Burn the Confederate Flag!

[lpetrich]

Burn the Confederate Flag Day (http://sites.google.com/site/burnrebelflagday/)
It's the patriotic thing to do : Pharyngula (http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2010/08/its_the_patriotic_thing_to_do.php)
Burn the Confederate Flag Day is a protest against the right's exploitation of racial prejudice for political gain. We urge you to burn the Confederate flag, a long-time symbol of racial hatred, on Sept 12, the date when the racially-divisive Tea Party holds its annual hate fest.

[DMB]

I can't raise enthusiasm for flag burning. IMO it's descending to the level of the bigots who normally do it.

[RED DAVE]

I can't raise enthusiasm for flag burning. IMO it's descending to the level of the bigots who normally do it.Why not burn the racist flag of slavery, the KKK and the Confederacy? You got something better to do?

RED DAVE

[DMB]

I can't raise enthusiasm for flag burning. IMO it's descending to the level of the bigots who normally do it.Why not burn the racist flag of slavery, the KKK and the Confederacy? You got something better to do?

RED DAVE

I said why in my post.

[Politesse]

That isn't really what the Confederate flag is a symbol of, at least not to the people who keep them around... Like most flags, it represents a place. And places are loaded with meanings, some good, some bad. I think burning flags is an infantile form of protest.

[Notta]

That's right: Let's show racists, homophobic, redneck Confederate-flag-owning bastards that LIBERALS are just as intolerant as they are!!

I find flag burning a stupid way to protest. I find flag WORSHIP just as stupid as flag burning. I hate 'pledging' my 'allegiance' to a flag, any flag. I think having a christian flag is just as stupid as having a country flag. They're a throwback to preliterate days and are essentially meaningless.

Nothing stirs in my heart or mind when I see a bunch of US flags go by, any more than when a bunch of girl or boy scouts march by with their flag. It's cloth with fancy details. Big deal.

[DMB]

That's right: Let's show racists, homophobic, redneck Confederate-flag-owning bastards that LIBERALS are just as intolerant as they are!!

I find flag burning a stupid way to protest. I find flag WORSHIP just as stupid as flag burning. I hate 'pledging' my 'allegiance' to a flag, any flag. I think having a christian flag is just as stupid as having a country flag. They're a throwback to preliterate days and are essentially meaningless.

Nothing stirs in my heart or mind when I see a bunch of US flags go by, any more than when a bunch of girl or boy scouts march by with their flag. It's cloth with fancy details. Big deal.

Yes indeed.

[DanB]

I can't raise enthusiasm for flag burning. IMO it's descending to the level of the bigots who normally do it.Why not burn the racist flag of slavery, the KKK and the Confederacy?
It's counter-productive.

[LoneWolf]

I can't raise enthusiasm for flag burning. IMO it's descending to the level of the bigots who normally do it.Why not burn the racist flag of slavery, the KKK and the Confederacy? You got something better to do?

RED DAVE

I don't know about DMB, but I know I have better things to do.

[Bane]

I doubt there'd be many people outside the US doing it, for one thing. For another, those inside the US who do it are probably going to accomplish no more than pissing the teabaggers off and looking like the teabaggers. Careful now, you guys don't want to justify the things Fox News says, am I right? ;)

I don't think flag-burning does much other than piss people off, but I don't think I'd call someone evil for doing it.

[DMB]

I am currently in France. I can't imagine going to the trouble of finding a suitable flag here and then publicly burning it to the mystification of the French, who wouldn't know what it was (unless they thought it was the USA flag!).

[DanB]

Has anyone here checked the advertisements on the Burn-a-Flag website?

They are PRO Tea Party and PRO Confederacy!

I suspect that someone has managed to effectively orchestrate an event by, manipulating the actions of their political opposition which, will be used to promote their own agenda.

Duplicitous but, brilliant. And apparently, wildly, successful.

ETA: CAUTION! (my conspiratorial neurons are firing madly) The website is asking those planning flag burning parties to post them. I would not be surprised if, their intent is to appear at those parties, to protest the burning. Considering that, Flag Burning laws have injected the concept of "retaliation" as a consequence of flag burning, the events may be used as a premise for violence.

[lpetrich]

Has anyone here checked the advertisements on the Burn-a-Flag website?

They are PRO Tea Party and PRO Confederacy!
Check again. It's "Ads by Google". Google's ad service selects ads for pages by looking at the pages' contents and guessing which ads might fit. Thus, an anti-teabagger political site would get ads for teabagger sites.

That sort of thing happens with some defenders of evolution -- they get ads for creationist sites.

So I don't think I'd want to read too much into that -- it reflects the deficiencies of AI natural-language processing.

[DanB]

Doh!

I feel stupid and relieved. :o

[Spode]

Why not burn the racist flag of slavery, the KKK and the Confederacy? You got something better to do?

RED DAVE

That isn't really what the Confederate flag is a symbol of, at least not to the people who keep them around... Like most flags, it represents a place. And places are loaded with meanings, some good, some bad.

Yes actually, that is exactly what the Confederate flag is a symbol of. Clearly you have little to no experience with the rural south. Every person I've ever known who flew or owned the Confederate did so to make their racial views known.

[DanB]

I'm still uncomfortable with this.

I did some introspection after, my "chicken little" display earlier. I've concluded that the thought of groups gathering to burn a flag disturbs me.

I'm not sure if, it is because I might be associating it with Nazis/Christians burning books, Puritans burning witches, or some other memory of mob violence. There's something violent about it, though. It's an abandonment of reason in the celebration of guttural aggression.

