I don't quite see it that way.
Historical facts aside - such as what was the flag of the confederacy - the problem with the battle jack is the use it has been put to since the civil war. It has become the banner of oppression, or Jim Crowism, of southern backwardness even.
The swastika was a Persian good luck symbol for thousands of years. I have personally observed xtian graves in Roman catacombs which were covered with them...the jewish members of our group were shuffling uncomfortably until the guide explained that these were original to the site and not WWII German graffiti. In spite of that ancient pedigree the swastika is now thoroughly discredited as a symbol. The battle jack suffers from a similar problem. No amount of southern whining about heritage will change the fact that it has been usurped by a group of thugs over the last 150 years
![[Image: kkk-rally.jpg]](https://bossip.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/kkk-rally.jpg)
and thus trashed far more effectively than ever could have been done by law or regulation.
Should the flag come down from government buildings? Yes. But let's not kid ourselves about it. In terms of actual importance this is similar to the Indians whining about the name of the Washington Redskins. Symbolic horseshit and nothing more. If the Redskins changed their name to the Palefaces tomorrow it would not do a single iota of good for the people who are living in abject poverty on the reservations. When you can't fix the big problems you start looking for little, feel-good, issues to work on.
The big problem is racist maniacs running around with guns....not flags. I imagine the number of casualties inflicted by flags in human history is fairly minimal.
Historical facts aside - such as what was the flag of the confederacy - the problem with the battle jack is the use it has been put to since the civil war. It has become the banner of oppression, or Jim Crowism, of southern backwardness even.
The swastika was a Persian good luck symbol for thousands of years. I have personally observed xtian graves in Roman catacombs which were covered with them...the jewish members of our group were shuffling uncomfortably until the guide explained that these were original to the site and not WWII German graffiti. In spite of that ancient pedigree the swastika is now thoroughly discredited as a symbol. The battle jack suffers from a similar problem. No amount of southern whining about heritage will change the fact that it has been usurped by a group of thugs over the last 150 years
and thus trashed far more effectively than ever could have been done by law or regulation.
Should the flag come down from government buildings? Yes. But let's not kid ourselves about it. In terms of actual importance this is similar to the Indians whining about the name of the Washington Redskins. Symbolic horseshit and nothing more. If the Redskins changed their name to the Palefaces tomorrow it would not do a single iota of good for the people who are living in abject poverty on the reservations. When you can't fix the big problems you start looking for little, feel-good, issues to work on.
The big problem is racist maniacs running around with guns....not flags. I imagine the number of casualties inflicted by flags in human history is fairly minimal.
