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I believe this is an issue of perceived meaning versus actual meaning. I look at the confederate flag and see the representation of death, pain, and the repression of black people. This is what I see because it is a major icon used throughout white supremacy groups (hereafter referred to as IDIOTS), and the fact that I live in the south helps reinforce this impression I have of it's implied meaning. Does that mean that it is therefore offensive because I have these mental associations? Yes. It means that, to me, it is offensive. Does it mean that I should protest in South Carolina for it's removal? Well, that's a little more complex. Let me put it a different way.
If I was the governor of New York, and it was upon me to decide what flags I flew in front of the Governors mansion, and I thought that a flag with the tetraskelion emblem was appropriate, should I be allowed to carry out that action? A tetraskelion is an ancient symbol that carries positive meanings having to do with power, energy, and migration; three qualities which have helped define New York throughout it's history. Is the fact that it just happened to be adopted as the symbol by Nazi Germany during World War II taint the symbol forever? Because it is also known as the swastika and represents to millions of people the systematic extermination of the Jewish populations of Europe, I should allow it's perceived meaning to prevent me from flying that flag? Yes. Yes I should. And so should South Carolina.
What this essentially comes down to is a request to let that part of South Carolina's history be moved past, and with it, it's symbols. To request it's removal is allowed and encouraged. To demand it's removal, isn't. Let your outrage be spoken for in votes, if your request falls on deaf ears. The only reason this is being fought against so fervently is because no one wants to give these protesters any 'power'. Not totally because they are black, but because no one wants to be told what to do. It's petty, and stupid, and the longer this is fought against, the more the officials of South Carolina begin to look like the idiots they claim they aren't. |
