Understand and agree ... but how do you explain this?







origins of the swastika
The swastika symbol first appeared as art on a mammoth ivory in Russia in the Ukraine, in the Paleolithic Age 10.000 years ago. Then, it was brought by the Aryans to India. It did not originate in the Indus Valley Civilization as some people thought.
Swastika - What Is the Origin of the Swastika

Not a cool symbol now .. but once had a totally different meaning.

Stars and the colours red and blue doesn't have to mean anything specific but aligned as the confederate battleflag it will raise a lot of emotions among a whole lot of people.

And among a whole lot of other people it will conjure up a completely different set of emotions. It is not racist because a select group of people believe it to be so.

Every damn thing is racist.

What? You didn't vote for the black man? You must be racist! What? The black man pulled out a gun and you shot him? You must be racist. What? You want to enforce control over voting to make sure only legal citizens actually get to vote? You must be a racist. What? You want to enforce strict control over welfare programs? You must be a racist. What? You think ESL schools hinder the progress of English Speakers? You must be racist. What? You don't want illegal immigrants leaching off social programs in the United States? You must be a racist. What? You think there are fundamental differences between cultures? You must be a racist. What? You think Tex-Mex is better than traditional Mexican food? You must be a racist.

People need to freaking get over themselves and stop crying like 2nd graders. I kid you not. I was behind a woman in Wal Mart a few weeks ago. Her credit card was declined at the register. She said, and I quote, "this is some racist ****ing bull s h i t" as she stormed out with her 2 year old on her hip. Yep. Just another case of the white man bringing her down.

Once again, what they teach American kids in history class is bunk - if they teach it at all anymore, and more and more they don't even bother to teach it. It's a sad damn shame is what it is. The Civil war was about State's Rights and the inability of the North's free labor to compete with the South's slave labor - it was about southern state's concerns over territories in the west being deemed non-slave territories thus creating an inequity in representation. Indeed it was a "Civil" war. It had nothing whatsoever to do with racism or equal rights - it was about MONEY. Period.

I don't really get the point you are trying to make with your rambling in regards to my comments about the Confederate flag, I understand quite well how silly the stuff you mentioned is.



I do not dispute the fact that the civil war might have been more about money than ending slavery but I think you are kinda missing the point I was trying to make.

Slavery is always based on racism or some form of believed superiority over the people opressed. That is the foundation of such a system. It might be a percieved superiority by race, skin colour, language, religion or just power of force.

The use of african slaves was based on a belief that black people were less beings than white people and therefore they could be used as forced labor. It doesn't matter if the US civil war was about money, slavery still became a huge part of it, especially since it was fought between slave states and non slave states. Eliminating slavery was a war goal for the North and vice versa and because of that the confederate flag is a symbol for slavery which is based on racism or some form of believed superiority. So I don't agree with you on this, people have all the right to get offended by that flag, since it was the symbol for a shortlived country which supported such a system. Its a little different when quite a large percentage of the population thinks it compared to if it was to be a couple of hundreds.

Another example I could make is South Africa changing their flag after apartheid ended because the old flag were to connected to the old system.

My highschool coach in Louisiana wouldn't let anybody wear anything with a Rebel flag, beltbuckles, t-shirts, hats, carflags etc since people thought it offensive.