# Ebay is banning listings of confederate flags and related items. **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [June 23, 2015, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-is-banning-listings-of-confederate-flags-and-related-items/723258 "2015-06-23T16:50:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 14
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2015, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-is-banning-listings-of-confederate-flags-and-related-items/723258/261 "2015-06-28T04:10:20Z")
> [@Trinopus](#): > > Back in my foolish youth, I tried to chop down a cross that was upon a hilltop. I thought it was public land, and for First Amendment reasons, I objected. > > Damn fool me: it was private land! (And I klutzed it up anyway, and failed to fell the doggone thing. That puppy was anchored in a big cement foundation, and was way too thick for me and my little George Washington hatchet!) > > Today, I’m much more conservative, and prefer to let the legislative and judicial systems do what needs doing. > > Still, I agree with you that this is far from a major offense against the peace, and that since the “victim” is “We the People” collectively, it’s nowhere near as bad as if they had ripped it off someone’s front porch, or car, or jacket. It just seems bad timing, to take this audacious and illegal approach, right at the time when the legislature was taking up the issue in the proper manner. Sort of as if Grant had ordered a last bombardment at Appomattox, even while Lee was walking over with intent to surrender. It smacks of bad sportsmanship, if nothing else. Give the guys the honor of hauling down their own flag. > > This isn’t a hill I want to die on; it just doesn’t feel right to me. I wouldn’t die on this hill either, but I’m white. I don’t feel qualified to judge a black person who engages in non-violent defacement of a racist symbol on government property. Even if it’s (hopefully) coming down soon on its own – it’s still much later than it should have. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2015, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-is-banning-listings-of-confederate-flags-and-related-items/723258/262 "2015-06-28T04:40:28Z")
> [@Bryan\_Ekers](#): > > I don’t see this as vandalism, myself. Nothing was damaged (well, possibly the pole itself picked up some minor scratches) and Newsome calmly surrendered to police, after putting nobody at physical risk except herself. Fair enough. Surrendering afterward makes the affair that much more “speech-like” and less “vandalism-like.” ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2015, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-is-banning-listings-of-confederate-flags-and-related-items/723258/263 "2015-06-28T05:00:51Z")
Interestingly, I’ve just learned that there are some confederate-ish tile patterns in the Times Square – 42nd Street subway station. I’ll be in NYC in a few weeks and I’ll snap a pic if I get the chance. As a pure side note, in the course of planning this visit, I’ve haven’t read this much about the NYC subway system since _Pelham One Two Three_. It’s quite a network, makes Montreal’s four-line system look like a hobbyist’s HO project. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2015, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-is-banning-listings-of-confederate-flags-and-related-items/723258/264 "2015-06-28T17:38:43Z")
> **[Confederate flags adorn this Times Square subway station](https://nypost.com/2015/06/25/confederate-flags-adorn-this-times-square-subway-station/)** > > Tiny tile mosaics that look like Confederate flags are right under the noses of millions of straphangers passing through the Times Square subway station every day. The tile mosaics honor the late N… ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2015, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-is-banning-listings-of-confederate-flags-and-related-items/723258/265 "2015-06-28T18:23:27Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > [Confederate flags adorn this Times Square subway station](http://nypost.com/2015/06/25/confederate-flags-adorn-this-times-square-subway-station/) So the article leads off saying it’s to honour some guy with Southern ties and finishes with a MTA spokesman saying it’s just some design with similar ones in different colours in other subway stations. How fucking lazy does a reporter have to be not to check out which is true.? ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2015, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-is-banning-listings-of-confederate-flags-and-related-items/723258/266 "2015-06-28T18:26:51Z")
So now a flag is so dangerous? I am sure you are in much more danger from actual criminals, than from a 152 year old flag. this is PC at its best. ---
