# And the happiest person in this world about the reaction against the Confederate flag is ... **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [June 27, 2015, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-the-happiest-person-in-this-world-about-the-reaction-against-the-confederate-flag-is/723647 "2015-06-27T19:16:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2015, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-the-happiest-person-in-this-world-about-the-reaction-against-the-confederate-flag-is/723647/21 "2015-06-28T11:44:45Z")
> [@GusNSpot](#): > > And if he was a doctor or a nurse in the Nazi military? Do you hold them in the same contempt? I would judge it negatively to honor that person’s _service in the Nazi military_. If he was a good doctor, honor his skills _as a doctor_—find an appropriate symbol—a caduceus, perhaps, or whatever. But not his service in the military. Not all aspects of a person’s life are worth honoring, even if it was important to that person. > [@](#): > > So you do not nor will not approve of any soldier who died or served in the US Armed services in any of the ‘sand box’ fighting? Or do you approve of those fights? Generally speaking, I consider the U.S. military one that is not a reprehensible organization as a matter of character. However, if I know that one particular person’s service in the U.S. military was questionable—participation in the My Lai Massacre, for example—I would think it inappropriate to honor _that person’s service in the military_. > [@](#): > > Will you allow deceased felons to have a marker? If so, what can be used on then, dates only? Or? I don’t know how markers came into this. I would question the judgment of a person who went to a felon’s grave specifically to honor the felony that the person committed. Dennis Rader is widely known as the BTK Killer. He tortured and murdered numerous people over the course of decades. He also was married and had children. For all I know, he was a loving father whose children loved him in return. When he dies, I will not think it strange for his children to visit his grave to remember him _as a father_. I will judge it negatively if they go to his grave and decorate it with ropes and chains to commemorate his crimes. > [@kopek](#): > > How about love for your family or ancestors? As a general matter, I do not believe it is a good thing to revere one’s ancestors unconditionally. Revere them for the good things they did. Revere your deceased loved ones for the things that they did that made you love them. Do not revere them for their crimes, even if, while they lived, their crimes were important to them. > [@](#): > > Our opinions of which causes are reprehensible and which are not may differ (although to be honest I doubt they differ very much). But what I don’t think differs is the experience of the average soldier. And if putting a small marker in the ground gives someone a sense of that soldier, a tiny bit of respect for or connection with that individual, I’ll find a way to live with it. Even if my opinion is different. Not all people lived lives that are equally worth commemorating. Perhaps some people did nothing good but make it possible for their descendants to live—then that’s the limit to which they should be honored. Perhaps some people were good to their immediate families but otherwise lived lives that harmed people and harmed society—if their immediate families want to honor them for their actions _as family members_, that’s one thing. Perhaps a Nazi doctor was a good doctor. He should be honored as a doctor, not as a Nazi doctor. > [@](#): > > But in a graveyard next to a headstone or even on it? Sorry - there you lost me. The dead are dead. They have no wishes. These things have meaning only for the living. Someone wanting to honor the Confederate service of his ancestors tells me what is important to that living person, not to the dead person. ---
**Author:** ![bienville](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@bienville](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bienville)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2015, 12:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-the-happiest-person-in-this-world-about-the-reaction-against-the-confederate-flag-is/723647/22 "2015-06-28T12:46:47Z")
Well, I would _hope_ that the flag makers would be happy! We all know what happens when you make banner angry! ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2015, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-the-happiest-person-in-this-world-about-the-reaction-against-the-confederate-flag-is/723647/23 "2015-06-28T13:44:55Z")
