Pet Peeve: Confederate Flag

[AdminAssistant]

I've yet to see or hear the first southern person go north and tell the yankees how things are done back home

Only because the people up here can't make decent sweet tea or cornbread or fried okra or catfish. Or pulled pork bbq.

As I'm sure I've said earlier in this thread, somewhere, I'm from the South, and a "punchline state" to boot. Yeah, it gets kinda old. If I can realize that there's a New York beyond the city, or that not all people in New Jersey are like Snooki, then northerners can realize that not all Southerners are braindead, inbred hillbillies or racists or whatever.

Also, generalizing "The South" as having one culture or one type of people is completely false. South Texas is completely different than West Virginia. And so on. I hear all the time, "Oh, you're Southern, I bet you like grits and pig's feet and fried Twinkies, cuz that's what *y'all* eat!! Hyuck hyuck!!!" Ummm, no. I've never had any of those things and real Southern-style cooking actually doesn't involve a lot of deep frying. That is a northern and city invention. Go tell that to somebody from Atlanta or something.

[smileyeagle1021]

I wish you Yankees would pull your heads out of your asses and stop thinking we're all a bunch of racist, uneducated NASCAR junkies.

In fairness, I don't know of many NASCAR tracks in the Yankee states
Right now the South has a image problem, and sadly a lot of it is earned. Of course not all Southerners are racists or bigots, but when the Florida government tries to prove in court that gays are incapable of raising children and school districts in Louisiana I believe it was have rules about the class president has to be white, it makes the area look bad. For uneducated inbreeds, sadly the idiot in the trailer park who can't form a coherent sentence makes much better material for CNN and Fox than the well educated person who is going to give a well thought out response to describe what the tornado was like.

[Ipecac Drano]

Does your black friend have the same feelings when he sees the American Flag??? If not then he's being inconsistant.

Care to explain?

[protege]

Of course, many of the jokes about West Virginia got started because of one thing...for many years WV was the poorest state in the union. For all I know, it probably still is. Not helping things, is that much of the state is pretty rural and isolated because of the geography. Further, Wal-Mart, and WVU are their first and second largest employers.

Still, many of the 'redneck' stereotypes persist...and with good reason. They're true in many cases. Don't believe me? Go down to Grafton (or any of the small towns sometime), and you'll see what I mean. Grafton proper...consists of a largely-abandoned downtown, and many 'shacks' (complete with Confederate flags) perched on the opposite hillside. Sure, there are some nice homes, but they're not in the Grafton city limits! First time I went down there to watch trains..quite a few of the more-inbred idiots couldn't help but shoot nasty glares my way. Like, what was this Pennsylvania asshole doing in their state?

[guywithashovel]

I didn't say this earlier because I was afraid it might offend people, but could some of the attitudes people have towards the South stem from from all the "Southern Pride" stuff. I'm talking about the intense loyalty to the South or "The Confederacy." Maybe some people see all that and instinctively want to knock them down a few pegs. For many people, it's human nature to want to do that when people are puffing their chests out. Add to that the fact that a fair number of Southerners can't seem to get over something that happened nearly 150 years ago (from the looks of it), and you have a good recipe for some roasting. Heck, when my aunt married her first husband and moved with him to Norfolk, VA (he was in the military), she was stunned to find out that many people there were still fighting the Civil War.

I'm from the Midwest---Ohio, to be exact, and I don't see people here running around shouting "It's another great day in the Midwest! Smell that Midwestern pride!" or "The Midwest will rise again! RAWR!" Perhaps if you searched far and wide, you could find a few people who do that, but for the most part, we don't care about being Midwesterners. Heck, I, myself, hardly ever even think about being a Northerner. That's not to say we're ashamed of it. It just isn't a part of our lives. Where we are from doesn't dominate our identities. Likewise, I've never noticed people from New England, the Pacific Northwest, the Southwest, or any other part of the country taking as much pride in their region as the South does. Once again, I'm sure if you searched far and wide you could find a few, but not near as many.

And like I said earlier, virtually every region and state has to deal with some stereotypes, and there are usually as many exceptions to the rule as there are people who fit the stereotypes.

[Ipecac Drano]

Of course, many of the jokes about West Virginia got started because of one thing...for many years WV was the poorest state in the union.

Deliverance didn't help, either...

[AdminAssistant]

Deliverance didn't help, either...

That was Georgia.

[Greenday]

Does your black friend have the same feelings when he sees the American Flag??? If not then he's being inconsistant.

Considering the current American flag didn't exist until 1960 way after slavery...your logic makes no sense.

[Tanasi]

Considering the current American flag didn't exist until 1960 way after slavery...your logic makes no sense.

Actually it does as the American flag (in whatever incarnation/configuration) flew over slavery in most states for decades where as any Confederate flag only flew for 5 years.
Perhaps ID's friend needs to take the context in which the a Confederate flag is being used. Not all uses are racist as there are black folks that participate in re-enactments on the southern side. One of the biggest supporters in South Carolina for keeping the Battle flag on the capital building was a black man (his name escapes me at the moment.) I find it offensive when the Battle flag is used for/by racists. I've wished that a law could be passed to limit it's use but that would violate the 1st amendment. Sometimes when someone says something you don't agree with you just have to suck it up and be an adult. Let them have their say and then you can have yours.

[Greenday]

The current American flag was created in 1960. Pretty sure slavery was over before 1960.

[HYHYBT]

Hardly relevant, as the only changes since well before the Civil War have been updating the number of stars.

Symbolically, though, the US flag represents the United States *as a whole,* both geographically and temporally. And a big part of that is progress towards ideals the country has always expressed, but never has (and probably never can) live up to fully. Whereas the Confederacy is dead, and therefore cannot progress.

The mention of historical reenactments reminded me: there was some politician or other recently derided for wearing a Nazi costume for a reenactment; at least, that's the way I heard it. It was generally treated as if that were reason to believe he agreed with them, which hardly seemed fair... unless, of course, I completely missed the point. I know Dad used to participate in Civil War reenactments (in a Confederate band, so besides the costumes they had antique instruments) and it had nothing to do with politics or racism or anything like that. Just something he found interesting to do, and an interesting bunch of people to do it with.

[Ipecac Drano]

That was Georgia.

Ah! My mistake. It's been years since I saw it. I was once teasing my boss about his being from Kentucky and I hummed the opening to "Duelling Banjos". He looked at me and said, "That was West Virginia."

[Gawdzillers]

Only because the people up here can't make decent sweet tea or cornbread or fried okra or catfish. Or pulled pork bbq.

I agree with you on everything except BBQ. My Grandma's from Cleveland and she makes some great BBQ. It's Yankee style, meaning covered in sweet sauce, but it's still good.

[AdminAssistant]

The problem here isn't the sauce, the problem here is that it's all overcooked, especially the pork. There is one stellar exception - Oklahoma Joe's BBQ. Best damn stuff on the planet.

[wolfie]

See, that's the Confederate BATTLE flag. Which you are only supposed to fly under two circumstances.

1) You are a member of the Confederate Army or Navy (Presumably you could have one if there was Confederate Air Force, but they didn't last that long, so there is no Confederate Air Force).

2) You are actively engaged in combat (for the Confederacy)

If you had made that post prior to 2001, the parenthetical quote in item #1 would have been incorrect - there was a Confederate Air Force. They've since changed their name.

As for the stereotypes, one I heard on the CB was:
Despite what people keep saying, although marriage between cousins is legal in West Virginia, it's strongly discouraged. "Heck, Bubba, she's barely kinfolk. It's almost like getting hitched to a stranger."