Heritage? Hate? Or just stupidity?

A friend sent me this article. Well well, didn't we hear enough about this retarded hot mess months ago? Now these "history aficionados" are back just in time for the Superbowl Extravaganza in Tampa to remind the rest of the country why they make fun of us and call us rednecks. Nothing says "git r dun" and "we'ze tolerant and edjookatid" than the world's largest Confederate flag on a giant flag pole. Thanks fellow white Southerners, for setting us back approximately 150 years.



Oh how I loathe living in the South at times. Don't get me wrong; I love fishing, football, barbecues, hunting, honing my Sig Sauer 9mm skillz, and other such "Southernesque" activities often attributed to the reddest of rednecks. I don't intend to agitate my fellow prideful Southerners, Florida cracker brethren, or urbanly challenged folks. I've just gotten a little sick of seeing the Confederate flag down South, and Florida isn't the only state to blame for this offense (coughtherestofthebiblebeltcough).

I will admit that growing up I thought the Confederate flag was kind of neat, like something that made us really different from the northern part of the US. The orange colors, the stars, the history (at least the tiniest of what you're exposed to when very young). As I got older, wiser and took more history classes past the elementary school level, I realized that it was the standard bearer of slavery and separatism that led Confederate forces into battle.

Here's where I get miffed. If you've studied history at all in your life and actually cared, most learned people realize the Civil War was NOT fought over JUST slavery (while it later became an issue no doubt). While there are many reasons the war was fought, I still respect the men who fought and died on both sides. We were not alive then, so we can't fairly judge with an honest heart and unbiased vision. The South thought they were fighting for a just cause and preservation of their way of life, and the North was trying to preserve the union and later free the slaves. History tells us that the South was obviously very wrong and therefore lost one of the worst wars the USA has ever seen.

So why in the hell would someone flagrantly display the Confederate flag like they're "honoring" Confederate history? What do they think they are representing? Even if they had family members who fought in the war, why celebrate it? I just don't get it. So they're proud to represent their "heritage" of rebel separatists and slave-owning states that wanted to separate from the Union?

While some intentions may be just to honor the memory of the Civil War for whatever backwater, hillbilly reason, have these people thought how African Americans (or other ethnic groups) felt about it? I'm sure diverse ethnic groups living down South have grown accustomed to seeing the Confederate flag and just ignoring it (I've asked). I can almost guarantee that to them it doesn't represent lofty historical American ideals like "history" and "heritage". I'm sure to even non-African Americas, it represents slavery and racial intolerance. Does anyone honestly think Hispanics, (West Indie) Indians, Asians, or Muslims think the Confederate flag means "Southern historical pride"? Probably not, especially if it's displayed on the back of Ford 29,000 4x4 raised up on 50" mud boggers as opposed to a museum wall.

Give me a break. I don't see many highly educated people toting the Rebel flag around and bragging about it.I think "Southern Rebel pride" is synonymous with "racial intolerance and bigotry", but cleverly disguised and rationalized by the guilty parties who embrace the ideal.

As a white, Southern, college educated male I find this old debacle pointless, embarrassing and basically a stain on civil rights and the image of Southerners nationwide. We're already made fun of enough and viewed by some as less than average intelligence, why the hell embrace the Confederate flag and buy into it? I hope people wise up and realize this is 2009, and if you want to act like you have a sense of humanity or education, drop the Confederate flag and sport the modern rendition of the good ol' American flag. You know, the red, white and blue one people have fought and died for for countless wars? The country that was founded by immigrants who killed the Native Americans, but now is a bastion of freedom and culture all over the world?

Whew, I'm done. Thanks for reading.

PS: The only exception to this post is the General E. Lee car from Dukes of Hazard. That car was just too bad ass.