Having the right to do something, doesn't make it the right thing to do.

[Jet Black]

I can't raise enthusiasm for flag burning. IMO it's descending to the level of the bigots who normally do it.Why not burn the racist flag of slavery, the KKK and the Confederacy? You got something better to do?

RED DAVE

it's bad for the environment and frankly a waste. If you value it so little, just turn it into dishcloths or something.

[Ray Moscow]

It's funny, but I'm not into burning symbols, even crappy ones. I'd rather argue about (or sometimes against) what they stand for.

Same for books.

[Daynna]

Yes actually, that is exactly what the Confederate flag is a symbol of. Clearly you have little to no experience with the rural south. Every person I've ever known who flew or owned the Confederate did so to make their racial views known.

That isn't exactly fair or true. Technically, the flag represented one side of a civil war. Its use by white supremacy groups as a symbol has made its appearance synonymous with racism.

When I was growing up in the south, there were still people around that had known civil war veterans in the flesh, often their own relatives. Maybe that gives me a different perspective. Contrary to popular belief, not everyone in the south is a fucking racist or descended from slave owners.

My mild rant aside, I do not see a clear purpose in burning flags. Much like most other symbolic gestures in protesting. It is not really accomplishing much.

[Spode]

Yes actually, that is exactly what the Confederate flag is a symbol of. Clearly you have little to no experience with the rural south. Every person I've ever known who flew or owned the Confederate did so to make their racial views known.

That isn't exactly fair or true. Technically, the flag represented one side of a civil war. Its use by white supremacy groups as a symbol has made its appearance synonymous with racism.

Breaking news: Symbols change over time. This one has, and has long since been co-opted by white racists groups. It might once have been viewed as a symbol of regional cultural pride, but that certainly isn't the case today.

When I was growing up in the south, there were still people around that had known civil war veterans in the flesh, often their own relatives. Maybe that gives me a different perspective.



Those days are long since gone. Nowadays if you fly a Confederate flag in the rural south, you are are displaying your view on race. It really is that simple. This comes from recent experiences, which I will not be elaborating upon.

Contrary to popular belief, not everyone in the south is a fucking racist or descended from slave owners.

Who said they were?

[espritch]

Careful now, you guys don't want to justify the things Fox News says, am I right? ;)


To justify the things Fox News says, we'd probably have to eat babies.

[columbus]

I can't raise enthusiasm for flag burning. IMO it's descending to the level of the bigots who normally do it.Why not burn the racist flag of slavery, the KKK and the Confederacy? You got something better to do?

RED DAVE

Red Dave, there are rules that we have to follow, even now, to be considered decent human beings..

Burning a flag that is a symbol from one group in order to piss off the members of another group is just stupidity. The fact that there is overlap in the two groups doesn't make it any less stupid.

There are plenty of Tea Partiers from Montana and Alaska and other places that have no connection at all with the Confederacy. There are people who identify with the Southern States who aren't racists or Tea Partiers. Your ability to put human beings into little boxes, based on skin color or ethnicity or whatever, is mind boggling to me. Your willingness to describe yourself as an ignorant, petulant, self-righteous prig, who already knows what everybody must do in order to achieve Salvation according to you makes you look like a total idiot to me.

So go ahead, make yourself look like as much of a dumbass as the TeaPartiers who yelled "Nigger" at the people who went to talk with Obama. Burn a flag that has nothing to do with anything important.

Do whatever makes you feel special and more important than the rest of us.


Just don't expect us to take you seriously.

Tom

[RED DAVE]

I can't raise enthusiasm for flag burning. IMO it's descending to the level of the bigots who normally do it.Why not burn the racist flag of slavery, the KKK and the Confederacy? You got something better to do?Red Dave, there are rules that we have to follow, even now, to be considered decent human beings..And one of them is not burning the Confederate flag in public.

Burning a flag that is a symbol from one group in order to piss off the members of another group is just stupidity.Or a good way to make a political point. One of the ways to protest the nazis was to burn their flag. One of the ways to protest American mass murder in Vietnam was to burn the American flag.

The fact that there is overlap in the two groups doesn't make it any less stupid.Whether it's stupid or not is a matter of political calculation. Right now, I think it's a terrific idea.

There are plenty of Tea Partiers from Montana and Alaska and other places that have no connection at all with the Confederacy.Then why do they fly the flag of the racist, slave-holding Confederacy? They could use one of the old "Don't Tread on Me!" flags. Instead, they choose the Old Glory of racism.

There are people who identify with the Southern States who aren't racists or Tea Partiers.That's their story. Mine is that their identification contains a large element of racism. Not too many black people at Tea Parties are there?

Your ability to put human beings into little boxes, based on skin color or ethnicity or whatever, is mind boggling to me.You ability to bullshit political is mind boggling to me.

Your willingness to describe yourself as an ignorant, petulant, self-righteous prig, who already knows what everybody must do in order to achieve Salvation according to you makes you look like a total idiot to me.I'm neither ignorant, petulant nor self-righteous. I leave that to the Tea Baggers.

So go ahead, make yourself look like as much of a dumbass as the TeaPartiers who yelled "Nigger" at the people who went to talk with Obama. Burn a flag that has nothing to do with anything important.I'll certainly start the barbecue on Labor Day using the Shits and Bits as kindling.

Do whatever makes you feel special and more important than the rest of us.

Just don't expect us to take you seriously.I'll leave the ranting and raving to you, Comrade. Meanwhile, I'll be firing it up.

RED DAVE

[Free in Freeport]

:popcorn:

[RED DAVE]

mispost

RED DAVE