are you offended by the confederate flag?

[jaymz462]

It's a symbol of racism, no matter how anyone tries to spin it as being about "states' rights."  It's offensive.

That said, if people want to fly it, that's their business.  I'll just assume they're racist pigs.

[PJones6]

Thats funny to the poster who said only liked on the Dukes of Hazzard..lol...totally agree...

[healthfreedom]

To me, the confederate flag represents the brave soldiers who foght and died for a cause they believed in.

[DanielKorycki]

It's a symbol of racism, no matter how anyone tries to spin it as being about "states' rights."  It's offensive.

That said, if people want to fly it, that's their business.  I'll just assume they're racist pigs.

Many ignorant people today do fly the Confederate flag as a symbol of racism, and I agree that that is WRONG. Racism in any form is despicable.

Others, however, fly it because they value their heritage. People nowadays often simply associate the South with slavery (Remember, history is written by the victors). However, Southern heritage is a lot more than that. Slavery was not confined to the Confederacy. The North had slaves, too.

The sad truth is that actual racists have distorted the meaning of the flag into a racist symbol. The actual Confederacy was not fighting for slavery; why would most of the population, who weren't slave owners, fight and die for a few rich aristocrats who owned slaves?

[tammypete]

I was born and raised here in the south!  I am not offended by the conferate flag but I also don't flag it in my front yard!

[dreamyxo]

no it just a piece of material,you see i am not ignorant like most people.

It may be just a piece of material but it's the symbolism behind it that is offensive.  Yes I am offended by it.  It is a symbol of hatred and intolerance. 

[ULuvCeCe]

It's typically a way of displaying your racism shrouded under the guise of free speech and pride for heritage.

Exactly. And usually it is just one generation that passed this racist way down to the next down to the next and in the end they don't even know a thing about the civil war and why it happened

[marciaenglish]

Having been born and raised in the south; I know the confederate flag did not stand for "slavery" per say.  It stood more for the right to make a choice! 
Not letting the "Government" DICTATE your lifestyle.

[jaymz462]

The sad truth is that actual racists have distorted the meaning of the flag into a racist symbol. The actual Confederacy was not fighting for slavery; why would most of the population, who weren't slave owners, fight and die for a few rich aristocrats who owned slaves?

Because the aristocrats lied and said it was about "states' rights"  and the common people believed them

[DanielKorycki]

Like I said, though, the North had slaves, too. The Emancipation Proclamation only freed slaves in Southern states, (and Lincoln was reluctant to issue it; he did so under pressure from the Radical Republican group) and the last state to free its slaves was Maryland, in the North. So the South fights the North, which has slavery, in order to maintain slavery? From what I've heard, the whole slavery issue was blown up by the North as propaganda against the Confederacy. In fact the Southern Constitution, in Section 9-1, prohibits the importation of any new slaves from foreign countries.

http://www.usconstitution.net/csa.html

[dell9031]

Not offended.  The Civil War was fought due to the difference in the economies of the North(Industrial) and the South(Agricultural.)  The Northern states were distancing themselves from the Southern states economically.  The Southern states could not keep up.  The Southern states were reliant upon slave labor.  Slavery was not only a moral wrong, it was also economically deficient.  The European nations would no longer do business with the Southern states if it continued slavery.  Even if the South did win its emancipation from the Union , it would have economically collapsed or had to abolish slavery itself if it would co-exist with the rest of the world.  The flag itself is just a flag.

No Union soldier would die or fight for slaves freedom.  This was about economics.  The rights that the Southern states fought for were the right to be lazy and stupid while still keeping there "lifestyle". The economy was bad during that time(obviously) and Union soldiers made bank, so joining was a lot like it is today with the military. The industrial revolution(education and invention) was killing the South's little economy of slave labor.

[thedementedpianist]

A little bit because they don't really acknowledge slavery as being wrong. And I don't mean "Oh they won't apologize for their ancestors!" no, I mean the ones I've met just flat out say "It was the Lord's will to do that." which sounds like a cop out to me. So then when I see the flag, I'm like "Oh great."