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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]
You don't control the way others interpret symbols.....   We would all be well served to remember this.[/quote]

That cuts both ways, which is why most thinking people don't buy into the "heritage not hate" crap that apologists keep putting out there, because thinking people are acutely aware that the only major historical events associated with the Confederate flag are the bloody and awful Civil War which cost so many lives, which was indeed about slavery, after which the Confederate flag was largely abandoned and laid dormant for decades, only to be resurrected in connection with the KKK in the early 1900s, and making a strong resurgence in protest to desegregation and the Civil Rights movement.  Sadly those are things that have not been correctly, completely or accurately taught in many southern States, leaving some to believe the revisionist version and deny those associations.[/quote]

It does cut both ways!!!  I am pro flag.  I mean precisely that- your description of the flags meaning differs greatly from mine.  If you understand that my flying the flag is not about segregation (for me!) then you'll understand my position better, just as I should open my mind to yours.

That approach does not necessarily lead to agreement, but at least acknowledges that there are real people with differing views.[/quote]

Let's try and explore that - what *specific* piece of heritage or history can you relate to relative to the Confederate flag, which does not have anything to do with slavery, segregation or racism?

Again, you can't say states rights - because it is well documented that from the 1850s up to the Civil War, the "states rights" issue debated in Congress and on the streets and in the taverns of America was specifically about the right to not just continue the practice of slavery, but to expand it into the western territories.    To say it was about "states rights" and not slavery is not a "difference of views" that is not telling the full story, because you have to also talk about the states' rights TO DO WHAT.  Slavery is the "what" that the rights battle was over.  So you can't  earnestly say you have a difference of view there, when the reality would be you don't have all the facts.

What other historical event is there?  The Confederate flag was generally not used in the South for many decades after the Civil War ended.  After the war, Robert E. Lee said it should not be used, for that matter no Confederate symbols should be used, as he felt it was important to put the wounds and scars behind and reunite as a nation.  It was those who wanted to reopen the wounds and scratch at the scars who resurrected the Confederate flag and trotted it back out.  The flag made its biggest resurgence as a protest banner during the era of Civil Rights, flown by segregationists.  Again, if you disagree, that is not a "difference of views" - it is a denial of facts.

The Confederate flag was used for 4 years during the Civil War.  During those 4 years it represented secession, it represented tearing the nation into pieces, and it represented slavery.

After that, it was abandoned, and for decades, it represented nothing, apart from the occasional obscure reference to the CSA.

It was resurrected a little over 50 years ago as a symbol of segregation.  That is also a fact.

What true GOOD has it been a banner for in history?   The Dukes of Hazzard?  Hollywoodized, cartoonized version of the South?  Come on.

Thus far nobody has been able to articulate this meaningfully, other than generalized, meaningless babble of "It's a symbol of the South and Southern heritage" - without being able to explain.  If you can't explain or give examples, then there's a problem with your thinking and rationalization.[/quote]

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