Yes, morons acting like morons on TV – that is TOTALLY the same thing as slavery.
The body count of the fake tan muscleheads on reality tv - it’s completely horrifying, right?
Yeah, they need to fly a flag “commemorating their heritage”.:rolleyes: Four fucking years of “heritage”. The Confederate battle flag flew over the Southern States for about three years. The British Flag for about 170 years. Why not fly the Union Jack instead of the Stars and Bars?
Why Florida? The flag is modeled after the Banner of the Spanish Empire.
The Lone Star flag predates the CSA by three decades.
It was the one show that I was not allowed to watch because according to my mom it was too stupid.
It’s one thing to argue that Southern culture, or “the South”, should have associations beyond slavery. But the Confederate States of America? Fuck those guys. Unfortunately, the symbols of the Confederacy are the default symbols of the South as a whole (and almost certainly cannot be replaced by anything as specifically “Southern” symbols). Since the Confederacy is uniquely and inescapably identified with slavery and white supremacy and the militant defense of slavery and white supremacy, Southerners just don’t get to have untainted symbols (flags and so forth) of “the South”.
Which is fair enough, really. There is no “Midwestern flag”. Everyone can use American symbols (the American flag), and then just refer to their states or regions by name when discussing which part of the country has the most majestic scenery, or who is kindest to strangers and most polite to their elders, or the real way to prepare barbecue, or trash-talking about sports, or whatever.
And I agree that no one should be able to ignorantly equate “the South” or “Southerners” with “racism” (as if the the country as a whole didn’t have a long and painful history of slavery, racism, expropriation of American Indian lands, etc., etc., etc.). But that sure would be a whole lot easier point to make if so damned many of my fellow Southerners weren’t busy waving the flag from that time when a bunch of our ancestors tried to secede from the Union in order to perpetuate the supremacy of the “White race” and the enslavement and subordination of the “Negro race”, thus plunging the country into a huge and bloody war.
She was a showgirl? With yellow feathers in her hair and a dress cut down to there?
My point to starting this thread wasn’t about causing additional divisiveness. I already knew there were still general, vague and mostly unwarranted anti-Southern sentiments lingering around and I will not put up with with those but that is a constant and unresolvable debate.
I just find it extremely odd that a tragic mass shooting that everyone condemns in the harshest terms possible could also be a touchstone for anti-Southern sentiment yet again using general Southern culture as a root cause. The general public did not riot and most importantly, the victim’s families gave statements of grace even under the most extreme circumstances possible. That was the only radio broadcast that I have ever heard that made me break down into tears. I mean that literally.
I think that speaks extremely well to the people of South Carolina. They have handled the tragedy with the utmost grace possible. The rest of the nation needs to back off, let them mourn and let the families rebuild their lives. It is a freak event that could happen to anyone at any time but the chances would be extraordinary that anyone else could have dealt with the tragedy as well as they have. I quietly applaud them for their dignity in the wake of a terrible tragedy.
I for one am very very sorry for Jersey Shore, and I say so on behalf of the Union.
As a rule of thumb, the typical problem a typical American has to worry about rates approximately a 3 out of 10 compared to the problems a lot of the world has to face. Even if you did September Eleven all over again, every day straight, for 3 years, it still wouldn’t equal the number of deaths in the Seige of Leningrad for example.
Yes, the families of the victims acted with utmost grace and dignity. While the judge sat at the bench and asked that the nation remember the shooter’s family was victimized too. While the sentiment was worthy of respect, sitting there, asking people to remember to treat the killer’s family as victims too, while staring at the ones left behind by a white supremacist’s hate - that was a fucking tone deaf statement. The sister of the shooter started a gofundme page to try and rebuild her wedding day. I cannot imagine why people are looking to the south and saying what the ever loving fuck.
ETA - And I type this sitting in Virginia, the product of a whole lotta generations of Virginians and a whole lotta “Southern Pride.”
I’m waiting for the amusement park chain to become Five Flags.
This has been on my mind since for the last four days I was setting up, operating and then taking down support for a military celebratory event at Six Flags - La Ronde (Con Forza 2015) and I only got to spend about 30 minutes in the park itself and couldn’t find a skeeball booth which annoyed me because I like skeeball and wanted to win a crappy stuffed animal.
Plus it rained. Like, a lot.
Thanks, Obama.
It’s already been pointed out to me and I now pay it forward that “stars and bars” doesn’t actually mean the familiar battle flag, but the now-lesser-known original version of the CSA national flag, which to me looks like a low-res version of the USA national flag.
To be fair, they is a lot of collateral damage from their own family member’s pure evil. I know nothing about the family in general other than what the news says but they will never be able to get away from his crime even if they are the most angelic people on Earth.
It is one thing to judge but it another to think what you would do if you were caught up in the general crime of family association with a notorious criminal. Hitler still has family members that live in The U.S. under assumed names. They decided to never had kids so that they could kill off the family line once and for all. That is a big burden for something that they personally had nothing to do with.
I agree that the GoFundMe web page is about the most tasteless thing you can do however. Any Southern person no matter how rich or poor should have more class than that.
You have not demonstrated that these sentiments are unwarranted. Here’s a hint: continuing to post drivel about how you loved living in the South as a white boy doesn’t count.
That’s nice. Why don’t you now address the issue of all the black churches that have been torched since that asshole killed those people. Please note that none of these churches are in the North.
Bolding mine.
If by “it could happen to anyone at anytime” you mean “it could only happen to Black people in the South” then I agree.
Nah, it’s “Yankee” :).
I was going to respond to your other points in detail but then I realized that you don’t have any idea what you are talking about when you dropped this turd. Many counter-examples were already given earlier in this thread. Read it, think about it and then get back to us when you have well informed opinions. Thank you in advance. ~Shagnasty
(Emphasis added) and while addressing the descendants of those who died at Hitler’s command, would you try to tell them how hard their killer’s family has it? Or would you display a shade more class than that? I indicated that the sentiment is worthy of respect – his family did not do anything to deserve the punishment that will inevitably follow his name. But is the hearing the appropriate place to make the point? With the Confederate flag flying proudly at full mast just outside?
That, for me, is pretty damn classless. And it demonstrates that our glorious South is producing this type of person, in this type of culture, that makes that sort of statement seem perfectly reasonable.
ETA-- and some may feel that the family does deserve a bit of the credit - they didn’t teach any better than that. While he may have been a racist killer no matter what, what influence did the family have on his belief system? I don’t know. I have no way of knowing, frankly. But can you say his family is totally blameless in his evil? This isn’t generations later trying to escape the stain of an ancestor.
Counter-examples to what? Southern home grown racism? No, there have been no counter-examples. Just you pretending like everyone else is the same as you. They’re not.