As part of the crowd greeting President Obama in Oklahoma City, we got this particular band of flag-wavers:
http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2015/07/obama-greeted-by-confederate-flags-oklahoma-city
Actually, this demonstrates a good thing: the Confederate Battle Flag may be getting kicked off of official government displays, but the First Amendment means that individuals can still wave it around to reveal themselves as yahoos as much as they choose to — indeed, this make them easier to spot.
(Yes, yes, "Confederate Lives Matter". All human lives, including the ones enslaved and killed by the regime this flag represented, matter. Hauling down the Confederate flag from taxpayer-funded property and displays isn't about the lives lost in the Civil War, it's about the racist, treasonous regime they fought for.)
As a side note, yes, Oklahoma wasn't a Confederate state. It was, at the time, Indian Territory, where various tribes had been relocated (many from the Southeast) and dumped. Interestingly, most of the tribes there actually signed treaties with the Confederate military during the Civil War, and slavery in the territory wasn't ended until 1866. So that said, if the folk waving those flags would like to show their tribal bona fides, I'll grant them some claim to wanting to defend their "Southern Heritage."
This makes the previous Oklahoma story much more contextual doesn't it.
Yes, let's wave Confederate flags at the guy who's wife and children all descended from slaves.
Hubs and I keep saying that anyone that wants to has a right to wave the flag and we will defend that right… and let the Social Contract do it's job. That still doesn't mean it belongs on a government building. 🙂
+Sandy L. Yup.
Freedom of speech…
Or, as Neil Gaiman put it, "Freedom of Icky Speech" (http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2008/12/why-defend-freedom-of-icky-speech.html).
Which doesn't mean we can't, as individuals, express our disapproval or disdain.
+Dave Hill Society's disapproval is part of the social contract (just in case someone hasn't really heard that term before). They have the right to say what they want and wave the flag, but the social contract is that if it isn't acceptable you will face social consequences. You have to give them credit though for doing it, even though it does look asinine. lol
Trump trooper's…..
What about Blacks that waive it, are they still quantified as yahoos?
When it is bad is bad don't make it look good You'll look more bad eventually.
Yes, we all have the freedom to give everyone "the finger."
And, you may get away with it with your protected freedoms.
But don't be surprised when you least expect it,
someone will get sweet revenge.
+Curtis Gregory so go on and live in fear then, I'll do as I do.
+SIN JONES I'd be inclined to say yes.
The middle finger of the south.