Suburban Tribe
Thursday, August 11, 2005
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11 Comments:
that's great! I'm going to go use it now :P
The confederate flag, while on one side representing the shameful actions of the South's lawmakers in the past, also represents the men who died for their homes during the war.
I don't know if you'll believe it or not, but not all of the South wanted slaves. General Lee himself detested slavery, but turned down Lincoln's offer to lead the Union in order to defend his birthplace and home. On the flip side, some Northerners fought not to free slaves, whom they believed were not deserving of equal treatment, but just for the fact alone that the South seceeded.
So do not call the Confederate flag a racist flag. The men who hoist the stars and bars are honoring their great great grandfathers who fought and died for the sake of their homeland.
I take it you don't like the South very much, do you? We're not all hicks who have incestual relationships with our cousins. In fact, very few of us are.
And I guess it's natural that the North hates the South because we voted in Bush for a second term.
Mr, Lee, I'm not asking for you to take down the comic, but I beg for you and the community to look at it as a joke, and nothing more. The South is a beautiful place, steeped with traditions and great people... not to mention some of the best golf courses in the world!
To say that it's anything less is a lie.
And c'mon. Don't go dissing on the Dukes of Hazzard!
"And I guess it's natural that the North hates the South because we voted in Bush for a second term."
Hell man. The whole world hates U for that
Let me start by thanking you for posting your thoughts so eloquently.
First of all, I live and grew up in Kentucky which I think most people would consider part of the South. I have no plans to leave it any time soon, either.
Second, I agree with everything you said about the Confederate Flag and what it stood for. However, I don't think it really helps convey those points when extremist groups fly the flag as their own or manufacturers use the flag's image on various products paired with the slogan "The South WIll Rise Again." I think you would agree that's a little scary and inappropriate.
Third, and most important, this comic is just satire. I make plenty of jokes at my own expense a lot of times because I think the view opposite of mine has merit. Remember the comic where Haley rescued the Pope? I liked Pope John Paul II quite a bit, and I kind of regret that the joke came across so caustically. However, he was infirm for so long before he died and the church did everything in their power to convince the world the opposite was true - as if we were all blind and deaf. Not to mention that Catholic priests are spread so thin because the church will not allow them to marry, the church will not condone birth control, etc. and progressive Catholics are left twisting in the wind.
Lastly, the real points I want to make about the "Dukes" are these:
1) Yes, Boss Hogg and the Sherriff's dept. were corrupt, but the Dukes were running moonshine and destroying public property at least once a week!
2) For all intents and purposes, Daisy was the only one who had a job! How often did you actually see the boys working on the farm?
3) Why didn't Bo or Luke ever have a girlfriend?
Like the swastika, the Confederate flag will forever be associated with hatred rather than its nobler origins. But, you have to admit, the TV series of 'The Dukes of Hazzard' did little to promote the image of the South as a progressive, intellectual place NOT rife with 'hicks who have incestual relationships with our cousins.'
Every day I am still hit over the head with the 'Southern' way of life. (God help me, I married a guy born in Florida and raised in Kentucky! ;-P ) Some of it is genteel - John's mom is ever the Proper Southern Lady - but so much of it is passive-aggressive. For example, whoever would have thought that as a Catholic you'd be considered the 'wrong' kind of Christian and socially snubbed because of it? That may be a Bush thing, but it's more pronounced here - practically constitutional.
Funniest thing I've seen all year (excluding this comic): A flag vendor set up in a parking lot, with the Confederate and gay rainbow flags flying side-by-side. I drove past in the General Grant and thought, 'That's brave.'
I completely understand that the confederate flag does mean more to those who live in the South. I understand that there is greater historical meaning to the flag than slavery, the Confederacy, and the Civil War. The problem is that outside of the South, the only meaning to 99% of the people that this flag has is slavery, the Confederacy, and the Civil War. Sorry.
I am a Midwestern guy from the North, and I guess I will never truly understand why this dark and violent period in American history must be worshipped so much, even today. I am not suggesting that slavery, the Civil War, and all of the brave people who fought on both sides be forgotten, just that I don't really understand why we all can't just learn from this period in history without glorifying it so much.
Having said all of this, I did enjoy this stand-alone episode, and do confess that at the time I did watch the show. I even sell the DVDs in the store that I work for. I was younger at the time that this show was first-run on television, and didn't think about it too deeply then.
"The problem is that outside of the South, the only meaning to 99% of the people that this flag has is slavery, the Confederacy, and the Civil War. "
At least outside the US it is a bit confusing because everyone expects that more than a century after the civil war the north and south no longer exist. Everyone thinks it's all one america (even if it split on petty differences )
I am slowly understanding this is not the case
Being born in Florida, schooled in Virginia and in the process of moving to Arkansas(yes I know, no one moves to Arkansas), I have grown up with the Confederate flag. Personally, I have to agree with the cartoonist's wife- look beyond what the hate groups and such use it as. What really gets to me is the fact that the two symbols the Klan used most as tools of hate are two things that people don't associate with hate- the American flag and the cross. And yet, no one really makes a big fuss over those. Then again, I do tend to think that a lot of people out there just need to pull their heads out of their asses, but that's just my thought on the matter.
Also, it doesn't help things that my mother's family is from Michigan- I can't tell you how many times I've heard jokes about the "War of Southern Surrender". Plus, my grandfather always makes the same comment whenever someone says that the South shall do it again- "What, roll over and play dead?"
"War o' Southern Surrender?" Wot'r y'all talkin' about? The War o'Northern Aggression? Hell, son, we dinn' fight y'all 'bout no slaves! Only reason we fought y'all is 'cuz we thought yew wuz comin' ta steal our wimmin. Once we found out t'at weren't wot yew wanted, we plum let yew Yankees think yew "won." YEEE-HAWWW!
*crashes car inta the crick*
Ahem. Sorry for the blatant stereotyping. But I actually got the above response about stealing women when I asked someone from Louisiana if he realized the South had lost the Civil War.
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