Is anyone on GB offended by the Confederate flag?

In the context of the class, it doesn't really seem like a big deal, because the point was to start dialogue about the subject. But when you're hanging it up in your office, or wearing it on your clothes, that can be different, because it's unclear why you're doing that. It's not like the swastika, which had a previous meaning. The Confederate Flag was the symbol for a movement that wished to divide the United States, maintain slavery, and was willing to fight a war over it. You can say it's a Southern Pride thing, but what does that even mean? It's not like an Irish or Scottish pride thing, because those places were conquered by England and the South had been part of the Original States.   
 
Of course, any reasonable argument for having the flag now mean something else is nullified by the fact that, at least in my experience as a Southerner, a majority of the people who do have it in their houses and on their clothes are, to use the common term, 'rednecks', who may or may not shout 'the south will rise again!' when they get excited. If you wear or hang the Confederate flag somewhere, you might not be a racist or a separatist, but there's a very good probability that you're woefully ignorant.

So if its "just about history", why would they hang the war flag instead of the national flag?

" @ryanwho: Refer to my old post..... That's not actually the confederate flag, it was the first one however they changed it to your so called "battle flag".... and I know this because I live in VA too, and I've lived in NC and TX.  "

No.

" Alot of jerks from the UK wear it on their Leather jackets at college ....even though they are from Bradford . It offends my sense of fashion lol "

I don't give a flying fuck about any flag.

No i'm not offended.. It's fucking cloth.

" I don't give a flying fuck about any flag. "

"... a majority of the people who do have it in their houses and on their clothes are, to use the common term, 'rednecks', who may or may not shout 'the south will rise again!' when they get excited. If you wear or hang the Confederate flag somewhere, you might not be a racist or a separatist, but there's a very good probability that you're woefully ignorant. "

" @Scooper said:

" I don't give a flying fuck about any flag. "

The Flying Fuck is a great name for a flag! "

What is offensive about the Confederacy?
 
Nobody I know is offended by it, but then again I live in the South.
 
The Confederacy is a very important part of the United States, because it shows what the Union is all about.

" @MarkWahlberg said:

"... a majority of the people who do have it in their houses and on their clothes are, to use the common term, 'rednecks', who may or may not shout 'the south will rise again!' when they get excited. If you wear or hang the Confederate flag somewhere, you might not be a racist or a separatist, but there's a very good probability that you're woefully ignorant. "

This, pretty much. I live in upstate New York, so I never see it in towns, but out in farm country you'll see it surprisingly often. This perplexes me, since New York is not what most people would consider Southern.  I remember passing one house on the ski club bus ride every week in high school that had a pickup truck on blocks, an outhouse, and an enormous Confederate flag flying in the yard. I could never tell if someone actually lived there or if it was some sort of post-modern art installation. "

i live in london and someone has a confederate flag on their car on my road...just makes me think what a cock, but that's context.......  its probably fashion but to me its pretty sinister...

The only flag that offends me is this one...
 

i live in tennessee, and around here most people just call it a "rebel flag"
it seems like the emphasis is on REBEL.   people like to feel like a rebel... blah blah blah. so it is their flag of choice.
the ones with more taste fly the "Don't Tread on Me" flag.

pff what kind of BABY is offended by the flag that symbolizes going to war to defend slavery. bunch of pussies right!?!?

" The only flag that offends me is this one...
 

  Let this discussion take an interesting turn! "

" @LaszloKovacs said:

" @MarkWahlberg said:

"... a majority of the people who do have it in their houses and on their clothes are, to use the common term, 'rednecks', who may or may not shout 'the south will rise again!' when they get excited. If you wear or hang the Confederate flag somewhere, you might not be a racist or a separatist, but there's a very good probability that you're woefully ignorant. "

This, pretty much. I live in upstate New York, so I never see it in towns, but out in farm country you'll see it surprisingly often. This perplexes me, since New York is not what most people would consider Southern.  I remember passing one house on the ski club bus ride every week in high school that had a pickup truck on blocks, an outhouse, and an enormous Confederate flag flying in the yard. I could never tell if someone actually lived there or if it was some sort of post-modern art installation. "

The KKK has its roots in New England.  So, there you go. "

Yes, it symbolizes racism and bigotry.
 