**Author:** ![rat\_avatar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rat_avatar/32/255_2.png) [@rat\_avatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rat_avatar)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2015, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-is-banning-listings-of-confederate-flags-and-related-items/723258/267 "2015-06-28T18:52:17Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > So now a flag is so dangerous? I am sure you are in much more danger from actual criminals, than from a 152 year old flag. this is PC at its best. It is a rallying point, a symbol that is used to invoke action by bigots and racists. It was born of bigotry and has been used as a tool to rally bigots to action as shown here. [Richard Butler, former head of the Aryan Nations](https://thebluereview.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Aryans-2004-2791.jpg) [David Duke](http://www.independent.co.uk/migration_catalog/article5108942.ece/alternates/w620/duke_ap.jpeg) To claim it is meaningless is just absurd. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2015, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-is-banning-listings-of-confederate-flags-and-related-items/723258/268 "2015-06-28T19:06:50Z")
> [@CarnalK](#): > > So the article leads off saying it’s to honour some guy with Southern ties and finishes with a MTA spokesman saying it’s just some design with similar ones in different colours in other subway stations. How fucking lazy does a reporter have to be not to check out which is true.? Well, it’s the New York Post, so… ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2015, 7:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-is-banning-listings-of-confederate-flags-and-related-items/723258/269 "2015-06-28T19:11:30Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > So now a flag is so dangerous? I am sure you are in much more danger from actual criminals, than from a 152 year old flag. this is PC at its best. I do agree that, so far, Ebay has been catching precious few criminals. Seems very hypocritical of them. :rolleyes: ---
**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, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-is-banning-listings-of-confederate-flags-and-related-items/723258/270 "2015-06-28T19:59:43Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > So now a flag is so dangerous? I am sure you are in much more danger from actual criminals, than from a 152 year old flag. this is PC at its best. Ah, yes - because there are murderers and bank robbers out there, we shouldn’t bother with speeding and jaywalking. All found under the “Only Tax/Enforce/Fund Things That Are Important To Me” heading. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2015, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-is-banning-listings-of-confederate-flags-and-related-items/723258/271 "2015-06-28T21:08:00Z")
> [@CarnalK](#): > > So the article leads off saying it’s to honour some guy with Southern ties and finishes with a MTA spokesman saying it’s just some design with similar ones in different colours in other subway stations. How fucking lazy does a reporter have to be not to check out which is true.? Bryan noted he would seek photos. I found photos. For information, I would place the New York Post only slightly above World Net Daily. ---
**Author:** ![CarnalK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnalk/32/486_2.png) [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2015, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-is-banning-listings-of-confederate-flags-and-related-items/723258/272 "2015-06-28T21:19:37Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > Bryan noted he would seek photos. > I found photos. > For information, I would place the New York Post only slightly above World Net Daily. I wasn’t directing any criticism at you there, fyi, nor thought you meant that article to show anything other than what Bryan was talking about. Sorry if you took it that way. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2015, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-is-banning-listings-of-confederate-flags-and-related-items/723258/273 "2015-06-28T21:27:32Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > Bryan noted he would seek photos. > I found photos. Well, actually, I was planning to _take_ photos. The existence of the tile patterns was not something I doubted (it’s on the wiki page), it was just something I was planning to check out during my upcoming visit to NYC if I got the chance. ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [June 28, 2015, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-is-banning-listings-of-confederate-flags-and-related-items/723258/274 "2015-06-28T23:23:27Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > [Confederate flags adorn this Times Square subway station](http://nypost.com/2015/06/25/confederate-flags-adorn-this-times-square-subway-station/) I look at the link and thought “Well no shit. It’s a giant rebel flag hanging in the subway station! How can someone deny the purpose!” Then I read that the flag was an inlet to the picture. The tiles are what is important. :smack: ---
**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, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-is-banning-listings-of-confederate-flags-and-related-items/723258/275 "2015-06-29T05:11:35Z")
> [@control-z](#): > > The debate is it’s just a flag, stars and bars, a historical artifact. No doubt more people were killed by the USSR than confederates, and yet the USSR flag still remains. Do an [eBay search for Nazi flag](http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2050601.m570.l1313.TR11.TRC2.A0.H0.Xnazi+flag.TRS1&_nkw=nazi+flag&_sacat=0) and you might be surprised (at least here in the US, I’m sure it doesn’t appear in searches from Germany, France, and various other countries.) > > Will they also ban [album covers?](http://www.ebay.com/itm/HANK-III-HANK-3-HANK-WILLIAMS-III-Rebel-Within-LP-NEW-SEALED-/161651414707)[Toy