Joe Blowme:

Yeah, I forget, how many slaves did Che own?

Hank III would like a word with all you folks lumping "pop country" in with "real country"

/the grand ole opry 'aint so grand anymore

rufus-t-firefly: [i48.photobucket.com image 425x425]

I'm actually more offended of the blatant copyright infringement and the fact that image of Calvin has become more popular then the actual comic then the confederate flag.

WorldCitizen: vernonFL: Yet we have no problems with Bayer aspirin, Porsche, Mitsubishi or Hugo Boss.

Is anyone claiming to be bothered by any companies based in the former Confederacy?

"former Confederacy?"

We currently exist under the occupation of The United States inc, our culture, our customs, our heritage and most importantly, our Constitution, are alive and unconquered awaiting the day when freedom loving Americans awaken to once again take up the banner of truth and regain our sovereignty.

kronicfeld: FlashHarry: "southern heritage," my ass. it's a symbol of slavery and treason, nothing more.

You shouldn't even have to reach the "slavery" element, since that just opens the door to the argument that there was more to southern culture than slavery, which is of course true. The fact that it is the flag of a treasonous, secessionist armed insurrection should be enough to condemn it.

It's a goddamned symbol. If you wanna wipe your ass with it, go ahead. If another guy wants to hang it from a stud on his willy, let him. Getting all butthurt over it destroys any "lessons" you want to teach from the episode.

oldfarthenry: So my husband Carl staggers home sh*t-faced from his Klan KhristmaSS party and passes out on the front walk in the snow
- then neighbour Hanks decides to clean the sidewalks with his snow-blower and nails him right in the head.
I TOLD Carl to wear his Confederate flag like a cape so he could be seen in the winter with those g'damned white robes & hood!

The funeral's tomorrow - CASH BAR!

You're fun.

Joe Blowme: Daily on the Che and soviet flag t shirts,

Where do you live? Cuba?

My girlfriend loves the "country" they play on the radio. She doesn't seem to understand when I explain that, as others here said, it's not country, it's made by the same farking people who make Carly Rae Jepsen's crap, and in the same format too.

It's seriously awful. I hadn't heard the radio in my town for years until I got with her, since her car just has a radio [no iPod hookup or what have you]. Now I remember why I stopped listening in the first place. Pity me!

/Or don't. Whatever.

signaljammer: Joe Blowme:

Yeah, I forget, how many slaves did Che own?

Oppression, how does it work?
Helps to read the entire post before responding.

Coco LaFemme: It's not offensive, it's ignorant. Of course, if someone wants to broadcast their ignorance to the whole world, they are more than free to do so.

Funny how it was the Democrats that were the party of the south, created the jim crow laws, founded the KKK and fought against the civil rights movement and yet they're seen as the leaders of tolerance.

That's what I tell people when they get offended, it is not a symbol of Nazi hatred, it is a symbol I wear for auspiciousness. I got in a screaming match with some old guy about this last week and I was like "well, if that's the way you're going to be, then see you later" and I totally left the synagogue.

signaljammer: Joe Blowme:

Yeah, I forget, how many slaves did Che own?

George Washington owned 316 slaves and he's on the one dollar bill. Give the redneck a break and lighten up Francis.

sweetmelissa31: My great-great grandparents were shot into a ditch in Belarus because they were Jews.

They had it almost as hard as white Southerners in 2012 who can't wear Confederate flags without being criticized.

:)

makesthefire: Hank III would like a word with all you folks lumping "pop country" in with "real country"
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/the grand ole opry 'aint so grand anymore

Not Hank but very relevant:

Let's Go Burn Old Nashville Down

It's a southern thing you pathetic Yankees!

Khellendros: doubled99: To you, and many others, it is.
To many in the south, it isn't.
Everyone's opinion is equal.

They had an organized insurrectionist army, a minor navy, declared themselves an independent nation, drafted and ratified papers to that effect, adopted a recognized flag as a battle standard

Sounds like the colonists in the 1700s.

Stupid farking rednecks.

signaljammer: Joe Blowme:

Yeah, I forget, how many slaves did Che own?

Probably not as many as George Washington did.

What a buffoon. Not only does he wear the damn thing but then he back peddles when he gets called on it. If you're going to wear it, f*cking own it, you twit.
Now he's a traitor to his country and a traitor to the confederacy. A traitor squared, if you will.
(and a racist)
(and a coward)

MaudlinMutantMollusk: It symbolizes treason and secession, and more than anything else, being a butthurt loser

Did someone say "Butthurt?"

the_rev: people will go to such great pains to find something to be offended about.

Makes it easier to identify the whiny people when they biatch about silly crap like this. Just MHO, of course. I'm sure one of the more OUTRAGED people here will point out how wrong I am. And then I'll continue to not care about this particular OUTRAGE.