> [@Boogly](#): > > Maybe it’s just me but I don’t understand all the hype over the stars N bars. > > If people want to wear/use them why would anyone want to prohibit this? In my mind it shows a persons mindset and I would spend less time giving them the benefit of a doubt when dealing with them. Some of us can’t avoid not “dealing with them”. If I see my boss waving a confederate flag, how am I supposed to feel about that? Am I supposed to just avoid him from now on? I understand why people think overt racism is better than covert racism. But I guess I’d rather people not broadcast their hatred out in the open. I like being able to give everyone I meet the benefit of the doubt. It’s just easier and less stressful that way. > [@](#): > > As for the flags on graves; who the fuck cares? If the grave doesn’t belong to me and giving the flag gives family a sense of well being why should I, or anyone else, care? As long as people don’t expect me to respect their ancestors’ “sacrifice”, I can look the other way. But I reserve the right to think whatever I want to about them and their ancestors. > [@](#): > > I’m sure that everyone in the rebel army wasn’t fighting to keep slaves and there were people who believed in states rights. If I’m correct Robert E. Lee didn’t support the succession but when Virginia voted to secede he followed along with the state, not for the right of slavery. But that’s the thing about symbols. The Confederate flag was just another relic of history until the Civil Rights moment started making some serious headway in the late 50s/early 60s. Suddenly that flag started appearing at every protest rally. It really shouldn’t be called the “Confederate flag”. The more apt name is “Pro-Segregation Flag”, because it was flown by pro-segregationists all up and through the land of Dixie. I don’t associate it with people’s great-great-great-grandaddies. I associate it with people’s grandaddies and grandmamas, when they were screaming “NIGGER!!” at my Daddy and Mama just for wanting to go to their neighborhood schools. It’s not a symbol from the olden times. It’s a modern day symbol of apartheid. > [@](#): > > However for me the real reason that I don’t want the flag to be suppressed is far more simple, I want people who are racist to fly their flag proudly so I won’t waste any more time that is necessary on them. Great for you. Really. But like I said, some of us can’t avoid people like this because they are everywhere (I live in the capital of the Confederacy.) And some of us are more emotionally affected by the symbol’s meaning than you are. ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2015, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-the-happiest-person-in-this-world-about-the-reaction-against-the-confederate-flag-is/723647/24 "2015-06-28T15:54:03Z")
The solution really seems quite simple. The “Stars and Bars” was never an emblem of the Confederacy or any civic part of it. If it’s appropriate on any level to mark the grave of Confederate soldiers - and a part of me thinks it is, on Memorial Day and so forth - then the CSA had four variations of a perfectly good flag that has no associations with modern racism and anti-rights stances. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2015, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-the-happiest-person-in-this-world-about-the-reaction-against-the-confederate-flag-is/723647/25 "2015-06-28T16:51:18Z")
Sure, but that’s not the one that annoys the blacks and libruls, so where’s the fun in that? ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2015, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-the-happiest-person-in-this-world-about-the-reaction-against-the-confederate-flag-is/723647/26 "2015-06-28T16:53:13Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > And had he served on the German army during WWII—there were some Americans who did—would you be putting a Nazi flag on his grave? > > Or perhaps are there some things that need not be memorialized, celebrated, honored, or commemorated? I probably would not put a swastika flag on such a grave. But the guy I spoke of was the veteran of a rebellion, a revolution, not a soldier for a would be empire that was out to conquer. That rebellion failed, but the guy honestly fought for it. Heck, the US itself is the product of a revolution. The difference is we won. I’m glad we did, and I’m glad the Confederacy failed. I put the flag in dispute on his grave because, as a US veteran myself, I think the Stars and Stripes were inappropriate for him. QUOTE=ASGuy;18474350]I am responding to Baker. Your motives and efforts to respect those who served in the Civil War are well warranted. Civil War combatants should be honored for their commitment to a cause they believed in, irrespective of the outcome and the belief systems that started the war. I will say that I don’t think the Confederate Flag should fly over any official governmental state facility. But I have no objection to using the flag to remember those who died fighting for something they believed in. [/QUOTE] I agree with you on the points you make. Thanks, you said it better than me. