The Confederate Flag is not the issue!

6/24/15
 
   < < Go Back
 

from The Gray Area:

Another political touch point gaining momentum from the awful shooting in Charleston last week is the Confederate Flag. It’s been removed from state properties, major retailers like Walmart, eBay, Apple and Sears and the Dukes of Hazard car, the General Lee. But now small, independent stores which still sell the merchandise have been surprised with an unexpected consequence—a massive spike in sales.

And, who knows where else this political correctness, mob reaction will go next – to memorials, building names, street names? Will we need to shut down Gettysburg? Should we stop all Civil War re-enactments?

But, the Confederate Flag is not the issue. The media chases their racial template after every tragic event; racist police, guns, words, flags, etc. None of these is the issue. Crazy people are the issue. It’s not the flag, it’s not the guns, it’s not institutionalized racism, it’s the crazies. Take away a symbol and the crazies will find another one. Germany outlawed the Nazi flag, but it is available all over the world and used daily by many crazies. Crazy people carry whatever they want to carry to support their lunacy. You will not stop crazy people by taking away a flag or criminalizing the N-word. You will just create more crazies with additional grievances.

Re-writing history to make you feel better is also a very bad idea. Our history is full of good and bad events and periods. We must know them all, accurately, to see how far we have come.

The comments in the article below include a level headed analysis to the question of the Confederate Flag, and the general point counterpoint on the issue.

Point: Its a symbol of hate – it scares me and only crazies like the KKK use it. “… holding onto it is not worth keeping racial unrest stirred up. Getting rid of it would probably be a step in the right direction.

Counterpoint: To me, it’s a flag of Southern heritage and pride. I can’t help what it means to others, but if you let a symbol upset you that much, perhaps the peace you seek lies on your side. I get mad when someone equates the South with racial problems. SC didn’t riot or burn up their town, they came together as Southerners. That’s a good representation of that flag.

More From IJReview: