The Confederate Flag

Recently (and inexplicably) the Confederate (or rebel) flag has become the latest issue in the recent wave of the media trying to convince people that racism is a bigger problem than it is.

president obama (no i am not going to capitalize any part of that - i'm still hoping it is all a terrible, terrrible dream) recently said that the flag was a symbol of the civil war that was all about slavery.

Wrong.  Slavery was not the cause of the "civil war".  i know that is what US teachers have been saying for decades, but that doesn't make it true.  Slavery was what the north used to "morally justify" and unjustifiable war (which actually more closely paralleled the revolutionary war).  The slavery angle was tied on to the war to obscure the South's valid concerns about governance (and their declining lack of a voice on their own affairs).   That and the North's egotism and hyprocrisy.    



What the confederate flag means to me was rebellion (defiance of an unjust government).  The only cultural references i see to it are to denigrate the citizen of the south as racist morons and on the side of the Dukes of Hazard car (the General Lee).  Sure, there are some groups that use it in racist ways - but that is and should be covered as "free speech".   i view the american flag as worse, but in a tragic way (it could have been something, other than the sinking Lusitania it is today).

The recent reaction to events (a lone mentally maladjusted shooter) has further enforced how much i can't stand "modern america".  The day before the shooting, "no big deal".  The day after the shooting, "this is another swastika".  Give me a break.  

i don't know why the media is pushing this "racism" angle so hard recently (starting with cherry picking police shootings, which would have never made national news in the past).  Maybe they are trying to do self-perpetuating stories (reporting stories to cause violence so they can cover both).  But give me a break, enough is enough.  Actually, i think this is the media trying to disenfranchise blacks again before an election cycle.  i thought that was the job of so called "civil rights" leaders.