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2015, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-the-happiest-person-in-this-world-about-the-reaction-against-the-confederate-flag-is/723647/27 "2015-06-28T18:48:51Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Generally speaking, I consider the U.S. military one that is not a reprehensible organization as a matter of character. Hmmm - now that one we could debate. From the modern re-invention of Total Warfare, through the devastation of the civilian population in Germany, to the entire Vietnam War and beyond. From Sherman’s March to the Sea to the Dresden Firestorm and more. We won and got to write the histories in a light that justified our actions but that is hardly a comfort to our victims. The soldiers were often drafted, and like so many just following orders, but the government and generals who ordered them are another matter. > [@Acsenray](#): > > As a general matter, I do not believe it is a good thing to revere one’s ancestors unconditionally. Revere them for the good things they did. Revere your deceased loved ones for the things that they did that made you love them. Do not revere them for their crimes, even if, while they lived, their crimes were important to them. There were War Crime trials after the American Civil War and all the participants fighting for the South were found guilty? I know that this isn’t the place for it but I’m afraid I’m going to need a cite on that one. Or are we talking about just your opinion of who are and are not criminals? If that is more the case I can basically tell my Dad’s spirit or memory to go to Hell (he was technically a mercenary after all) and my brother (for participating in a war of oppression in a civil conflict where we had no actual interest IMHO) to fuck off. As you can probably guess, I’m not about to do either. And in the end neither will the United States or its citizens in regards of the Civil War. From Fort Bragg and other military posts to simple individuals adding small decorations to graves, a lot of memories of the people you seem to disapprove of will continue for our lifetimes and beyond. > [@Acsenray](#): > > The dead are dead. They have no wishes. These things have meaning only for the living. Someone wanting to honor the Confederate service of his ancestors tells me what is important to that living person, not to the dead person. You are wrong; they live today in our memories and our blood. And they made their wishes known by how they were buried, identified or marked at that time. Seeing those wishes carried out is the important thing to the living; something I will again personally attest to. Sorry but I have to tell you, your “cause” is just as hopeless as the Confederate governments. > [@Acsenray](#): > > I don’t know how markers came into this. Because a small flag is just another kind of marker. So I will ask you directly; are you saying a tomb stone recognizing a soldiers service in the CSA should not be replaced if its damaged? Are you suggesting the small bronze markers added over the years to such graves should be removed and destroyed? That seems to be the case but I want to be sure about that. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2015, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-the-happiest-person-in-this-world-about-the-reaction-against-the-confederate-flag-is/723647/28 "2015-06-28T22:12:59Z")
There were trials after the Civil War, but only one person was executed for what we call war crimes. I would have to look up his name, but it was the guy who was commandant of the Confederate prison for Union POW’s at Andersonville. I’d have to look up a cite, but that’s what I remember from Ken Burns _Civil War_ series. On a side note my great-great-grandfather was incarcerated there, and told his granddaughter, my maternal grandmother, that ever since he had, from time to time, stomach problems. These stemmed from the dreadful sanitation, or lack thereof, and from abust by guards. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2015, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-the-happiest-person-in-this-world-about-the-reaction-against-the-confederate-flag-is/723647/29 "2015-06-28T22:41:40Z")
> [@kopek](#): > > Or are we talking about just your opinion of who are and are not criminals? You mean you don’t know which meaning I intended? Or are you just trying to be difficult? > [@](#): > > If that is more the case I can basically tell my Dad’s spirit or memory to go to Hell (he was technically a mercenary after all) and my brother (for participating in a war of oppression in a civil conflict where we had no actual interest IMHO) to fuck off. > > As you can probably guess, I’m not about to do either. Because there was no other aspect of their characters or lives that you recall fondly or that had a positive effect on the world and the people around them? They amounted to nothing but their reprehensible acts during wartime, so you have nothing left about them to commemorate? In that case, maybe it would be advisable for you to tell their memories to fuck off. But your vehemence tells me that this isn’t true, that you do actually remember more about them other than this, that you wish to commemorate their memories not because of the violence they participated in on the battlefield but rather because you loved them as individual people with whom you had a relationship. Honor what was good about a person. If that person’s military service was not good, then don’t honor it. Every person has faults. If my grandfather were a bad professor or a bad doctor or a bad driver or a bad janitor, then I would not commemorate the part of his life in which he was a professor or a doctor or a driver or a janitor. If he had invented the nuclear bomb or the guillotine or crack pipes, I would not go to his grave to lay tiny facsimiles of nuclear bombs or guillotines or crack pipes. Service in the military is no different