said, what the flag means to me, is different then what it may mean to someone else. Most families wasnt even rich enough to own slaves, including mine. So I think sometimes people generalize all white southerns as slave owners, but that isnt true. I know people who have the flag, and are not racist, but I know people who are like that and fly it. I believe the only thing the federal gov should do is run the money and military. The state should have there own laws. Instead of like that woman who didnt like the prayer in school and had it taken out in all schools across America.

[Diedra Moose]

Deidra's post went in while I was writing mine. Could you clarify what it is you wonder. I'm not sure if you are agreeing or disagreeing with PanGloss.

 

I was wondering if the confederate flag is really aobut heritage and not implicitly aobut hate. Maybe that heritage is hate.

 

I'm glad to hear that your wife's ok. Life can be so scary sometimes...

My mom keeps getting infections. It started witha kidney infection, then she got a gum infection (which is near impossible for her ai would have thought because she brushes, flosses, and gurgles listerine twice a day) and now she's throwing up again...all of tihs is over the last 3 weeks. weirdness...

[Pangloss]

I am not a racist, I have several friends from all over.

 

I believe you. Most of the gun-toting, pickup-driving crowd (I think the term "redneck" is derogatory and I try to avoid using it) isn't racist either.

 

For what it's worth, one of my ancestors is Nathan Bedford Forest, who founded the KKK. So the conflicted emotions of southern men are quite familiar to me. I grew up in that environment. I know how frustration can turn into ill-considered racist comments that don't actually indicate racism. That's what the flag sticker on the back of a pickup really is -- an ill-considered statement.

[Pangloss]

Shelby Foote, in Ken Burns' Civil War documentary, quotes Falkner in "Intruder in the Dust", saying that all southern men can picture themselves standing in the ranks at Gettysburg, when the war could still be won.

 

That's a powerful dynamic in that society, even today.

 

That's the kind of thinking that drives the confederate flag movement. I agree that it really has nothing to do with racism. But that doesn't make it right, either.