The South Still Lies About The Civil War

[lilah]

To be fair, the Civil war was also about economics (of slavery) as well as states' rights (to own slaves

When I was ten I moved from Rhode Island to Virginia. In high school I took AP US history and that lie was perpetuated on me. When I got to college and got a more nauced view of history that you cannot extricate slavery from the economics/state's rights argument I felt so angry and betrayed that even in a high quality private school with students taking what is supposed to be college level history I was taught lies.

The South needs to look to Germany to see how to get bad history right, Germans actually teach their children their warts and all version of history and emphasize that they as a nation were wrong.

[SquirrelySquirrel]

I spent a grand total of about two hours in Alabama (travelling to one small town near the FL border) and in that time saw more Confederate flags than I had in my previous 20 years of existence (including visits to 23 US states - and bizarrely enough, I've seen Confederate flags on vehicles in my Canadian hometown - with BC license plates! Did they just see Dukes of Hazzard too many times, or did they come from the South, or what?).

It makes sense considering that it was solid Confederate area, but was still very uncomfortable to see. It really is a different world.

I have family outside of Birmingham and I know I saw more there than anywhere else I've been in the South, which I've traveled quite extensively, but I've also been there many more times than anywhere else in the South. I was a bit stunned when I went to a mall with my cousin and there was an entire shop catering to Confederate Flag and "the South should have won" types of merchandise. Sadly, my cousins there are both of this mentality. We're not close like we were when we were kids.

I see plenty of them here in Indiana as well, mostly on big trucks that also include stickers of Calvin (of Calvin and Hobbes) pissing on things. :lol: It's very easy to see that these aren't educated, thinking kind of people. And I can tell you that it has nothing what so ever to do with the damn war and thinking the South had the right to secede. It's fucking racism, and anyone who tries to say otherwise is delusional. There's simply no other reason for a Hoosier to have that flag hanging in their garage, tattooed on their arm, or stuck to their bumper. There's really no other reason for anyone to have it, IMO, but esp not up north.

[rward]

I moved to PA from TX. I never saw a Confederate flag once in 3 years in Texas, but I see them all the time in PA.

I really think it's like those people that just love to use words that aren't "PC" to show that you can't shackle them, they're independent thinkers, they're rebels, rebels who say "retard".

[laura oz]

I'm from South Carolina and you see that damn thing EVERYWHERE down there. We have only had it off the top of the capitol building for about 10 years now I think. In high school a popular shirt was out in my area (Darlington County) that had the stars and bars and said "You wear your X, I'll wear mine" in response to the Malcolm X shirts. I thought those hadn't been made in AGES, but actually saw someone wearing one that didn't look too old last time I went back home. So......yeah, some areas are still kinda.....dumb. But even there we didn't have a restaurant like that. Dayum!

[RachelB]

I moved to PA from TX. I never saw a Confederate flag once in 3 years in Texas, but I see them all the time in PA.

I really think it's like those people that just love to use words that aren't "PC" to show that you can't shackle them, they're independent thinkers, they're rebels, rebels who say "retard".

Which is weird. Why does anyone buy that there's something independent or rebellious-- rather than just embarrassing-- about proudly proclaiming very old, tired-out, not at all edgy prejudices? Some ideas deserve to be retired. To me, patting oneself on the back for being un-PC (i.e., impolite) is on a par with saying, "I know civilization believes in bathrooms, and I'm physically able to use one, but I'm so unconventional I would rather poop myself."

[GenerationCedarchip]

I'm from VA, and I never saw many confederate flags until recently. Up around the DC area, it seems to have become a symbol of anti-federal government sentiment. I don't know it if comes from the bad history perpetuated in the schools, but I've come across any number of people who just seem completely ignorant of the racial baggage attached to that particular symbol. To them, it's just "F&*(& you, Feds!" (and there's a lot of that sentiment in Virginia). To me, it's still pretty disturbing because even though I was raised fundie, I was also raised in a part of the state where confederate flags were just way beyond the pale. Even when the Sprouls(who greatly influenced my childhood church) started up with their pro-confederacy stuff, it was still just not acceptable.

On the restaurant with the children in rags. I have to say, "Yikes!" Also, I think I know exactly where you're talking about. As soon as you mentioned Lexington, it clicked. I used to live out that way and if this is the place I'm thinking of, it was a fancy restaurant attached to a historic antebellum home you could tour. They employed local high school kids as waitstaff and yes, they were dressed like slaves. I never ate there but I remember thinking it seemed a little creepy. I think the restaurant is gone now.

[roddma]

To be honest, I've never understood why people want to fly the stars and bars. I understand it's part of American history, but why be proud of the side that lost?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As far as I'm concerned, a war has no winners. "What is war? What is it good for? Abosultely nothin'".

Furthermore, th eocuntry had a whole different morality then.

[duplessis3]

The only "State's Right" being fought for was the right to enslave human beings. So to me - flying the Confederate flag means you are pro, or sympathetic to, racist ideology. I mean, if you can blink at slavery....(OT: my then 9 yr old son portrayed John Brown for Young Chautauqua. Interesting man - he was pretty much correct on everything, up to and including women's rights. )

[gardenvarietycitizen]

I'm from South Carolina and you see that damn thing EVERYWHERE down there. We have only had it off the top of the capitol building for about 10 years now I think. In high school a popular shirt was out in my area (Darlington County) that had the stars and bars and said "You wear your X, I'll wear mine" in response to the Malcolm X shirts. I thought those hadn't been made in AGES, but actually saw someone wearing one that didn't look too old last time I went back home. So......yeah, some areas are still kinda.....dumb. But even there we didn't have a restaurant like that. Dayum!

The Confederate battle flag has a specific history from the 1950s-60s (and its use as a symbol in response to the civil rights movement) in addition to its original history from the Civil War. And a lot of the offense is about that later history.

So many people will trot out "but it's historical" about the Civil War part but just want to ignore all that ugliness from more recent times.

[laura oz]

The Confederate battle flag has a specific history from the 1950s-60s (and its use as a symbol in response to the civil rights movement) in addition to its original history from the Civil War. And a lot of the offense is about that later history.

So many people will trot out "but it's historical" about the Civil War part but just want to ignore all that ugliness from more recent times.

I can understand someone saying it's historical, but it just became such a symbol of oppression and cruelty that I don't understand why it's still put on display. My grandfather was in the Klan and even he hates the damn thing now. He's ashamed of what he did back then, I think. He never talks about it. We lost the damn war, get over it.

[FeministShrew]

Yes, I pass about a dozen houses every day that fly the battle flag, either from an actual flag pole or hanging in a window. I pass one house that has one on a pole outside, a huge one hanging on the back wall of the garage, and flag tags on all of their cars.

Lots & lots of tags/bumper stickers/ rear window decals. And of course the obligatory lifted pick-up with flags attached to the bed.

It's a little scary around here sometimes.

But I also see a fair share of liberal, anti-religious decals & stickers, too!

[Wolfie]

I actually was shocked the other day to see somebody post on a message board and refer to it as "The War of Northern Aggression." That is something I'm used to only reading in books.

(and in the hick neighborhood in Northern CA where I used to live, there were a few houses with the Confederate Flag.)