than any other aspect of a person’s life. > [@](#): > > And in the end neither will the United States or its citizens in regards of the Civil War. From Fort Bragg and other military posts to simple individuals adding small decorations to graves, a lot of memories of the people you seem to disapprove of will continue for our lifetimes and beyond. A lot of people in the world do things I disapprove of. That won’t stop me from disapproving. And actually, I do believe that there will come a time when people will largely stop honoring the graves of Confederate soldiers _specifically for their service in the Confederate army_. Things take time. > [@](#): > > You are wrong; they live today in our memories and our blood. And they made their wishes known by how they were buried, identified or marked at that time. Seeing those wishes carried out is the important thing to the living; something I will again personally attest to. These things all happen in your living mind. It’s your choice whether and how to commemorate them. It’s your decision. You can’t push the responsibility off on the dead. They don’t make decisions for you. > [@](#): > > Because a small flag is just another kind of marker. So I will ask you directly; are you saying a tomb stone recognizing a soldiers service in the CSA should not be replaced if its damaged? Are you suggesting the small bronze markers added over the years to such graves should be removed and destroyed? That seems to be the case but I want to be sure about that. A marker with a name and dates and other factual information doesn’t bother me. It’s the actions of the living people who visit those graves that I’m talking about. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2015, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-the-happiest-person-in-this-world-about-the-reaction-against-the-confederate-flag-is/723647/30 "2015-06-28T22:54:11Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > There were trials after the Civil War, but only one person was executed for what we call war crimes. I would have to look up his name, but it was the guy who was commandant of the Confederate prison for Union POW’s at Andersonville. I’d have to look up a cite, but that’s what I remember from Ken Burns _Civil War_ series. On a side note my great-great-grandfather was incarcerated there, and told his granddaughter, my maternal grandmother, that ever since he had, from time to time, stomach problems. These stemmed from the dreadful sanitation, or lack thereof, and from abust by guards. Henry Wirz. But Champ Ferguson was also executed, although I am unsure if there is some category for which Wirz applies as the “only” one. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2015, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-the-happiest-person-in-this-world-about-the-reaction-against-the-confederate-flag-is/723647/31 "2015-06-28T23:36:46Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > Henry Wirz. But Champ Ferguson was also executed, although I am unsure if there is some category for which Wirz applies as the “only” one. No, either Ferguson was mentioned and I misheard, or the source was in error. Ignorance fought! ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2015, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-the-happiest-person-in-this-world-about-the-reaction-against-the-confederate-flag-is/723647/32 "2015-06-29T01:03:38Z")
You are not honoring your ancestors by using a flag that was created to send a White Supremacist message and resurrected to push a segregationalist message. You can’t even argue history, since that flag was never actually the flag of the Confederacy. By putting that flag on their grave, you’re basically calling them a racist fuck. You might as well just scrawl “racist” all over their gravestone. And the whole point of the North in the Civil war was that the Confederacy was illegitimate. They were all Americans. Taking down the American flag is the equivalent of saying they aren’t actually Americans and spits in the face of everything good the Civil War was fought for. They are Americans and soldiers. They can be commended for that. They can be commended for fighting for their state. They should not be commended for fighting for slavery or the Confederacy. That is ultimately calling them “racist,” and is the opposite of commemoration. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2015, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-the-happiest-person-in-this-world-about-the-reaction-against-the-confederate-flag-is/723647/33 "2015-06-29T01:26:18Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > I put the flag in dispute on his grave because, as a US veteran myself, I think the Stars and Stripes were inappropriate for him. How did I miss this? You pretty much admit what I’m saying. You aren’t commemorating. You’re doing it because you are offended by the flag. You are not doing it to commemorate the dead. It’s a selfish thing about yourself and how you feel offended that the flag is there. It’s desecration, not commemoration. And that’s shitty. If you don’t want to honor someone’s grave, don’t go there. