Spurrier: Take that damned flag down

Tom --
The flag in question HAD fallen out of use in favor of the other Confederate banner. However, this one came back as a symbol of resistance during the movement for civil rights. Its modern incarnation, then, is as a symbol of American apartheid. For me, any Confederate flag is a symbol of armed treason, and good for Coach Dickhead for speaking up. I suspect the SC State Patrol's going to be busy for a few months.

 

You gotta love Spurrier. Most college football coaches wouldn't have said anything about a social issue for fear of upsetting part of the fan base. Nice to see a coach who has big enough ones to speak out.

 

GUARANTEED: The flag is a recruiting problem for the Ol' Ball Coach.

 

For all south carolina's protests about heritage and its flag, I find it laughable that the flag didn't start flying over the statehouse until, I believe, the 1950s. It was just a coincidence that SC got in touch with its "heritage" at the same time that the civil rights movement was gaining popularity.

 

The rectangular one. Not the square one.

 

I love when my love and adoration for this man is paid back in full. What a good, upstanding human being.

 

Now they can start doing the same in NASCAR.

 

You would not believe the arguments from the (thankfully) few LSU fans who fly purple-and-gold Confederate flags while tailgating. You know they are just hoping someone will complain.

I talked with one who gave me the whole speech about tradition, heritage, patriotism to the Confederacy and those who fought for it, etc., and he clearly placed his flying of the LSU-colored flag within a context of loyalty to his heritage and loyalty to the university.

I asked him if he's equally patriotic about America. Hell yeah, he said.

So I asked if he'd ever fly a purple-and-gold American flag. He thought about it for a second, then said, "That's bullshit! It's not the same!"

To me, that illustrates the dividing line between a tribute to the past and some phony reason for simply trying to stir up shit.

 

Well, so did the Stars and Stripes at one time, to a significant portion of residents of the original 13 colonies who were loyal to the Crown.

And the point has been argued that states that voluntarily joined a group should have the right to succeed from same group. Apparently there's some sticky Constitutional ground on that one, and I'm not going to fight the Civil War all over again.

But the Confederate flag should not be on state grounds. Period. Slavery was an abomination, and like it or not that is what the flag stands for. And as far as it being waved at games, and at tailgaters, etc., 11 of the 12 SEC universities are public. They could easily ban the use of the Confederate flag on their grounds. Some probably already have.

But other than outlaw it completely, like the swatstika, you can't prevent it from being used privately. I just wish that people didn't feel the need for it more than 152 years after Apomattox.

And good for Spurrier for speaking out.

 

The "sticky Constitutional grounds" were summoned out of thin air by John C. Calhoun. The Constitution is not a compact between states. Hence the first three words of its preamble. It is an agreement between the American people as a whole. The Confederate flag was a flag of treason against the lawfully constituted government of the American people.

 

The flags of the confederacy:

The one at top left, the "Stars and Bars" is considered the "polite" confederate flag. It was the first national flag of the CSA. There were versions with more stars to represent other states. Anyway, the "Stars and Bars" was the flag of the CSA from 1861-63. You'll see this flag used to represent the CSA such as in the famous "six flags" that flew over Texas.

The "X"-design flag, today's "rebel flag" as seen on pickups and belt buckles, was the battle flag and naval jack. During the last two years of the confederacy, the CSA ditched the Stars and Bars and incorporated the "X" flag into a national flag, first with the "X" design in the canton on a plain white flag, then later with a red bar on the fly to keep it from being mistaken for a trucial flag.
Whatever the battle flag may have meant, in the 20th Century it has been adopted by racists.

I'm not a big fan of either flag...I say this as a Southerner with ancestors who fought for the CSA. But the Stars and Bars flag doesn't bother me. The battle flag bothers me.


EDIT: Buckweaver, good job with the swastika analogy. Symbols do change their meaning over time.

 

He's gonna coach 'em up.