It sickens me that in the south you are not taught of the Civil War, but the War of Northern Agression

" @HaltIamReptar said:

" @LaszloKovacs said:

" @MarkWahlberg said:

"... a majority of the people who do have it in their houses and on their clothes are, to use the common term, 'rednecks', who may or may not shout 'the south will rise again!' when they get excited. If you wear or hang the Confederate flag somewhere, you might not be a racist or a separatist, but there's a very good probability that you're woefully ignorant. "

This, pretty much. I live in upstate New York, so I never see it in towns, but out in farm country you'll see it surprisingly often. This perplexes me, since New York is not what most people would consider Southern.  I remember passing one house on the ski club bus ride every week in high school that had a pickup truck on blocks, an outhouse, and an enormous Confederate flag flying in the yard. I could never tell if someone actually lived there or if it was some sort of post-modern art installation. "

The KKK has its roots in New England.  So, there you go. "

Wait, really? The only thing Google turned up was something about them backing a candidate at the 1924 DNC in New York City. Then again, I don't really know what to look for. "

all the images shown here well most of them are tainted by the uses they have had, but their original forms weren't ment that way.
 
Confederate flags, swastika ...ect all had a purer original meanings and reasons for being.
 
Hell if any thing shouldn't we consider the original american flag a representation of slavery? since slavery existed and was fostered in this country under that flag and a few variations of that flag after?

the kkk didn't start in the north. what utter bollocks.

I'm from North Carolina, and my feelings vary on the subject.
 

" @Whisperkill:  I live in Georgia, and we are definitely taught about the Civil War, not the "War of Northern Aggression."  Now who taught you that we are taught these things? "

"

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" @Rayfield said:

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lol Racist or not, it's a thoroughly American image plastered onto a Japanese product. Oh, the irony. "

I am not offended per se I don't think people should use it because it is offensive.  The reason I am not personally offended is because the people that I in general see wearing clothes with it or with it on their trucks are real "winners" so it mostly makes me laugh at them.

" @yinstarrunner: I have family that goes to college in the south. They can't stand it because everyone is a racist. They were taught it was the war of northern aggression. "

" It's a piece of cloth. "

" I'm from North Carolina, and my feelings vary on the subject.

"

It was clearly for historical purposes, so, yes, that is pretty touchy for them to take it down, seeing as no students were offended by it.

Not really. But I don't think states should hang it on state buildings.

" @HandsomeDead:  Ironic isn't it? Maybe I like the avatar so much because Inglourious Basterds was an obvious attempt at depicting the Jews as almost Nazi themselves in their actions, vilifying them along with the Nazis maybe as an attempt to say "Hey, Hitler wasn't that bad. He was almost admirable, I mean he had a plan and by God he stuck to it. He's a role model!" What you say to that G? "

" @HandsomeDead:  Ironic isn't it? Maybe I like the avatar so much because Inglourious Basterds was an obvious attempt at depicting the Jews as almost Nazi themselves in their actions, vilifying them along with the Nazis maybe as an attempt to say "Hey, Hitler wasn't that bad. He was almost admirable, I mean he had a plan and by God he stuck to it. He's a role model!" What you say to that G? "

" @WilliamRLBaker: what is that even supposed to mean? "

I mean, there WERE other reasons besides slavery that they went to war, like
 
The South had no political power and had no say in issues.  This could lead to slavery being banned, unfair economic decisions that put them in bad positions, but the North in a good position.
 The cultures in the North and South differed greatly to the point of Nationalism becoming a problem...i.e. They aren't American, they're Southerners, live on big plantations (Small percentage actually..) and grow cotton.
 
So setting the slave issue beside, because most Southerners didn't actually have slaves and mainly plantation owners owned most of the land and slaves while everyone else were poor farmers that had to live off the land.   This was one of those things on the rich, not the populace.
 
The reason somebody would hang the Confederate Flag would be:
They had someone who fought on the Confederate side and protected their land from being pillaged, and the second would be it's your heritage, nothing to not be proud of, just a culture that wanted to be it's own nation because of large differences in society from another part of a nation.
 
 Same thing with the German Flag in WWII, or the Russian flag, there were just common people that fought for their country and way of life, not the small selection of people that were the extremists in their society.