protectionist
Diamond Member
- Oct 20, 2013
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A photograph of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) posing in front of a Confederate flag is making the rounds on social media. Why ? What does it matter ? The flag represents a regional kinship that many southerners have. Sure, it also once represented the Confederacy, and a defense of slavery, 154 years ago, but that was then, not now, and it was generations ago.
Also, it might be noted that many (if not most) of the southerners who fought in the Civil War did so only in self-defense, against an army that traveled hundreds of miles to their home towns, and was shooting at them, blowing up their building, burning down their churches. When asked of southern fighters why they were fighting, the common answer was almost always "Because you're here".
Few southerners, engaged in battle with or without the Confederate flag flying, knew much of anything about slavery, about the Confederacy, and few probably ever even heard of Jefferson Davis. In those days, there was no TV, no radio, no computers, and if southerners had a local newspaper at all, they probably couldn't read it anyway.
So did the veterans who died fighting in defense of their home turfs deserve to be remembered and honored for their courage, as much as the Union troops who attacked them ? I would say so.
So, is the Sons of Confederate Veterans (the group at which McConnell is shown in the picture) a legitimate organization, with a reasonable (if not honorable) standing ? I would say so. Is the Confederate flag a reasonable symbol for the group ? I think it is, as long as one isn't looking for negatives, and prospecting for dispute.
And if one is looking for adversity, might not the burden be on THEM, to justify what could be seen as a bigoted perspective, toward a region of the country inhabited by over 100 million people ?
Photo of Mitch McConnell in Front of a Confederate Flag Resurfaces Amid Northam Yearbook Controversy
Also, it might be noted that many (if not most) of the southerners who fought in the Civil War did so only in self-defense, against an army that traveled hundreds of miles to their home towns, and was shooting at them, blowing up their building, burning down their churches. When asked of southern fighters why they were fighting, the common answer was almost always "Because you're here".
Few southerners, engaged in battle with or without the Confederate flag flying, knew much of anything about slavery, about the Confederacy, and few probably ever even heard of Jefferson Davis. In those days, there was no TV, no radio, no computers, and if southerners had a local newspaper at all, they probably couldn't read it anyway.
So did the veterans who died fighting in defense of their home turfs deserve to be remembered and honored for their courage, as much as the Union troops who attacked them ? I would say so.
So, is the Sons of Confederate Veterans (the group at which McConnell is shown in the picture) a legitimate organization, with a reasonable (if not honorable) standing ? I would say so. Is the Confederate flag a reasonable symbol for the group ? I think it is, as long as one isn't looking for negatives, and prospecting for dispute.
And if one is looking for adversity, might not the burden be on THEM, to justify what could be seen as a bigoted perspective, toward a region of the country inhabited by over 100 million people ?
Photo of Mitch McConnell in Front of a Confederate Flag Resurfaces Amid Northam Yearbook Controversy