There are two sides to the debate over what the Confederate flag symbolizes. Republican types say it stands for pickup trucks, drinking beer in the sun, and boiled peanuts. This is clearly not the case and the early adopters of the Confederacy would have been appalled by your homoerotic tight jeaned country singers.
The other side says it stands for slavery and racism. That’s not exactly true either. The Dixie flag, Rebel flag, or Stars and Bars that you see flying at NASCAR events and on top of the Dukes of Hazzard car is the Battle flag of the Army of Northern Virginia, headed up by Robert E. Lee. It’s not actually the Confederate flag. Lee and his men won a bunch of battles in the Civil War while being outnumbered. The Confederacy then lost the war thank god and people continued flying it as a point of pride in being losers. Most of them were racist.
Many people argue that slavery was not the root cause of the Civil War. This is true. The South’s economy, tied inexorably to slave labor, and the pressure exerted on it by the Union was the reason for the Civil War. The South was unwilling to submit to abolition, so they fought the war. Otherwise they probably would have been bled dry. Good. Slavery was a bad thing.
Many Northern people during this time period were definitely racist. They just weren’t pro-slavery. People are racist now. Yet people from Massachusetts aren’t flying their flag at hockey games. The legacy these modern day Southerners are proud of is about the fight to not end slavery. This irritates people who may have been related to slaves or had racist things said to them, and also accountants named Brett. It irritates a lot of people.
Of course, people should be free to express themselves however ignorantly they see fit, and give toothless news interviews while coyly saying things about freedom and not even having the balls to admit they’re racist.
Yet, in the wake of an event so steeped in Southern racism it cannot be rationalized any other way, the Confederate flag is in the process of being swept under the rug. Walmart and Target stopped selling it after 150 years of angry letters. Several Southern governors have come out in defense of its removal. Most shockingly, Warner Bros. merchandizing department announced it would stop manufacturing toy Dukes of Hazzard cars, and TV Land, owned by Warner Bros., stopped airing reruns of the show.
As if what led that kid to shoot up that church was his lunchbox. Could we simplify anything more crudely in the name of not making our shareholders nervous?
Removing the flag from a government building makes sense. But we’re talking about fictional characters, who according the show’s theme song, were “Never meanin’ no harm.”
Context is one thing. I would assume Saving Private Ryan, Schindler’s List, or Inglorious Basterds won’t be removed from Amazon because all the enemy soldiers are wearing swastikas. Yet what about films which aren’t so cut and dry in their portrayals of American history? Could movies like The Hurt Locker or Zero Dark Thirty end up being blocked from distribution by Warner Bros. because they don’t support their agreed upon, panel decided historical narrative?
What about Vietnam era war movies like Apocalypse Now or Full Metal Jacket? Surely parts of those anger the Vietnamese-American community. Is our ultimate goal to block everything offensive and be left solely with reruns of Full House?
People in the South most certainly still have Confederate flags on top of their cars. You can’t erase history by pretending reality doesn’t exist.
As if the people at Walmart or Warner Bros. who make these decisions actually care about the issue and aren’t just following public opinion poles, looking out for their own bottom line while couching it as a moral imperative.
Whitewash everything. No More Dukes of Hazzard. No more Gone With The Win. No more Birth of a Nation. No more Borat. No More Pretty in Pink. No more Barney Fife.
Get Huck Finn out of the library while we’re at it. I heard it contains some words we shall not mention.
It’s all part of a state sponsored corporate takeover of America. Let them tell you what’s offensive. What you can and can’t handle. Let them clean up history for you. Let them tell you how to express yourself. Let them dumb you down with shows which even the eagerest letter writers don’t find even minimally offensive. Let them save you from the evils of political incorrectness.
Take it down at the state capital by all means in my opinion. But no matter which side you’re on, nobody should want to live in a world where the Dukes of Hazzard, a comedic show which ended in 1985, is tied to a legitimate political discussion by anyone, or any corporation.
I’m going to start watching it now just because.