Random thoughts post 'em

[amatscintilla]

The united states existed, the South claimed secession, the US said, "You can't do that without convincing us that you have probable cause." The South decided fuck the North and started war prep. I'm generalizing here, but there's been discussion among political analysts for years about whether the Confederate flag should be considered a flag of treason, considering what the South did to the US by forming their own failed government, attacking the USA, etc.

Legally, the South never managed secession, they went turncoat and were brought back into the union. That was a key point of the whole war, the South stopped listening to law and said, "No, we can do whatever we want, we don't have to listen to you. We've made our own government." I promise you that if I gathered up a few million people, made my own flag, and said, "Okay, we have to attack America now so we can do what we want to do" my group would be labeled traitors. It all hinges on what you consider legal secession, if that's even possible, etc. Which is what started the whole war to begin with.

The right of the South to secede was the same right the original 13 colonies exercised when seceding from the British Empire. To say otherwise is to ignore historic fact and precedent. And the South never set out to attack the North, they were merely attempting to fortify and protect their own border, knowing their neighbor to the north would aggress (as they did).

And the patriots *were* labeled traitors in 1776, you know. The only difference is the South lost whereas the patriots eventually beat the British.

So I suppose I misspoke. To the North I suppose the South could have been considered traitors. But to continue labeling them as such to this day, after losing the war and being forced back into the Union, is a bit much, tbh. But whether or not a group is labeled as "traitor" is really subjective and relative to the side on which an individual stands. As such, I don't think it should be bandied about as historical fact.

I am surprised at how quickly this thread of discussion fulfilled Godwin's law, though.