cars?](http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-ERTL-1-64-Dukes-of-Hazzard-GENERAL-LEE-COP-CAR-/260809227029) > > This just seems like a knee-jerk reaction more than a reasoned policy. eBay can do what it wants though, they have been spiraling down the drain for some years now. Skipping the flag part of the debate and just going to the eBay part — do a like search on the Confederate flag next year and you will get the same kind of results. In other words, your music and toys are safe. Like with the swastika (which just returned 6,924 results for me on eBay) they aren’t banning the symbol or the hate so much as certain representations/uses of it. Show it on a coin or stamp and you will be fine; try to list an actual cloth flag and you will almost certainly get your listing pulled. Put it down to most business decisions made in the heat of something like this; PR and posturing more than actual meaning or results. (On the good side - Elvis Hitler only yielded 4 results. 🙂 ) ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2015, 10:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-is-banning-listings-of-confederate-flags-and-related-items/723258/276 "2015-06-29T10:44:45Z")
> [@tomndebb](#): > > [Confederate flags adorn this Times Square subway station](http://nypost.com/2015/06/25/confederate-flags-adorn-this-times-square-subway-station/) Looks like another example of the flag being used as a marker for Southern identity. I know some of you are boggled by the idea that the flag ever means anything other than “Racism!” but here it is again. Try for a moment to understand a perspective other than your own. Also, this once again puts the lie to the argument I have seen some make here that the flag was in mothballs until _Brown v. Board of Education_. It was always around. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2015, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-is-banning-listings-of-confederate-flags-and-related-items/723258/277 "2015-06-29T12:00:21Z")
Gives the lie, I meant. Or puts paid. Or some combination of the two. Mix and match at your discretion. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2015, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-is-banning-listings-of-confederate-flags-and-related-items/723258/278 "2015-06-29T12:07:29Z")
> [@Spoke](#): > > Looks like another example of the flag being used as a marker for Southern identity. I know some of you are boggled by the idea that the flag ever means anything other than “Racism!” but here it is again. > > Try for a moment to understand a perspective other than your own. > > Also, this once again puts the lie to the argument I have seen some make here that the flag was in mothballs until _Brown v. Board of Education_. It was always around. It was always around, but it wasn’t prominently and commonly displayed. And it didn’t become prominently and commonly displayed (both on Southern state and local government buildings/property, and by individuals) until it was adopted as the symbol of opposition to integration and Civil Rights. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2015, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-is-banning-listings-of-confederate-flags-and-related-items/723258/279 "2015-06-29T12:07:57Z")
nm ---
**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, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-is-banning-listings-of-confederate-flags-and-related-items/723258/280 "2015-06-29T12:17:35Z")
> [@Spoke](#): > > Looks like another example of the flag being used as a marker for Southern identity. I know some of you are boggled by the idea that the flag ever means anything other than “Racism!” but here it is again. > > Try for a moment to understand a perspective other than your own. > > Also, this once again puts the lie to the argument I have seen some make here that the flag was in mothballs until _Brown v. Board of Education_. It was always around. Swastikas are widely used by Hindus and Buddhists in India as religious symbols and general symbols of good luck. Should Hindus and Buddhists in the United States start openly displaying them like they do in India? On the exteriors and in entryways of of buildings, on the backs of taxis, on shopping bags, on restaurant signs, menus, and napkins, etc.? Or should they instead understand that the symbol (even if it appears slightly different) has extremely negative connotations in this country and would cause offense. And would to Jewish Americans specifically give the impression that these are people who hee to an ideology that would seek to oppress or kill them? The difference is that as a small minority in this country, Hindus and Buddhists would face a harsh backlash and would suffer severe social and economic consequences of they were to do that. White people in America have no such fear from displaying a symbol that to many people around them indicates adherence to a worldview that seeks to separate, oppress, or eliminate them. But it’s a minority of people and one that generally has weaker societal power. Here’s your privilege. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-is-banning-listings-of-confederate-flags-and-related-items/723258.md?page=13) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ebay-is-banning-listings-of-confederate-flags-and-related-items/723258.md?page=15)