Random thoughts post 'em

[Ziggy and Angelbaby]

The flag wasn't a symbol of slavery, it was a symbol of the Confederacy. Of course they supported slavery. But so did the Union. And you don't see this same demonization of the actual American flag (even the colonial flag) very prevalent.

None of that matters.

The swastika wasn't a symbol of antisemitism and the mass extermination of innocents, either, but that's sure as hell what people think of when they see one.

The original meaning of a symbol is relatively unimportant, and the one that southerners so proudly and thoughtlessly wave is irreversibly tarnished. That's just the way it is. Not that I think there was ever anything remotely admirable about the confederacy from the get-go.

And the U.S. flag (as much as I genuinely don't care about it) wasn't raised as a result of some people wanting to continue owning other people. The confederacy was, at least in part, established as a result of precisely that. People, usually in the defense of the confederate flag, try to downplay the hell out of this. "Oh, it wasn't the major or the only reason." So what? Southern slave owners feared that their slaves would be taken away from them. It was a compelling reason.

Nowadays, white southerners aren't allowed to own African Americans. Seemingly in lieu of that, they're holding firm to a remnant of that time.

A really crappy flag.

And there have been some modern day asshats talking secession, too. During, coincidentally I'm sure, the administration of our first black president.

I don't want to believe that a lot of southern Americans are racist shitheads, but a lot of southern Americans are racist shitheads. That's what I associate the confederate flag with, and I'm not the only one who makes that connection.