Dear Internet, We've gone over this before: symbols have no inherent meaning. Everyone has their own...
Dear Internet,
We've gone over this before: symbols have no inherent meaning. Everyone has their own meaning for a given symbol.
It is true that many well-meaning people view the Confederate flag as a symbol of racism and hatred.
It is also true that many well-meaning people view the Confederate flag as merely a symbol of pride.
If you think that someone necessarily, or even probably, has racist motivations simply because they fly the Confederate flag, you are incorrect. Fix that.
On the other hand, if you think that your pure motivations for flying the Confederate flag justify the harm that it contributes to -- the hurt feelings, the societal division, and so on -- you are also incorrect. Fix that.
The blame for the division is really primarily on the people who see the flag as racist, because they are the ones who are incorrectly conflating the symbol with its meanings. But the people who see the flag as simply about pride, and keep flying it, are also to blame because they can simply give up the symbol and still hold on to the meaning, and they choose to not do that.
I am not in South Carolina, and I have no strong feelings one way or another about the flag. I recognize the fact that it is the intent of the people, not the symbol itself, that is important. I could not care less whether they fly the Confederate flag, because I have no reason to think that the people doing so are racist, or intend to send a racist message.
What I do care about is that we learn to live together in peace. So either the one side needs to learn to look past symbols and see intent, or the other side needs to learn to express themselves with symbols that won't be misunderstood. Either way is fine with me. Keep the flag or lose it, but find ways to not hate the people around you.
(I also care about people misrepresenting how symbols work, and saying that any symbol has a universal or necessary or permanent meaning. It's just not true, and it's the root of much of our misunderstanding and strife. Also, in fact, the intent of the people who invented the flag has literally no bearing on the intent of the people flying it today.)
We've gone over this before: symbols have no inherent meaning. Everyone has their own meaning for a given symbol.
It is true that many well-meaning people view the Confederate flag as a symbol of racism and hatred.
It is also true that many well-meaning people view the Confederate flag as merely a symbol of pride.
If you think that someone necessarily, or even probably, has racist motivations simply because they fly the Confederate flag, you are incorrect. Fix that.
On the other hand, if you think that your pure motivations for flying the Confederate flag justify the harm that it contributes to -- the hurt feelings, the societal division, and so on -- you are also incorrect. Fix that.
The blame for the division is really primarily on the people who see the flag as racist, because they are the ones who are incorrectly conflating the symbol with its meanings. But the people who see the flag as simply about pride, and keep flying it, are also to blame because they can simply give up the symbol and still hold on to the meaning, and they choose to not do that.
I am not in South Carolina, and I have no strong feelings one way or another about the flag. I recognize the fact that it is the intent of the people, not the symbol itself, that is important. I could not care less whether they fly the Confederate flag, because I have no reason to think that the people doing so are racist, or intend to send a racist message.
What I do care about is that we learn to live together in peace. So either the one side needs to learn to look past symbols and see intent, or the other side needs to learn to express themselves with symbols that won't be misunderstood. Either way is fine with me. Keep the flag or lose it, but find ways to not hate the people around you.
(I also care about people misrepresenting how symbols work, and saying that any symbol has a universal or necessary or permanent meaning. It's just not true, and it's the root of much of our misunderstanding and strife. Also, in fact, the intent of the people who invented the flag has literally no bearing on the intent of the people flying it today.)
"It is the common fate of the indolent to see their rights become a prey to the active. The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance; which condition if he break, servitude is at once the consequence of his crime and the punishment of his guilt."
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