/seriously - there are so many better things to be OUTRAGED about right now.

FlashHarry: "southern heritage," my ass. it's a symbol of slavery and treason, nothing more.
Why can't it be both?

Oppression, how does it work?
Helps to read the entire post before responding.


I don't know, Fulgencio Batista isn't around to ask.

IlGreven: It's a goddamned symbol. If you wanna wipe your ass with it, go ahead. If another guy wants to hang it from a stud on his willy, let him. Getting all butthurt over it destroys any "lessons" you want to teach from the episode.

Did someone say "Butthurt?"

factoryconnection: There are exceptions, I'm sure, however I've never met one. People are welcome to display whatever symbol they want, but they're also making a statement and statements have meanings and drive reactions.

the confederate flag is kinda like a giant neck/face tattoo?

STFU whiners - isn't it enough that Trace Adkins music sucks?

WHITE POWER BROTEHRSSSSSS!

Funny how much outrage people have over this past yet silent on current countries that have slaves today.

HappyTheDog: George Washington owned 316 slaves and he's on the one dollar bill. Give the redneck a break and lighten up Francis.

General U.S.Grant, "The Man Who Saved The Union" owned slaves and he's on the $50 bill.

The Confederate flag does not represent racism. It was originally a symbol of southern heritage, representing freedom, states rights, individual responsibility, and resistance to an out of control federal government.

No slave ship ever sailed from a Confederate port or under a Confederate flag.

Ulysses S. Grant during the Civil War was a slave holder.
Robert E. Lee was against slavery.

Racist groups have used the Confederate flag in recent years but the Ku Klux Klan, have historically used the American flag for a much longer period of time.

Doom MD: Khellendros: doubled99: To you, and many others, it is.
To many in the south, it isn't.
Everyone's opinion is equal.

They had an organized insurrectionist army, a minor navy, declared themselves an independent nation, drafted and ratified papers to that effect, adopted a recognized flag as a battle standard

Sounds like the colonists in the 1700s.

Correct. And had we lost, it would be unacceptable for us to fly the stars and stripes today, claiming a "cultural history" while secretly celebrating our rebellion and claiming the patriots would rise again to claim the colonies and drive the Brits out. Had the south won the war, it would be perfectly acceptable to fly the rebel flag, since it would be their country standard.

Political oppression while vile, isn't precisely equivalent to slavery, except in some derpy Randian metaphor.

You shouldn't even have to reach the "slavery" element, since that just opens the door to the argument that there was more to southern culture than slavery, which is of course true. The fact that it is the flag of a treasonous, secessionist armed insurrection should be enough to condemn it.

Wait now - does this guy play "Country," or Western?"

/Blues Bros

//oblig

dr_blasto: kronicfeld: The fact that it is the flag of a treasonous, secessionist armed insurrection

Armed insurrection in support of slavery.

Armed insurrection in support of states' rights, actually.

Also, the flag you see typically used by "just the good o' boys never meaning no harm..." is actually the Confederate Battle Flag, not the official flag of the Confederate States of America.



The Confederate Battle Flag was carried by Confederate armies through the Civil War and while you might think that the flag of the losing army shouldn't be a source of pride, there are millions of decedents of many thousands of Confederate soldiers that served their state and their communities proudly that would tell you that you are wrong. They fought well and most gave everything they had. There was much mutual respect between the veterans of both armies at the end of that war--because it was earned.

doyner: clane: Very sad that so many ignorant people in this country have convinced themselves this has something to do with racism.

It's equally sad that it is a favored symbol among racists.

Or people who want to pretend that their casual racism is a noble heritage.

fruitloop: I'm not a fan of country music, but I did get a kick out of him mailing it in during the Macy's Thanksgiving Parade.

I watched that because I trusted you.

What the hell is wrong with him? He couldn't even lip-synch correctly, and that song sounds like a whole bunch of unintelligible mumbling.

And what's with the ghost kid?

Ah, the Fark cause du jour. Happy Friday everybody!

Doom MD: I view the Confederate flag as a reminder of the single largest blow to states rights in American history. The entire legal argument (and hence the conclusion reached by forces of arms) for the Civil War is essentially that a state has no right to secede from the Union. People who looks at the Confederate flag and think about hillbillies and slavery are not thinking large enough.

Yeah, it's almost like people will read the secession declarations from the seceding states and see dozens of references to slavery as a direct cause of their decision to secede.

South Carolina (the first state to secede) had as its first specific grievance that abolitionist states weren't giving fugitive slaves back to their masters. And they explained that the election of an abolitionist was the last straw.

