Not long ago, absolute evil occurred in the state of South Carolina. Some young white kid made the sad and pathetic decision to go into a church filled mainly with black congregants and murder them. I can think of no greater evil. I don’t care who the victims were: whites, blacks, Hispanics gays, women, babies, polka dotted people. Whatever the reason, whoever the victims, to murder or threaten to murder is evil. As a fellow human being of faith, I deem it Satanic.
This high profile case, deemed a “hate crime” by modern legislative actions, has had farther reaching consequences on Southern culture and heritage as I’m sure, by now, you all know too well. Specifically, in the wake of this revolting act, investigators dug up social media images of the murderer posing with a gun in front of a Confederate flag. which has led politicians and pundits into a fresh push to have the stars-and-bars removed from public buildings or even banned from public display altogether. Indeed, the Dixie flag that had been flying over South Carolina’s state house for over half a century has been lowered at the governor’s request.
Related: Why I support the Confederate flag
But we’ve also seen protests against removing the flag and it also seems, and maybe this is just me, that a lot more people are displaying the Confederate flag on their property and social media since it has come under attack (even those who aren’t from the south).
Frankly, I think the Confederate flag is useless. My black friends don’t like it much either. I don’t think it’s a symbol of freedom or civil rights. I would never fly it or display it on the back of my truck and even though I know enough to separate the two—a disgusting act of murder and a piece of cloth with a lot of history–I would definitely not make a public spectacle of myself over a flag after a psycho murdered a lot of people.
Yes, I know. The murder’s the problem, not necessarily the flag. Even so, I don’t support that flag, wave it around or post it to social media. But I do concede that the flag’s long and varied history makes our relationship with it more complicated.
I mean, I watched the Dukes of Hazzard as a kid. I don’t think that a TV show should be banned because this image is featured in it. I don’t even think that state capitol buildings ought to necessarily remove a piece of southern history, either.
Or, maybe it’s time to change.
Let’s not jump to firm opinions and public exclusions of tradition because of some horrible decisions by stupid people who murder. Let’s not be stupid either. Do we really need to change a school name from Dixie because it’s akin to the Dixie flag and may offend people? Do we really need to change the football team name from Redskins because it may offend somebody? Do we really need to publicly ridicule the Texas cheerleader Kendall Jones who shoots animals or the dentist who shoots a lion? After all, the zebras probably appreciated the gesture.
Knee-jerk reactions to avoid offending people and an ever-pervading feeling that we can’t do anything because somebody “might” get offended are social diseases that suggests we all should be the same. I don’t like that socialist-type agenda at all.
I believe that since we all are different, we each should proudly recognize our own heritage. But, when it comes to the Confederate flag, I just don’t understand it. The south lost the Civil War. Why fly a defeated flag? Of course, I don’t have southern roots, so I wouldn’t understand it, but my feeling is that there is just too often an air of racial tension and hatred associated with the Confederate Flag. For that reason, I won’t support any flag except Old Glory.
The official flag of the United States of America is my flag. That’s the flag I love. That’s the flag I served under during my military tenure. That’s the heritage I’m most proud of. The US flag has no hidden agenda, no difference in color under the flag I love and proudly wave. None whatsoever.
The views and opinions expressed in this post are those of the author’s and do not necessarily reflect the position of Guns.com.
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