Local (Illinois) racists want to know why Snoop Dog hasn’t been cancelled when his album features a sheet covered corpse labelled “Trump”. The Governor says, if I may paraphrase, that murderous, enslaving racism is not a political belief.
(Click the Play arrow to hear the Gov.)
My virtue-o-meter reads an 11.
Dear Ms Baez,
It wasn’t Stonewall Jackson’s cavalry tearing up the tracks of the Confederate railroads, but the Union’s cavalry under George Stoneman. I mean, why would Stonewall tear up his own tracks.
It’s not “The Robert E Lee,” a paddleboat that hadn’t been built yet, but Robert E Lee, the Confederate general, who is coming.
The Band got it right. You didn’t.
I’d say judge a band by their music, not their name. Confederate Railroad is a decent but not that well-known country band whose name unfortunately put them on the wrong side of a debate they had nothing to do with. In the 1970s and 1980s lots of people from rednecks to punk rockers flew the stars and bars. Tom Petty flew the flag in his concerts during his song “Rebel.”.
Sometimes a flag is just a flag. In the last 50 years or so the popular usage has been a outlaw/rebel/Southern pride thing IMO. People can attribute any sinister meaning to a flag they want, that doesn’t mean they’re right about it.
Are you talking about 1949? Fucking fireworks? Really?
Heh, remember back when conservatives thought virtue was a good thing?
Virtue is a bad word to conservatives for the same reason that patriotism is a bad word to progressives. Not because the term used in sincerity is bad, but because they believe the other side is waving a flag (so to speak) to show how great they are for show.
Basically a conservative thinks a progressive’s “virtues” aren’t very virtuous, and are actually harmful. For example, a conservative may feel that supporting gay marriage harms and diluted the institution of marriage and family, or may have religious objections to it. A progressive will argue that preventing gay marriage is restricting the freedom of homosexual couples to enjoy the same rights as heterosexual couples.
A progressive thinks a conservative’s “patriotism” isn’t something that really supports or helps the country. For example, guarding the border from the influx of undocumented immigrants is advocated by conservatives who cite things like national security, increased crime rates, loss of jobs for citizens, etc. A progressive sees the positive results of immigration on the country and the danger of jingoism, racist motives, human rights violations, and so on which go against the country’s best interests and against the country’s values.
TLDR: Rainbow flags and American flags are often viewed cynically from the other side.
Touche:)
If someone declared “virtue signaling” to be vulgar, you really wouldn’t have shit to post in the Pit, would you?
It does, though. That is what the flag meant, and it is why it became popular. People didn’t use it until it was used for segregation. Furthermore, black people have said that it is racially offensive, and asked people to stop.
It’s the same as any other symbol. If a minority says they find it offensive, and can show that it has historically been used as bigotry against them, you stop using that symbol. That’s why we don’t use various slurs, like the n-word, f-----t, tr—y, etc.
Maybe they were just accidentally on the wrong side of history and meant no harm. . They could fix that. Change the name, like Dixie Stampede did. Southern Railroad, with actual southern state flags on the train would work. Georgia Railroad would work, as I read the name came while they were in Georgia.
Or, hell, just remove the flags from the logo, as a compromise measure. Based on the OP’s article, that would have been sufficient.
But they didn’t. So, unlike Tom Petty, they’re STILL on the wrong side of history. I hope they eventually change. Bands change logos and even names all the time.
As for their music: I would have little reason to check that out even if they had a completely innocuous name. But I found a few YouTube videos: generic country sound to my ears, nothing interesting. But hey, if you like 'em, cool.
Never once have I said people who like their music are racists. There is problematic music I like: “We are Siamese” is one of my favorite Disney songs. It’s okay to like things while recognizing the problems.
Not really. Patriotism is a bad word to progressives because the other side USES it for things that we think are bad, while our side doesn’t use it much at all.
But “virtue” is their word for what we do, shortened from “virtue signaling,” which is supposedly the “flag waving” thing you claim. The problem with this is that it is used for any situation where a leftist speaks about their values. ’
The term was coined as a counter, to make it harder for us to argue that you shouldn’t be racist or similar. Any time we do, we’re “virtue signaling.”
So, no, it’s not really the same thing at all.
Yeah. “Virtue signaling” is the social-justice equivalent of “tree hugging” for environmental issues. Both phrases essentially mean “I don’t have a good response to the merits of your argument so I’m going to pretend that your engagement with this subject is just a ridiculous affectation, which I will use as an excuse to ignore what you’re saying”.
But when you point it at yourself, what does it say? Does it go into negative numbers?
I’m still baffled that someone was surprised that a band called “Confederate Railroad” uses Confederate flags. Frankly I’d be surprised if they didn’t.
Fair enough, in the sense that patriotism is a term embraced by conservatives while virtue-signaling is a pejorative conservatives use to label progressives.
My point wasn’t that they are the same, I was trying to demonstrate how a term that is normally a positive one might become a pejorative through the lens of politics. I know that for many progressives the term “patriotism” has become a negative thing, not because they they don’t have pride in their country or want what’s best for their fellow citizens, but because of the bad things done in its name by conservatives, and how it can be used as a shield for bigotry, exploitation, and other negative concepts.
And yes, in both cases you have conservatives essentially misusing a term; one used to describe themselves (patriotism) and one used to describe those they disagree with (virtue). I didn’t mean to imply otherwise.
It’s actually much worse than that. It’s an assertion that you don’t actually feel/think what you say and you’re just pretending. It’s equal parts projecting the speaker’s lack of virtue/empathy and declaring yours invalid. It’s an *extra cunty *handwave.
This is why we can’t have nice things! 
Jefferson Davis Airplane lost some members and after replacing them reformed as Jefferson Stars and Bars Ship.
You sir are a brave man.
Exactly. Organizers hire a southern rock band named “Confederate Railroad” to perform in concert and they are shocked, shocked!! I say, when they discover that this southern rock band with Confederate right in its fucking name, wait for it…flys the Confederate flag with pride.
They aren’t even “flying the Confederate flag with pride”–it is two tiny flags on the train in their logo that you have to look hard to even notice.