I’m sure my neighbors up the street don’t read FreeThought Blogs. And I’m equally sure they wouldn’t complain about being pointed out as sympathizers for institionalized racism – it’s “pride” not “prejudice” right?
I have a bunch of these. It sure makes some of my friends feel welcome and safe in the neighborhood when they drive by and see the battle flag of treason, slavery, and hatred openly displayed.
PS – the north beat the south like a bongo drum; they never had a chance even though they had slightly better commanders. What an ill-fought mess that war was! What’s to be proud of?
Gregory in Seattle says
Not just institutionalized racism: it is a flag of treason.
chigau (違う) says
Is that power-pole county property?
Does the county permit crap on the county power-poles?
chigau (違う) says
sorry
I didn’t intend to Post Comment.
springa73 says
Now that the Confederate flag has become sort of a “conservative white person and proud of it” symbol, you see them even in Massachusetts. The historical irony of this is off the charts.
Marcus Ranum says
Gregory In Seattle@#1:
I am unconvinced of the legitimacy of any state, so I am unconvinced that “treason” is possible. Or, alternatively, it may be a duty. You’ll notice, I did use the term loosely in my OP.
I think the southern state’s reasons for seceding were sufficiently opprobrious in their own terms that their lèse majeste toward the state is hardly worth mentioning.
Besides, at that time, the union ALSO was a slave-nation (it had not emancipated the slaves yet) so one could argue with some strength that seceding from it for any reason other than the one that motivated the south would be a moral imperative.
Marcus Ranum says
springa73@#4:
Yeah, “get in the basket with the others”
Pierce R. Butler says
Where’s their Trump™ sign?
Marcus Ranum says
Pierce R Butler@#7:
I see a fair number of houses with rebel flags and no political signs at all. Maybe they don’t want people to think they are racists or something.
chigau (違う) says
On another paw; the entire “American Revolution” was treasonous.
.
WeCanadians® didn’t do that.
*sniff*
Johnny Vector says
No no, look: US and rebel flags. They’re showing their support for unity and togetherness.
Go Alliance! Go Browcoats!
We support the Jets and the sharks!
I’m team Stark and team Cap!
Buffy andSpike. Hey wait…
Reginald Selkirk says
At least the treason flag is mounted lower than the U.S. flag.
Marcus Ranum says
Johnny Vector@#10:
I think they probably thought that. Which shows something about how hard they thought.
Go Capulet! Go Montague!
Marcus Ranum says
chigau@#9:
(how many paws are we up to?)
On yet another paw, one could argue that the monarchy didn’t have legitimacy because it wasn’t governing with the consent of the governed, if one was a contractarian. “Look, there goes the king!” from Monty Python was actually pretty educational political science. ;)
dobby says
#5
I am not sure what your point is. Slavery in existing states was a state issue, most if not all of the states that made up the union were free states. The border states still had slavery, but did not join the union or the traitors. Slavery in new states was a federal issue because the government had to approve entry. Some were slave states, some were free. The major issues leading up to the war were the spread of slavery and the fugitave slave acts.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slave_and_free_states
Marcus Ranum says
dobby@#14:
The whole ‘debate’ that resulted in the south’s secession was over whether the US would remain a slave-nation or not. I’m saying that the US was not a legitimate state (in terms of “consent of the governed”) until the south considerably improved the union’s moral standing by leaving.
martha says
Annals of cluelessness: In Ireland while skimming some outlying part of County Cork, we saw a confederate flag and later checked the web to see what was up with that. Turns out that Cork sports teams use similar colors and call themselves Rebels, which in Ireland of course has a completely different context, so waving one of these flags in Cork is kind of a sports fan thing. We even saw a video of people with confederate flags and yes-we-can! paraphenalia at the same time.
Marcus Ranum says
martha@#16:
Turns out that Cork sports teams use similar colors and call themselves Rebels
Someone should tell them. And then they’ll probably, well, I dunno what.
Onamission5 says
I suppose it would be considered escalation if a basket ended up bolted to that power pole, eh?
Our new neighbors gave us quite a worry when they began to install what looked for all the world like an industrial strength flag holder on the side of their roof line. You can imagine our relief when it turned out to be the base for a giant, ugly antennae rather than a confederate flag.
DonDueed says
@#10 @#12:
Go Hatfields! Go McCoys!
(Seemed kinda appropriate.)
At least your neighbors did a pretty nice job of hiding the wheels on their house.
Marcus Ranum says
Onamission5@#18:
I suppose it would be considered escalation if a basket ended up bolted to that power pole, eh?
Ha! I wonder if they’d get that.
“Hey, here’s your basket.”
chigau (違う) says