Confederate Flag (stickers etc...boo)
 

When I see a confederate flag sticker on a car/truck I do not think "the south" or "racism" all I think of EVERYTIME is how the symbol to me is synonymous with "uneducated." Plain and simple.

You are a #### fool if you think that piece of #### flag stands for anything. Get a job and move out of your mom's basement please.

####ing pathetic.

Edit: Bleeped out my (equally ignorant but necessary) swear words.

Where the hell did that come from?

But how else will we know that they're a rebel, like everyone else bearing the stars and bars?

It was just on my mind today after seeing some dude muscle his way down the freeway in his truck covered with confederate flag stickers. It just put me in a bad mood all day. Sorry, just wanted to vent. It's disgusting.

You can always put the "You lost. Get over it." sticker on your car.

Down here that's a good way to get a car keyed. :p

Just be happy knowing you have all your teeth.



















You have all your teeth, right?

Damn, I thought that was because of my "Bad Cop. No Donut." sticker. :p

Sadly, I do as well...but I'm working on it. :(

Gun rack.

On a separate but related issue, whenever I see any kind of bumper sticker on a car, I can't help but think I'd never want to loan the owner of that car any of my property. I've never quite understood the willingness of people to ruin their cars. I refuse to even allow the dealership to put its stupid insignia on my trunk.

This brings up a related question that occurred to me last night while watching the addiction that I like to call "television". I saw a trailer for the new Dukes of Hazzard and I wondered if they were going to keep the confederate flag on the General Lee in the movie. I did not look close enough at the trailer so I couldn't tell for sure. It is an interesting debate if they should stick to remaking the original series or if they should remove it to reflect the increased P.C. of the current time.

Well, if they got rid of the flag, why stop there? The car's named after the leader of the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, an army that fought under the same banner that's on the roof.

Yes they are keeping the rebel flag on the hood of the car. They are also keeping the dixie horn as well. It's only fitting seeing as how the name of the car is the General Lee.

As far as being upset by seeing somebody with a confederate flag sticker/banner/insignia on their vehicle...you have absolutely no idea why they have that sticker there. You getting that upset over what someone else chooses to do with their own vehicle makes you ignorant in your own right.

dola -

Now when I see somebody driving around here with a Dallas Cowboys sticker on their car, well that calls for nothing less than five continuous minutes of cursing.

While it's true you really shouldn't "judge a book by its cover", I don't think drawing inferences about someone from what they decorate their car (or house, or otherwise) with makes one ignorant. Certain symbols stand for some pretty clear ideas. I mean, would you think someone "ignorant" if they saw someone wearing a cross and made the assumption that "this person is Christian"? Such symbols aren't the some total of a person, but certainly enough for you to draw an inference and to get annoyed. Hell, I got annoyed/angry whenever I see a Hummer on the road. This is not like judging someone by the color of their skin. Whoever it is went through the trouble of buying the symbol and then goes ahead and displays it proudly.

I saw a trailer for that movie over the weekend... God that looks fucking abysmal. Awful. Atrocious. Pathetic.

I don't get upset by it, but I wonder why people want to affix a symbol of TREASON to thier belongings.

I saw the trailer for the new Dukes movie, and I believe that the Confederate Flag isn't on the hood but on the roof of the car.

You are correct. It is on the roof of the car.

It still looked horrible this movie.

Even Cooter's pissed about this movie.

The treason angle is interesting and I don't understand why it isn't pushed more by those people who are against its display. Confederate flag supporters readily dismiss the racism argument, but don't seem to fight the treason argument as hard (probably since the idea of a flag that is symbolic of an act of treason that actually happened is much more tangible). Confedarate flag supporters on this board have said as much: basically, "don't bring racism into this argument, but treason is fair game"...

Although I don't "do bumperstickers", I'll just say that I'd be happy to compare incomes with you sometime if you'd like. Bet you're closer to "mom's basement" than I am.

I'd take you to task in more detail & with more fervor, but then I see where you're from & figure you can't help it, it'd be like picking on someone with a birth defect.

Just as an anecdotal case in point, I wouldn't dispute your quoted statement.

Having lived in both places, I'd say Michigan and Georgia have a lot in common. There are plenty of birth defects to go around.

But I'm from Michigan... :confused:

The Confederate Flag is stupid.

Thank you and good day.

I believe the "Handbook of Comedy" suggests that a distinct "silent pause" is the way for me to go here.

:D

As a post-script to my earlier post: this is America and I wouldn't want restrictions on it's display by private citizens. But I do think that those people who do decide to display should reflect on what the Confederate flag means as a symbol to both themselves and others and on how one's respect for the Confederacy jibes with one's love for America, etc...

Two favorite stories about Georgia:

A group of friends and I drove to Atlanta (from Michigan) one night to visit another friend. We have seen signs for "Waffle House" at every exit south of Cinci. So, finally the repetition pays off and we stop at a "Waffle House" about 45 minutes north of Atlanta.

The waitress there (sans a few teeth) comes to our table and asks us to place our order. We do and it's pretty obvious we're from the north. She asks "Where y'all from?" We say Michigan. She replies "Ohhh weee! Yankees! Wait 'til Earl gets in. He'll love this!" So we nod, smile, and finish our order.

A few minutes later Earl comes in and sits at the bar. He's a big ole boy. He's wearing a hat that reads "Keep the South Clean, Send a Yankee Home." So the waitress calls over to Earl and says, "Hey, Earl. We've got some Yankees here." She nods to our table. Earl turns around in his stool and eyes us down. He then says "Only two things come from the North: Yankees and bad weather." He gives us a bit of a snarl and turns back around to start his meal.

