Do you find the Confederate Flag offensive?

[CRAVE CASE 55]

I'm from Ohio and My moms family is from Kentucky and my Dads from Mississippi and I'm pround of my southern heritage. Recently I baught a large Confederate flag at a Flea market and hung it on the ceiling of my room. I go by the motto heritage not hate. I have a few black friends who arnt bothered by it but a white friend of mine thinks its offensive and hates me now. So do you find this as a sybol of hate or a proud heritage?


EDIT: To be fair as I said I also have a American flag hanging right next to it to honor my ancestors who were killed on both sides

 

[JUMBO PALACE]

I think it's a symbol of a past time where hatred was rampant, and this can be misconstrued as offensive. It's part of America's history, it's not a racial slur.

 

[Hader]

I'm from Ohio and My moms family is from Kentucky and my Dads from Mississippi and I'm pround of my southern heritage. Recently I baught a large Confederate flag at a Flea market and hung it on the ceiling of my room. I go by the motto heritage not hate. I have a few black friends who arnt bothered by it but a white friend of mine thinks its offensive and hates me now. So do you find this as a sybol of hate or a proud heritage?

I find the flag slightly distasteful...in design

I wouldn't find it offensive but you have to understand what the flag is related to. It may be ingrained in southern history and heritage, and that isn't at all bad, but at the same time it was the symbol of a confederate nation that was pro-slavery. That didn't fly with some people and still doesn't today.

 

[Radoh]

So you are of southern heritage? You know the confederacy is not how the south began right?

 

[DugMachine]

No. I being from the south have it as a part of my heritage and nothing more. I've gotten some weird looks but I don't feel that I have to explain myself. I can understand if i'm flying a damn Nazi Germany flag around but the Confederate states are NOTHING like Nazi's.

Fun fact: Not everyone in the south was a racist hick back in the day.

 

[MikailCaboose]

I don't see anything wrong with it so long as you don't hold to racism. It's a symbol, one which has quite a few different meanings. Unfortunately, it's ended up like the swastika and is only seen in the light of the bad part of history it seems.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

I love the look of the flag. And I dislike the negative correlation it receives. Its the same as the Swastika, a symbol that becomes synonymous with bad things, forever tarnishing its reputation. Its disappointing, since the flag has no free will, and it is used as a scapegoat to lay blanket hatred towards the society that used the image.

 

[Vern5]

Depends on who's waving it.

I think its kind of cute how southerners hold onto that distinct heritage and say things like "yankees" and "the war of northern aggression" and stuff like that.

Of course, when the skin heads start trying to suffocate me with one all the while proclaiming how I must be purged for being a "half-breed" (Caucasian/filipino) well... you could see how I might be skittish once I see that flag.

 

[CRAVE CASE 55]

I baught it seeing as how its on the Mississippi state flag where a large part of my family lives. it remeinds me of home and I had family die on both sides in the war so I have a flag of each side hanging in my room as a memorial to both

 

[DugMachine]

I don't see anything wrong with it so long as you don't hold to racism. It's a symbol, one which has quite a few different meanings. Unfortunately, it's ended up like the swastika and is only seen in the light of the bad part of history it seems.

Some girl saw my confederate ring and she compared it to Nazi Germany. I laughed. I guess I see where she's coming from but still its not the same. Not even close.

 

[Seerio]

I like it. I have a confederate flag magnet on my fridge.

 

[Nate Corran]

Fun fact: Not everyone in the south was a racist hick back in the day.

True, but in order to be in the Confederacy you had to be a slave state, and as such support slavery and the behavior that goes with it. I am from Indiana, I can literally see Kentucky from the windows of my school, and these stupid flags are everywhere and no one seems to know that it does, in fact, show a belief in the subjugation of African Americans.

 

[bl4ckh4wk64]

Not at all. I'm in Southern California (arguably the most liberal area in America) and I don't find it offensive in any way. It's a symbol of the past and how we have to remember our own history.

 

[trooper6]

Yep. I find it offensive. Do you think black southerners fly the confederate flag? No. Because it is a symbol of a heritage...but that heritage is about leaving the union in order to preserve slavery.

If you want to honor Mississippi, fly the Mississippi state flag. Why honor the battle flag of the pro-slavery south?

 

[Vern5]

I don't see anything wrong with it so long as you don't hold to racism. It's a symbol, one which has quite a few different meanings. Unfortunately, it's ended up like the swastika and is only seen in the light of the bad part of history it seems.

Some girl saw my confederate ring and she compared it to Nazi Germany. I laughed. I guess I see where she's coming from but still its not the same. Not even close.

The exact factual connotations may not be the same. The modern conception of it could be, depending upon where you are. I find it more useful to first know how others see things as opposed to what those things actually are.

 

[spartan231490]

I'm from Ohio and My moms family is from Kentucky and my Dads from Mississippi and I'm pround of my southern heritage. Recently I baught a large Confederate flag at a Flea market and hung it on the ceiling of my room. I go by the motto heritage not hate. I have a few black friends who arnt bothered by it but a white friend of mine thinks its offensive and hates me now. So do you find this as a sybol of hate or a proud heritage?

Hate. What pride is there in losing a war over an evil cause?

 

[FollowUp]

I think that to hang a flag like this it's kinda in bad taste, but I don't find it offensive because you are not a racist. If a racist hung that flag and ranted on about the good old days when african americans were slaves, then yes it would be offensive, but... I dunno. You're kind of asking for it though.

 

[Blindrooster]

It depends on the context. I'm from Kentucky as well and see it often enough. There is the side of homage it pays for to the south, to all the lives of family and brothers that were killed. It can be a symbol of remembrence for them, as well as heritage. However, theres the stupid people who fly it out there unnecesarily large truck screaming "YEE HAW" flying down the road yelling at black people. Those are the people who disserve to be genophaged, and probably dont even know a thing about the civil war.

So my answer: it depends on the person.

 

[Escapefromwhatever]

I don't find its existence offensive- I find people who still hang it offensive. Aside from racial connotations, they're only widening a divide that doesn't need to exist. Is the Confederacy really something to be THAT proud of?

 

[DugMachine]

I'm from Ohio and My moms family is from Kentucky and my Dads from Mississippi and I'm pround of my southern heritage. Recently I baught a large Confederate flag at a Flea market and hung it on the ceiling of my room. I go by the motto heritage not hate. I have a few black friends who arnt bothered by it but a white friend of mine thinks its offensive and hates me now. So do you find this as a sybol of hate or a proud heritage?

Hate. What pride is there in losing a war over an evil cause?

We're not proud of the war nor the racism that is commonly associated with the south. North was just as racist as we were though... but that aside, it's just heritage and reminds you of where you're from. I'll always be a southern boy at heart.