I don't understand; why do people defend things such as the confederate flag

[NuclearEnergy]

It is essentially the same thing as the Nazi flag. It is the symbol of traitors. Funny thing is, they say the Civil War wasn't about slavery. But then you ask them why and they say states rights. Then you ask them what states rights, they then respond with the right to have slavery. I just don't get it. How can one call themselves a good person and support the South and it's actions? These are the same people telling people to get over it, when it comes to the election. I also hear them saying it's part of their heritage. lmao! I have a relative who was a slave trader, but you don't see me idolizing him.

[Silver]

People can be all kinds of stupid.

[Chad32]

Propaganda, mostly. A lot of people down here don't think racism is a big deal, and don't see the flag as signifying anything horrible. Some part of it is a misguided idea of patriotism. Culture-wise, the south has its ups and downs. Most places do. I don't think we should romanticize the confederacy, but one thing to remember is the south is full of conservatives. Conservatives resist change, thus they resist taking down the flag that symbolizes The South.

[vorlon13]

erasing all remembrance of the evil past makes it all the easier to repeat it

[Minimalist]

Much as the swastika began as an Indian good luck symbol that was taken over (much later) by the Nazis.  The Confederate Battle Flag was designed in the aftermath of First Manassas by an aide to General P.G.T. Beuaregard.  Beauregard had been angered by the similarity between the Federal Flag and the Confederate Stars and Bars which, at a distance in battle with thick sheets of musket and cannon smoke made it difficult to tell friend from foe. 

However, both neo-nazis and southern racists must understand that while their individual favorite symbols may have begun innocently enough they have become corrupted by the despicable causes which adopted them and are forever tainted.

Go grow up, nazis.  We all know you are full of shit.

[Rev. Rye]

As a Civil War buff, here's my hypothesis:

In the years since the South lost, they knew they had to explain why they decided seceding from the Union would be a good idea, and upon retrospect, saying it was about slavery (pretty much the only reason the Southern States gave for it in the days between Sumter and Appamatox; ironically, they put themselves in the only situation where the Union could legally free their slaves short of a Constitutional amendment). So they came up with state's rights, which the South tended to be in favor of (except, ironically, for the issue of Slavery; despite the fact that the Fugitive Slave Act of 1851 and Dred Scott pretty much forced non-slavery states to be involved in it and enable it, and the less said about Bleeding Kansas, the better.) So, if they can rationalise that the war totally wasn't about slavery, then the Stars and Bars is still defensible. Add to it that, for a long time, damn near all the media dealing with the Civil War gave the South a shitton of leeway (point: try and find a film from, say, before 1960, set during the Civil War that casts a negative light on the "Lost Cause of the South." You will fail: Hollywood feared the wrath of the South so much they wouldn't dare to make such a film), it makes perfect sense that it became a symbol of a strange sort of patriotism instead of racism.

It's also worth noting that many of the people who tend to defend the Confederate Flag (ironically, the design they latched onto was, strictly speaking, never actually used during the war) tend to have ancestors who fought for the Confederacy. Unfortunately, the sort of people who think fighting over the right to keep people enslaved to keep up an economic system that would have died out anyway tend to not be ones to examine their past and present critically. If their traditions say they fought and died with great valor, then they really don't want to question it.

Also, in addition to that point, given that tradition says they fought valiantly, and even General Robert E. Lee's opponents saw the man as nothing short of gracious and fair (At least when he wasn't slaughtering Union troops because he thought defending Virginia was better than defending the United States after they unilaterally seceded), and people tend to have a hard time reconciling the good and the bad about people, especially historical figures (case in point: the one thing I hated about Hamilton was Lin-Manuel Miranda's very unsympathetic portrayal of Thomas Jefferson. Sure, he supported slavery and was kind of hypocritical about it, but from what I gather, it was common to see slavery as a necessary evil, which, by the time of John Calhoun, gave way to the view that it was simply necessary; can you seriously say you would prefer it if he was just an unapologetic slaver, Lin-Manuel?), such a transformation may be inevitable.

[Minimalist]

The imagery that Southern recruiters used was far less subtle.

Example:

[Aroura]

erasing all remembrance of the evil past makes it all the easier to repeat it

You can easily kerp the past alive, and teach the hortors of it, without revering it. Ask the Germans. Nazi symbol banned except for art and teaching purposes, Nazis far from forgotten.

In America, we keep the symbol, rewrite the history to erase the worst horrors, then revere a false narrative. All of that's utterly backwards and will lead to a repeat if the more aware can't find a way to stop it.

Your devils advocate routine is wearing a bit thin, of late.

[BrianSoddingBoru4]

Instead of calling it 'the Confederate Battle Flag', perhaps a campaign should be started to refer to it as 'the Battle Flag Of The Slaveholders' Rebellion'. Calling it anything else is just putting lipstick on a pig.

Boru

[Seraphina]

erasing all remembrance of the evil past makes it all the easier to repeat it

Then put Confederate flags and statues venerating Confederate leaders in museums and history books instead of public squares in the middle of town.

-Teresa