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2015, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-the-happiest-person-in-this-world-about-the-reaction-against-the-confederate-flag-is/723647/34 "2015-06-29T01:27:22Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > There were trials after the Civil War, but only one person was executed for what we call war crimes. I would have to look up his name, but it was the guy who was commandant of the Confederate prison for Union POW’s at Andersonville. I’d have to look up a cite, but that’s what I remember from Ken Burns _Civil War_ series. On a side note my great-great-grandfather was incarcerated there, and told his granddaughter, my maternal grandmother, that ever since he had, from time to time, stomach problems. These stemmed from the dreadful sanitation, or lack thereof, and from abust by guards. All the more reason for you not to try and crowd out (if not remove) the American flag from their graves because you are offended by it. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2015, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-the-happiest-person-in-this-world-about-the-reaction-against-the-confederate-flag-is/723647/35 "2015-06-29T02:43:37Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > SNIP > A lot of people in the world do things I disapprove of. That won’t stop me from disapproving. And actually, I do believe that there will come a time when people will largely stop honoring the graves of Confederate soldiers _specifically for their service in the Confederate army_. Things take time. > SNIP > > A marker with a name and dates and other factual information doesn’t bother me. It’s the actions of the living people who visit those graves that I’m talking about. Revealing. I’ve met Southerners who believe no-one in the South did anything wrong during the Civil War. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that the other extreme exists as well. Designating areas of our National Cemeteries and community graveyards as a sort of leper colony not to be visited or cared for. Quite a goal you’ve set for yourself! ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2015, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-the-happiest-person-in-this-world-about-the-reaction-against-the-confederate-flag-is/723647/36 "2015-06-29T06:32:26Z")
> [@kopek](#): > > Revealing. I’ve met Southerners who believe no-one in the South did anything wrong during the Civil War. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised that the other extreme exists as well. > > Designating areas of our National Cemeteries and community graveyards as a sort of leper colony not to be visited or cared for. Quite a goal you’ve set for yourself! And I’ve seen people make unsupported leaps in logic, but rarely so vast. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2015, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-the-happiest-person-in-this-world-about-the-reaction-against-the-confederate-flag-is/723647/37 "2015-06-29T14:11:09Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > And I’ve seen people make unsupported leaps in logic, but rarely so vast. Then clearly you haven’t seen how easily the word “racist” gets thrown around in these threads. But after a while, you get used to it. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2015, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-the-happiest-person-in-this-world-about-the-reaction-against-the-confederate-flag-is/723647/38 "2015-06-29T14:47:58Z")
> [@kopek](#): > > Then clearly you haven’t seen how easily the word “racist” gets thrown around in these threads. But after a while, you get used to it. 😉 No, seriously. There’s nothing I have said in this thread to support your conclusions. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2015, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-the-happiest-person-in-this-world-about-the-reaction-against-the-confederate-flag-is/723647/39 "2015-07-02T16:04:25Z")
“Branson store owner, who said rebel flag doesn’t represent racism, has ties to KKK” > **[Branson store owner, who said rebel flag doesn’t represent racism, has ties...](https://www.news-leader.com/story/news/local/ozarks/2015/06/26/branson-store-owner-said-rebel-flag-represent-racism-ties-kkk/29325367/)** > > Anna Robb, owner of Dixie Outfitters, is married to KKK leader’s son ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2015, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-the-happiest-person-in-this-world-about-the-reaction-against-the-confederate-flag-is/723647/40 "2015-07-02T18:59:47Z")
IMHO, the Confederate Battle Flag has no place flying over a government building. It is not the flag of any goverment, nor is any other flag of the former Confederate States of America. OTOH, if people want to continue to sell, buy, display, wear, tatttoo, etc. CSA flag(s) on their property, vehicle, clothing, cemetary plot, or body - well, more power to them. Government is supposed to represent every citizen, individuals not so much. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-the-happiest-person-in-this-world-about-the-reaction-against-the-confederate-flag-is/723647.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/and-the-happiest-person-in-this-world-about-the-reaction-against-the-confederate-flag-is/723647.md?page=3)