this post was submitted on 02 Oct 2024
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There's a decent amount of southerners that bought into the idea pushed in the 20th century that the flag was emblematic of southern pride instead of emblematic of racism.
Modern conversation about the US has generalized half of the country as poor, racist, mean, idiots who are stuck in the past. It's gone so far that people have started to describe impovershed areas worldwide as the global south.
While I would never choose to rally under a racist symbol because of it, I can understand wanting a shorthand way to show pride for the place you are from if you feel like public opinion just labels it as a backwards shitpile by default.
And if modern discourse is so wrong about how much of a shithole where you live or where you are from is, maybe they're wrong about this symbol meaning racism too? Spoiler: they aren't wrong about that, but that is the general thought path.
Similar sort of thing that drove a concerning amount of young men towards shitheads like Andrew Tate while the news media was going apeshit with articles about how all men needed to be taught not to rape.
That's not where that comes from, but that misconception is a great example of US defaultism
People taking pride in being born in a specific place to a specific religious ideology and political opinion is part of the problem though.
The people I see flying confederate flags are more likely to be people that I highly doubt have ever contributed to society in a way that they should be proud of.
Big deal, they were born in the south. Why are they proud of that? What exactly are they proud of? History does not favor them with much to be proud of and the one icon they use to show their pride is the banner of a failed state that fought against its own countrymen; a state that built its foundation on slavery...
You get to be proud if your country or your people are a force for good in the world; doing things worth being proud of. Being proud that your parents were from Alabama and hooked up one night and you just so happened to be their spawn makes no sense. This applies no matter where you're from.
Do you get mad every time someone plays Country Roads? When you live somewhere that place, the people in it, the way they live and your connections to them becomes a part of who you are. I think it's alright to demand that southerners not use the confederate flag for that because of its inherent racism, but basic respect for the humanity of someone who came from a different place means also respecting the fond feelings they may have for it and the way that place is part of their identity.
Also Star Wars...
How many movies and tv shows are about a group of "Rebels" fighting the big evil oppressive government telling them what to do and how to live?
Its portrayed as cool and morally right every damn time.