So i have here three flags, only two of which are flags of the confederacy the third is a battle flag that more represents the troops than the ideology of the state. In fact if you look at states that supposedly have Confederate flags flying over their capital you will find that only one state actually does display a confederate flag: Texas. The Stars and Bars is one of the Six Flags over Texas and for some reason no one cares.Which i find odd as this is the only state that i can find that actually runs a flag that represents the establishment of the confederacy. Has our history become so timeworn that we can't actually identify flags properly or has the Southern Cross been associated with racism so long that it supersedes the original intention of the flag?
Lets talk about the Southern Cross for a bit and why i feel it represents the common man who was swept up in the war. See the Stars and Bars looks a lot like the United States flag and this in the heat and smoke of battle lead to many friendly fire incidents. Some of the confederate generals were concerned over this and wanted a new state flag created and this was shot down twice. The leaders of the confederacy were also opposed to having the battle flag altogether demanding that generals display the Stars and Bars despite friendly fire incidents that were occurring in the field. Eventually late in 1861 a compromise was reached and they agreed to have a parade flag(Stars and Bars) and battle flag(Southern Cross) deployed to the field. Many of the soldiers at the ceremony introducing the battle flag wrote home that they felt a sense of pride for this flag and the "fighting colors" boosted morale after the confusion at the Battle of First Manassas. In short they identified more with this flag than their national flag, so much so that it was adopted and copyrighted as the emblem of the United Confederate Veterans. Its use by the veterans groups led to the flag being deemed, 'the soldier's flag'. I'm reminded of the Bob Dylan song 'only a pawn in their game'
Now how did something that represented the common man get associated with racism and the entire confederacy. Well lets look at the Reconstruction Era and see what changes and challenges southern US citizens faced during this time. Slavery had a lot to do with economic factors in the south but much like today it was seen as trickle down economics. The rich got richer off of slave labor and the poor stay poor because of the lack of jobs available to them. Combined with the establishment of Army officials as interim state overseers until union loyal or at least impartial political leaders could be elected. With slavery abolished and the south becoming military district the rich whites then manipulated the poor whites, because it was somehow other people's fault that the poor whites remained that way. I'm reminded of the Bob Dylan song 'only a pawn in their game'. As mentioned earlier the southern veterans of the civil war adopted the Southern Cross as their symbol and the KKK was founded by such veterans. While much different that we think of the KKK today they were an insurgent group dedicated to stopping the unification of the US and did so through acts we would regard today as terrorism against freedmen as well as union supporters and carpetbaggers.
So much like the swastika being repurposed and associated with an ideology we see how the Southern Cross has been used to instill pride and prejudice. Many people see Germany's response to naziism(banning the symbol) as the aproriate one but i disagree. I see things like this as important lessons on how you can take pride in where you come from but not to let it become hubris and let yourself be taken by ignorance. We cannot turn away from who we were and what happened, if we sweep it away as just another offensive symbol then how can we grow as a society. Touching on the swastika again its still a popular symbol in Asia as it is a religious symbol for Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. As such products not marketed to the west often contain the symbol. There are several instances were ignorant people have been offended by the swastika that has nothing to do with fasism or naziism just the misiturpritation of a symbol. Nintendo famously made a statement on one of their incidents by saying "that what was acceptable in one culture was not necessarily so in another". Its a pretty bullshit excuse as they clearly were not the same symbol and only ignorant people made those mistakes. Educating people on the past mistakes of a society and interpretations of a symbol is very important. You don't curb things because they offend you the only way to move past this is to admit the ignorance of the past and to understand that we can forge a better tomorrow.
I find the crucifix to be an offensive symbol of ignorance and greed, deception and cruelty but i don't think that the Christian faith need to retire it. Nor do i care that so many people i meet everyday wear them. Because they have their understanding of what the symbol means to them outside of horrible things people have done under its protection.
-Get fucked internets, I'm out
Z
Lets talk about the Southern Cross for a bit and why i feel it represents the common man who was swept up in the war. See the Stars and Bars looks a lot like the United States flag and this in the heat and smoke of battle lead to many friendly fire incidents. Some of the confederate generals were concerned over this and wanted a new state flag created and this was shot down twice. The leaders of the confederacy were also opposed to having the battle flag altogether demanding that generals display the Stars and Bars despite friendly fire incidents that were occurring in the field. Eventually late in 1861 a compromise was reached and they agreed to have a parade flag(Stars and Bars) and battle flag(Southern Cross) deployed to the field. Many of the soldiers at the ceremony introducing the battle flag wrote home that they felt a sense of pride for this flag and the "fighting colors" boosted morale after the confusion at the Battle of First Manassas. In short they identified more with this flag than their national flag, so much so that it was adopted and copyrighted as the emblem of the United Confederate Veterans. Its use by the veterans groups led to the flag being deemed, 'the soldier's flag'. I'm reminded of the Bob Dylan song 'only a pawn in their game'
Now how did something that represented the common man get associated with racism and the entire confederacy. Well lets look at the Reconstruction Era and see what changes and challenges southern US citizens faced during this time. Slavery had a lot to do with economic factors in the south but much like today it was seen as trickle down economics. The rich got richer off of slave labor and the poor stay poor because of the lack of jobs available to them. Combined with the establishment of Army officials as interim state overseers until union loyal or at least impartial political leaders could be elected. With slavery abolished and the south becoming military district the rich whites then manipulated the poor whites, because it was somehow other people's fault that the poor whites remained that way. I'm reminded of the Bob Dylan song 'only a pawn in their game'. As mentioned earlier the southern veterans of the civil war adopted the Southern Cross as their symbol and the KKK was founded by such veterans. While much different that we think of the KKK today they were an insurgent group dedicated to stopping the unification of the US and did so through acts we would regard today as terrorism against freedmen as well as union supporters and carpetbaggers.
So much like the swastika being repurposed and associated with an ideology we see how the Southern Cross has been used to instill pride and prejudice. Many people see Germany's response to naziism(banning the symbol) as the aproriate one but i disagree. I see things like this as important lessons on how you can take pride in where you come from but not to let it become hubris and let yourself be taken by ignorance. We cannot turn away from who we were and what happened, if we sweep it away as just another offensive symbol then how can we grow as a society. Touching on the swastika again its still a popular symbol in Asia as it is a religious symbol for Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. As such products not marketed to the west often contain the symbol. There are several instances were ignorant people have been offended by the swastika that has nothing to do with fasism or naziism just the misiturpritation of a symbol. Nintendo famously made a statement on one of their incidents by saying "that what was acceptable in one culture was not necessarily so in another". Its a pretty bullshit excuse as they clearly were not the same symbol and only ignorant people made those mistakes. Educating people on the past mistakes of a society and interpretations of a symbol is very important. You don't curb things because they offend you the only way to move past this is to admit the ignorance of the past and to understand that we can forge a better tomorrow.
I find the crucifix to be an offensive symbol of ignorance and greed, deception and cruelty but i don't think that the Christian faith need to retire it. Nor do i care that so many people i meet everyday wear them. Because they have their understanding of what the symbol means to them outside of horrible things people have done under its protection.
-Get fucked internets, I'm out
Z