Observing the forms of the Constitution, a sectional party has found within that Article establishing the Executive Department, the means of subverting the Constitution itself. A geographical line has been drawn across the Union, and all the States north of that line have united in the election of a man to the high office of President of the United States, whose opinions and purposes are hostile to slavery. He is to be entrusted with the administration of the common Government, because he has declared that that "Government cannot endure permanently half slave, half free," and that the public mind must rest in the belief that slavery is in the course of ultimate extinction.

This sectional combination for the submersion of the Constitution, has been aided in some of the States by elevating to citizenship, persons who, by the supreme law of the land, are incapable of becoming citizens; and their votes have been used to inaugurate a new policy, hostile to the South, and destructive of its beliefs and safety.

On the 4th day of March next, this party will take possession of the Government. It has announced that the South shall be excluded from the common territory, that the judicial tribunals shall be made sectional, and that a war must be waged against slavery until it shall cease throughout the United States.

It's almost like the possibility of losing their slaves led directly to their secession, and thus the Civil War.

Here are the first two sentences of Georgia's declaration:

The people of Georgia having dissolved their political connection with the Government of the United States of America, present to their confederates and the world the causes which have led to the separation. For the last ten years we have had numerous and serious causes of complaint against our non-slave-holding confederate States with reference to the subject of African slavery.

Odd that they'd place a side issue right at the front of the document, isn't it?

Then there's Mississippi - again, right at the beginning of the document:

In the momentous step which our State has taken of dissolving its connection with the government of which we so long formed a part, it is but just that we should declare the prominent reasons which have induced our course.

Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery-- the greatest material interest of the world. Its labor supplies the product which constitutes by far the largest and most important portions of commerce of the earth. These products are peculiar to the climate verging on the tropical regions, and by an imperious law of nature, none but the black race can bear exposure to the tropical sun. These products have become necessities of the world, and a blow at slavery is a blow at commerce and civilization. That blow has been long aimed at the institution, and was at the point of reaching its consummation. There was no choice left us but submission to the mandates of abolition, or a dissolution of the Union, whose principles had been subverted to work out our ruin.

How about Texas?

We hold as undeniable truths that the governments of the various States, and of the confederacy itself, were established exclusively by the white race, for themselves and their posterity; that the African race had no agency in their establishment; that they were rightfully held and regarded as an inferior and dependent race, and in that condition only could their existence in this country be rendered beneficial or tolerable.

That in this free government *all white men are and of right ought to be entitled to equal civil and political rights* [emphasis in the original]; that the servitude of the African race, as existing in these States, is mutually beneficial to both bond and free, and is abundantly authorized and justified by the experience of mankind, and the revealed will of the Almighty Creator, as recognized by all Christian nations; while the destruction of the existing relations between the two races, as advocated by our sectional enemies, would bring inevitable calamities upon both and desolation upon the fifteen slave-holding states.

By the secession of six of the slave-holding States, and the certainty that others will speedily do likewise, Texas has no alternative but to remain in an isolated connection with the North, or unite her destinies with the South.

When you self-identify as "the slave-holding States," it's kind of difficult to then say "But this isn't about slavery, really..."

SoupJohnB: Wait now - does this guy play "Country," or Western?"

/Blues Bros

//oblig

///hates Ilinois Nazis

Confederate flag wearers/displayers are kinda like Truthers and Birthers: a quick way for the idiots to identify themselves. So go ahead and display the Confederate flag so I know not listen to anything you say or take any of it seriously.

sweetmelissa31: Kraftwerk Orange: The US flag now is (slightly) different than the various US flags that so many hundreds of thousands of slaves were captured, shipped, and sold under.

1.bp.blogspot.com

It would be kind of funny if that picture was the American flag as of 1830.

Artistic liberties might have been taken by the engraver. The print is authentic, and widely documented.

Are you denying the existence of the US slave trade? Boston and Rhode Island were home to many slave traders.

FriarReb98: And for the record, anyone who is offended by a Confederate Battle Flag but not the Georgia state flag needs a history book on why the state essentially pegged a giant middle finger in the face of the offended and got away with it.

The cotton ball in their flag.

Joe Blowme: rufus-t-firefly: Joe Blowme: Other symbols of opression and slavery i know all of you who hate the rebel flag also hate, right?
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How many Soviet flags have you seen out there?

And how many Che Guevara shirts have you seen IN PERSON?

I see a treason flag nearly every single day.

Daily on the Che and soviet flag t shirts,

So you live in Havana?

And if the CSA flag is fine, then why are you bothered by the Che and Soviet images?

It could be argued that neither Che Guevara or the Soviet Union waged war on the United States - unlike the Confederate States.

I don't particularly like traitors and those who wave the flag of treason while claiming to be patriots, but that's just me.

Joe Blowme: Funny how much outrage people have over this past yet silent on current countries that have slaves today.

Including the modern United States.



The slave trade now is arguably as large as it ever has been, in terms of the number of slaves being brought in.