Second story:

A friend of mine from law school and a bunch of his friends were headed down to Florida for Spring Break. They were in undergrad. A bunch guys from New York driving a black SUV. So they go tearing through Georgia and get pulled over by a cop for speeding. The cop gets out of his car and he's straight out of central casting. Big guy, hat, mirrored-shades, all of that. He walks up to the SUV and says:

"Boy. Aint nobdy go through Georgia that fast."

Without missing a beat, the guy from New York replies:

"Sherman did."

He spent the night in jail.

The flag they almost exclusively display was the Confederate battle flag or the Navy Jack. It was a symbol used by those taking up arms against the United States of America. It is 100% treasonous.

Usually it doesn't bother me and I'll only comment on it if I'm asked. I usually ask why they don't display the Stars and Bars if it's Southern Pride they're showing. Most of the time they're knuckleheads that don't know the difference.

The only time I've taken action against such a display was on the 4th of July. My brother-in-law had his flag flying at the in-laws and I took it down and threw it on the ground. I then had to explain to him what he was doing and he hasn't flown it, at least with me around, since.

Actually, we had a discussion on this a year or two ago.

http://dynamic.gamespy.com/~fof/foru...ead.php?t=6671

It's my opinion that the confederate battle flag is racist - at least it is now. It may not have started out that way, but it was used in the 1950's by southern governments as a protest against federally mandated racial integration.

Like it or not, to a great many Americans, the symbol connotes white power.

No, thanks to the blasted Navy. :)

I have a masters degree and I'm proud of my heritage. So take that. :)

Much in the way that guns don't kill people, people do, flags are incapable of being racist(s).

Personall, I couldn't care less about a Confederate flag on a car, and I admit I'm surprised about the fervor presented in the first post. Get over it - the guy chooses to mess up his car/truck, so what?

When I see a Confederate flag, I don't think racism...really I just see pride in living in the south (though I don't think I'd ever go so far as to put such a flag on my car that could POSSIBLY denote something negative like that - then again, I do walk around with a t-shirt that says "Your favorite band sucks"). Really, Texans do the same thing - putting their flag on their car, "don't mess with Texas", etc. I guess the only differences are the additional connotations that the Confederate flag has attached to it. Again, personally, I see very little difference, ymmv.

Then they're the ones that are uneducated.

Do you display the Stars and Bars or one of the battle flags?

Well played, Jon :)

SI

I must admit, the topic of why people display the confederate flag fascinates me. If I may ask (not trying to be rude here), what does the symbol mean to you? What does your pride in your heritage mean, and how is it encapsulated in the symbol?

I wouldn't call people who associate the Confederate flag with racism "uneducated." Like it or not, the flag was used and is still used today (by some) as a symbol for racism. While someone may just be putting the Confederate Flag on their car to display Southren Pride, you can't ignore the fact that the symbol has been used to "display" other ideas and that certain people, very well educated people, may associate those ideas with that symbol.

Come on, now! I set him up for that! A nice, big grapefruit of a pitch to the old fella...

Neither; contrary to popular belief, the Stars and Bars originated as a Confederate Naval flag on CSS ships and was only later adopted by field units in battle.

I don't display them, not because I don't want to be labelled a racist, but because what they mean to me is personal to my beliefs and own feelings. I don't feel the need unlike other "causes d'celebrare" (sic)to "project" my beliefs onto others.

If its wrong of me to be proud of my ancestors that fought in the 13th AL Infantry "Tallassee Guards" for a cause that they "at the time" believed in then I don't want to be right. (1$ to that preacher in Coming to America)

Apparently you are the one who is uneducated - with a complete lack of reading comprehension ability. KWhit is right - some have overtly used that flag as a symbol of their racist views. People who know that and then associate that symbol with racism are not uneducated or unintelligent at all. If you consider it a symbol of something other than resistance to racial equality, then you should blame the racist perception some have of that flag on those who advanced it as such, planting that perception in so many people's minds and not on those who actually have that perception.

I am well aware that certain people have used that flag as a symbol of their racist views. I grew up in a small town in Alabama, so you don't have to remind me about those aspects of society. I however see the distinction with being proud of your heritage and your ancestors and being racist. Some apparently do not.

Just curious, should all the people that are against the Iraq war or feel that it is unjust, illegal, etc. be ashamed of their fathers, grandfathers, brothers and sisters that are fighting it?

Just making sure everybody knows he's smart enough to judge mean people when he see's their bumper stickers.

If you are as educated on the issue as you claim to be, I'm sure you'll be able to explain to me why the Georgia state flag was changed to incorporate the confederate symbol in 1956.

I'm also sure you know who Denmark Groover is, but for the others reading this thread, he's the Georgia House floor leader who in 1956 sponsored the legislation to add the Southern Cross into the state flag. He also has since admitted that the flag was changed to a protest of court-ordered integration.

The timing couldn't make it more obvious. The entire 1956 session of the GA legislature was devoted toward twarting the federal government's institution of Brown v. Board of Education. The incorporation of the confederate battle flag was a thinly veiled "screw you" to the federal gov't - specifically as it related to racial integration.

KWhit -- I believe you're failing to make an important distinction between "opposing integration" & "opposing Federally-ordered integration".

You're welcome to disagree, but I believe that it's a valid distinction, albeit infinitely more distinctive today than in 1956.

I'll even go so far as to say that the circumstances of legal integration are a major component of the poor state of racial affairs in Georgia today.

That is the Stars and Bars. The original Confederate National Flag.



The second Confederate National Flag. Mostly white.



The third and final Confederate National Flag.



A sample of some battle flags.

I couldn't tell if it was intentional or just the result of years of Red Wings brain damage (oh, it's good to have hockey back!) ;)

SI