Quote:
Originally Posted by SydneyK
(Post 2096001)
This may be true. The Klan also used crosses to do the same thing, yet people don't cry, 'Racist!' when they see a southerner displaying one. Yes, I know there are problems with the analogy, but it serves a purpose nonetheless. That purpose being different emblems have different meanings to different people. The emblems themselves don't have intrinsic meaning - meaning is assigned by individuals. And different individuals assign different meanings to the same emblem.
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Actually, I think this is a terrible analogy.
The cross is (generally) a positive symbol that has been used for thousands and thousands of years across different religions. The Klan using this symbol didn't taint it forever, as most people had thoughts and beliefs about what it meant that were so entrenched in its history that the Klan couldn't change that. It was known that this symbol represented something other than white power, and did so long before the creation of the KKK.
Now, in terms of cross-BURNING... this was practiced before the creation of the KKK, but if I was to burn a cross today, most likely no one is going to think of its Scottish origins and let me off with a warning. Here in the US, cross-burning is associated with the Klan, and I doubt that association will ever be changed.
In other words, there's a difference between a flag/symbol that was created for a positive reason and used later for a negative one (by a small group of people), and a flag/symbol that was initially used to represent something negative and is then attempted to express something positive.
The Confederate flag being flown proudly in the US isn't comparable to the Klan using the cross, but it IS comparable to the Klan burning the cross, in that both symbols were (in this country) initially associated with despicable thoughts and actions. To attempt to reverse that completely would most likely be impossible.
Quote:
Originally Posted by KDCat
(Post 2096033)
I think it totally depends on who is flying it. I'm sure some people fly it out of general "Southern pride" and aren't racists or rebels. At the same time, regardless of who flys it, I think the use of that flag is a mistake. It's a big middle finger to the whole world because it's a flag that was used to represent 1) people who engaged in treason/revolution against the United States and 2) by the Klan and 3) segregationists. I think if you fly it, you're telling the whole world that you are perfectly happy to be identified with those groups.
If someone flies a red flag with a yellow hammer and crescent on it, I tend to believe that they have some sympathy for communists.
A flag is a piece of communication. If it's not communicating the message that you want it to, the problem isn't the fact that audience misunderstood, it's that you have chosen the wrong symbol to communicate.
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This!!!
I don't have a problem if you want to display it in your house. Hell, you could have a Klan meeting at your house if you wanted, just as long as you aren't plotting to commit an act of violence. But when you leave your house with a t-shirt or a bumper sticker displaying that flag, you shouldn't be surprised if you're met with people who think you're racist. But hey, that's your right.
However, in my opinion, a symbol that makes, most likely, at least 50% of the country uncomfortable at the least and pissed off/offended at the most, shouldn't be flown at a government building. The fact that states fight to keep that flag flying on the front lawns of their capital buildings is baffling to me.
Quote:
Originally Posted by BluPhire
(Post 2096141)
Yep, Northern to parts of Central Florida is very South.
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This sentence made me laugh.
