There's been so much about the Confederate flag and other symbols in the news and especially on social media lately, and I haven't really had time to express my views fully until today. As usual, I'm hoping this will serve as my once-and-for-all declaration and I can just link here instead of having to explain over and over again what my position is and why. Also, as usual, my position doesn't really line up with anyone else's.
First off, I'm not offended by the Confederate flag. I was born in Texas, raised in Tennessee, and now live in Louisiana. Except for the year and a half in West Germany when I was a toddler, I've never lived outside the South for any length of time, and I've seen those flags flying everywhere as often as I've seen US flags my whole life. I don't have any more emotional reaction to a Confederate flag than I do to most anything else. It doesn't seem like a racist symbol to me, although I can't recall seeing anyone flying one who wasn't white. On the other hand, it's pretty rare to see someone who isn't white driving a pickup truck too, so it doesn't make a lot of sense to say one's fine and the other isn't on those grounds.
Now, one thing where I pretty much stand alone is my religious conviction that it's wrong to revere any flag. I haven't said the Pledge of Allegiance since I was in 7th grade and arrived at that idea. I'm not anti-American, either. You can read any of my other posts and see how much love I have for my country and how concerned I am that we fix our problems and return to our place as the best country on the planet. But I am still firmly against idolatry. There is nothing in the Bible that arouses God's anger quite like it. From the golden calf in Exodus to the golden image in Daniel, to the death of Herod in Acts (the only time in the New Testament God strikes someone dead without prompting), God is always opposed to the worship of inanimate objects or people. I will never again swear loyalty to a flag or any other man-made thing, although I am still loyal to the republic for which it stands. My problem with the pledge is the separation there, swearing one oath to the country and one, in fact the primary one, to a symbol. I don't support the worship of any symbols, including religious ones. It's just as wrong to bow to a cross, or a stained glass window, or a shrine, or other such created thing, as it is to bow to a flag. They're all the golden calf remade, and God will judge those who worship worldly things.
Separate and apart from the religious issue, I do have a problem with trying to take away anyone's freedoms. I don't think any flag should be worshipped or revered, but I don't think they should be banned either. It's none of the state's business what people want to display like that, and no part of the government, federal or state or local, should be wasting time debating such things, or wasting money pursuing them. I've always said that people have a right to be wrong, and even if you think there is something racist or otherwise offensive about the Confederate flag, you should just let it go and let people be. That's pretty much my opinion on all such issues. Nazi flags are definitely racist, offensive, and come from a culture of hatred and violence, and it's not against the law to fly them. Why make it a crime to fly one that only might be representative of those things?
I want to make two other points, though, related to how a person ought to behave without having laws passed one way or the other. First of all, the Confederate flag as a symbol of Southern Heritage. Now, my big problem is with the fact that it's a symbol, as discussed, but you can't ignore the fact that it's still offensive to people - whether you think it should be or not. If we were talking about something else that's potentially offensive, but still legal, would that make it right? Let's look at something that I have a lot of fond memories of - slasher movies. They were a big part of my teens, and definitely a representation of freedom since they were the first sort of R-rated movies I was allowed to watch. I don't really watch them anymore, but I definitely have some good memories of the first time I popped some popcorn and sat down in my mom's bedroom to watch the first Halloween movie. I can still remember John Carpenter and Moustapha Akkad's names from the credits, and the chill I got when the pumpkin opened up to reveal the blue-gray skull inside. It was a big thrill, and it probably influenced the kind of person I am today.
That said, if I started posting movie posters for them all over my car, and wearing Jason, Michael, and Freddie t-shirts everywhere, and even put a TV in my apartment window showing the movies to any child who walked by my apartment, people might not like that. Why? Did I do anything wrong? Did I break any laws? I'm just celebrating my teenage heritage. Why would anyone have a problem with that? Or suppose instead of slasher movies we went with pornography, which was a similar thrill, and taste of freedom in my late teens. Would people think there was something wrong with me screening hardcore sex to anyone who looked towards my window? Can't I wear provocative but non-explicit T-shirts of Jenna Haze, Amee Donavan, and Ashley Long? Why should they care? I'm just enjoying my heritage. My father watched porn before me, and his father before him. It's a tradition, and something that connects me to people all over the country and the world. What am I doing wrong?
As you can see, there's something different about such things when they're done privately versus when they're public and overt. There doesn't have to be something inherently wrong with what you're doing to make it wrong when you know other people don't like it. People wouldn't have to try to ban so many things if other people would be more considerate with when and how they use their freedoms. Let's go over-the-top the other way. Imagine in the privacy of my room I have Confederate flags everywhere - Confederate flag sheets, bedspread, pillowcases, rugs, curtains; big flags on every wall; Confederate flag bath towels, bath mat, washcloths; Confederate flag stickers in the corners of the bathroom mirror and on the entertainment center by the TV. No matter where you look in my room you're seeing Confederate flags. Is that still offensive? No, because it's my room! If you don't want to see them, stay out of my room. If I start putting them up in your room - or perhaps in public - then I'm being a jerk about it. Again, if you substitute posters of horror films or porn stars, the argument lines up the same way.
The last thing I want to address, which is probably more personal than anything else, is the idea of Southern Heritage. Now, as I stated, I've lived in the South pretty much all my life; certainly all of my adult life. In fact the older I get the deeper in the South I find myself. Still, I can't for the life of me understand just what Southern Heritage is supposed to mean. Let's leave out the history of racism and slavery for a minute. Every "true" Southerner - which apparently I am not, despite being born and raised here - is keen to point out those existed in other parts of the country too. That's sort of missing the point, but there's no progress to be made on that front. But okay, we'll leave that out. Now, what are the good things the Confederate flag represents exactly? That the South is a haven of rebels and stubbornness, as near as I can figure. It stands for a simpler life, which never really existed but the same sort of people who think Leave It to Beaver was a documentary want to think it did. It stands for a rebel spirit, which is a bad thing in my book. It stands for being slow to change, as well, which is neither good nor bad on its own, but historically it frequently means that the South just refuses to get with the program. When the whole world's decided it's going to do something, and your area's the one saying no, that's not really a source of pride or positive feelings.
So if you take the racial issue out of it, the Confederate flag stands for people who stubbornly resist change and refuse to get along with anyone else, for no reason other than that it's traditional in this area to stubbornly resist change and refuse to get along with anyone else. That's our heritage? Well then keep that flag flying. I still support your right to be wrong.
