Confederate Flag - An Easy Way To Protest It's Display

[BBri]

I have found a way to very quietly protest the display of the Confederate Flag. I live in the North (but have relatives in the Deep South) and even here some people like to display the Confederate Flag. I can't say that I find it all that offensive, however, I simply disagree with what it represents. Some say that it represents "Southern Heritage". Well, that's all well and good, so long as you thing that enslaving blacks is a "heritage" to celebrate.

I do have way to quietly and discreetly give my opinion on the Confederate Flags display. I have on my car a decal of the "34 Flag". That is the flag of the Union during the Civil War. It's almost unnoticeable in that the only difference from the current flag is the number and arrangement of the stars on the blue field. For those who ask about it, or give me there opinion on the display of the Confederate Flag, I explain it to them very simply. It's a symbol of my "heritage", my feeling that the Confederacy was wrong and lastly, it's the flag that won the war. My last comment usually goes over the worst, but, it's simply a historical fact.

So if you're like me and feel that the display of the Confederate Flag mean more than just "Southern Heritage" and is a symbol for the slavery the Confederacy fought for, go on line and you can find decals, magnets and actual flags in the "34 Flag" configuration.

(Some flags are "33 Flags", it depends on the year it represents but the meaning is the same...)

http://news.yahoo.com/rebel-flag-still-flying-black-sc-neighborhood-075154630.html

BBri

[RZM]

1. I don't see how that is a protest

If anything it's a tacit endorsement. Sounds like an 'I'll fly my flag and you fly yours' type of situation. A common response from a Confederate Flag enthusiast might be: 'Ok, well you have your heritage and you express it on your bumper sticker, so what's wrong with me doing the same?'

[BBri]

2. Exactly My Point

RZM - Do you think you're going to "stop" them for displaying it? Or that we even should? It's almost like a "Hey everybody! Look at me, I'm ignorant!" sign! LOL!!!

[RZM]

5. Well I guess you are right about that

Nobody's going to stop and I think it's 100 percent protected speech. If going with the Union flag floats your boat instead, more power to ya! :)

[Bandit]

10. What other country would allow a public display of treason?

IMO it should be banned by our government as it stands for treason and IMO flying it means you agree with treason against the USA...It is a statement of complete disrespect of our country..

[RZM]

11. It's protected speech

Banning symbols isn't how we get down here in the US of A.

[RegieRocker]

14. The flag was against the law until WWII.

So no it's not protected speech. It is allowed treasonous display.

[RZM]

16. Well it's protected speech now

If you think it constitutes a treasonous display, that's your opinion. As you know, other people have quite different ideas about what constitutes a treasonous display. I'm sure that many people thought that waving the flag of North Vietnam at anti-war protests was a treasonous display too. We have a very high tolerance for all kinds of speech in this country and while I'm not fan of the Confederate flag, I support the right to display it.

[RegieRocker]

17. It should've stayed illegal.

I totally hate the f**king thing. I despise those that fly it. I know why they fly it and what it means.

[Warren DeMontague]

18. and as a kid growing up in a Jewish family near Skokie, I knew what the Nazis meant

when they wanted to march through neighborhoods full of Holocaust survivors.

Yet even then I understood that the principle of free speech is only as good as the right of the most noxious, offensive voice to its own opinion. The 1st Amendment is antithetical to everything the Nazis stood for. Censorship would be a victory for them. Letting them speak, they lose.

[RegieRocker]

20. It was is no victory for them that they can fly it.

For those who survived the Nazi camps I can only imagine their anger in seeing a Nazi flag. However, the confederate flag to me is an exception to free speech because it symbolizes a treasonous act against our democracy and freedom. Treasonous acts do not warrant the rights of the constitution.

[Warren DeMontague]

21. So you think flag burning should be illegal, then?

look closely at your own words: it symbolizes a treasonous act against our democracy

Right. It symbolizes one. That doesn't mean it IS one. What if someone draws a picture of someone flying the confederate flag? What if someone writes a short story about someone drawing a picture of someone flying the confederate flag? See where this is going?

You need to be able to separate the menu from the meal.

And your understanding of the constitution is incomplete, since you don't understand the 1st Amendment.

[RegieRocker]

22. No. That is totally different. It's just a flag and many of them

are thrown it trash cans after the 4th of July. That isn't treasonous.

[Warren DeMontague]

23. Again, you are cofusing the symbol of the thing with the actual thing

and like it or not, flying confederate flags is constitutionally protected "Yes I'm an asshole" speech.

[RegieRocker]

25. I'm not confusing it at all and neither are the skinheads

and confederate flag waving bums that fly those flags either. They know what they mean and they want those bygone days to return.

[Warren DeMontague]

26. The best way to prevent them from returning is to protect and understand the 1st amendment.

The 1st Amendment is only as good as the right of the biggest asshole to air his noxious, asinine views.

[RegieRocker]

28. Except for items representing treasonous attempted acts.

[PavePusher]

27. "It's just a flag..."

It's just a book.

It's just a newspaper.

It's just a protest sign.

It's just the Internet.

It's just a public speech.

It's just a school term paper.

It's just television/radio.



Where do you draw the line, and how do you justify that line and not someone else's line?

[RZM]

19. That's your right

You can hate whomever or whatever you want. So can those why fly the flag.

[Scuba]

3. The Confederacy lasted four years. Just how much "heritage" do they have?

[BBri]

4. How True...

Great point. Boy oh boy they've made a big deal over a 4 year long failed government.

[provis99]

6. you could always wear this t-shirt...

http://www.zazzle.com/confederate_flag_the_flag_for_losers_since_1865_tshirt-235335864563313809

[BBri]

8. Buying one now...

Perfect!!!! Thanks!!

[Glassunion]

7. They make great toilet paper.

So soft.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

9. Its actually the flag of the Army of Northern Virginia

since it is square. If it were rectangular it would be the 2nd Confederate Navy Jack.

Few if anyone recognizes the true flags of the Confederacy (there were several). None of them looked like that.

[Bucky]

12. True, but not particularly relevant. This is a debate about the values people place on symbols.

The fact that the symbols and their meaning have evolved over time doesn't blunt the raw emotions those symbols elicit.

[ProgressiveProfessor]

15. If it were the true Confederate flag, I doubt most would even recognize it as such

[Bucky]

13. I wonder if you could put this on a flag

or this


engraved by Josiah Wedgewood, but allegedly designed by William Blake.

[backscatter712]

24. I don't feel like being subtle. BURN THE CONFEDERATE FLAG!

After pissing on it first...