General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsI wonder how long this wave of anti-Confederate revulsion will last.
I'm basically a cynical bastard, so I expect it will all blow over sooner rather than later. But it's nice to see people doing something together for a change.
-- Mal
octoberlib
(14,971 posts)elected to the Presidency. Nothing else.
jwirr
(39,215 posts)In_The_Wind
(72,300 posts)jwirr
(39,215 posts)hoping that the grandstanding will last them until the election in 2016.
packman
(16,296 posts)most political parties do when in power. They fear the nut cases when they get into power. Hold them close to your bosom until they become a threat to you.
Fumesucker
(45,851 posts)TreasonousBastard
(43,049 posts)I suspect this revulsion has been just under the surface for a while and the shooting was the catalyst for it to rise.
There are a lot of basically decent people down South who have always been embarrassed and uncomfortable with the rednecks parading their hate and ignorance. Looks like that group is growing and now is the time for its voice to be heard.
yellowcanine
(35,707 posts)Until then it is all just band aids.
DashOneBravo
(2,679 posts)edhopper
(33,669 posts)"heritage not racism" and "not about slavery" bullshit.
Just like segregation is an extremist fringe issue. (at least overtly)
maxsolomon
(33,475 posts)Racism is entrenched.
Mass Firearm Killings are entrenched.
The GOP is caving on this one to protect the other two.
octoberlib
(14,971 posts)Iggo
(47,603 posts)Should be about another week.
Hayduke Bomgarte
(1,965 posts)As long as it is politically expediant and not one millisecond longer.
Signed;
Another cynical bastard
Gormy Cuss
(30,884 posts)csziggy
(34,141 posts)The Confederate flag does not have a wealthy lobby to advocate for it the way the gun lobby has bottomless pockets to influence Republican congress critter votes.
Gormy Cuss
(30,884 posts)I don't think that we could regulate our way out of our horrendously high gun death rate but we could do more as a culture to change the perception of the role of guns in a civilized country, but that would reduce gun and ammo sales.
Humanist_Activist
(7,670 posts)Not saying they aren't necessary, the Confederate battle flag and all monuments belong, at best, in museums, not put in places that glorify that sad chapter in American history when traitors tried to preserve their "peculiar institution".
tymorial
(3,433 posts)EOm.
Spazito
(50,649 posts)and grow.
Do you see "this wave of anti-confederate revulsion" separate and apart from the growing voices against racism or a part of it?
malthaussen
(17,242 posts)So I see it as opportunism and bandwagonism, mostly. If I am proved wrong, I will be presently surprised.
OTOH, if a few souls are educated to conditions that have existed in the U.S. basically forever, some good may come of it. So long as the lessons stick, and prompt some eyes to open.
-- Mal
Spazito
(50,649 posts)state governments removing the racist flags is a positive step, I'll take it knowing removing the flag doesn't address the real issue of racism but it is one tiny step, the voices against racism must continue to grow to go from tiny steps to real change. I intend to be one of those voices.
Phentex
(16,334 posts)it will be seen as unacceptable from now on.
Nitram
(22,985 posts)An excellent first step in the right direction, which will reverberate for decades.
malthaussen
(17,242 posts)Too early to tell, IMO.
-- Mal
pogglethrope
(60 posts)Maybe any state that seceded and still makes official use of the Battle Flag of the Confederacy should be expelled from the United States.
Symbols of the Confederacy remain on the license plates of nine states: Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. That should be enough of an offense for them to be kicked out. Throw Arkansas and Texas in for good measure. The Arkansas flag bears a resemblance to the Confederate flag -- and everyone knows Texans want to go back to having their own country. Let 'em.
All right, maybe expulsion of the entire populace of those states wouldn't be in order. How about a 50% increase in the federal tax rate for anyone who's a descendant of a slaveholder? And a 50% tax on their net worth. All proceeds could be distributed to descendants of slaves. That could be a pretty good start, eh? Especially on the 1% -- I have some other ideas on that.
What I want to do each and every day for the rest of the year is kick the South and Southerners in the teeth. After all, white conservatives from the South are sub-human for all practical purposes. Especially old white men. The faster we're rid of all of them the better off we are. ...
Wait a minute, I'm an old white man myself. Better rethink that. Someone might assume I'm a conservative because of my age and color and want to withhold medical care from me. I'd die within a month without my prescription meds. Ah, well, I've been in the donut hole for a while now -- have no idea how I'm going to come up with money to pay for my prescriptions for the rest of the year.
Damned near killed myself last year when a doctor told me to quit taking any medications that she hadn't put on my list of meds when she discharged me from the hospital. That was after a bout with acute kidney failure. Took only a week without my high blood pressure medication for my blood pressure to skyrocket up to 213|86. I was lucky to get to the emergency room before it got any higher and I had a stroke and died.
Lesson learned: Don't be a fool and follow the instructions of a hospitalist when you're discharged from the hospital. See your own doctor as soon as possible and let her tell you what medications to take. How I unlearned what I had learned from my wife's literally dozens of hospitalizations is beyond me. I knew how many mistakes hospitalists make, yet I forgot when it came to my own medications. The record for discharge medication mistakes with my wife was six. Her cardiologist almost went through the roof when I called him and told him the hospitalist had taken her off a medication he prescribed. Another hospitalist tried to take her off drugs one of the best cancer institutes in the country had put her on.
In case you're unaware of it, doctors' egos can kill you.
NashuaDW
(90 posts)If I was an enterprising sort ... I'd open a Stars & Bars store.
I'd sell everything possible with the Confederate flag on it.
Now that the major retailers have left that market ... it is greatly underserved.
I have no expectation that demand will go down, actually it'll probably increase.
What the reactionarys forget is that "As long as there is a demand -- there WILL a supply"
Applies to drugs, sex, gambling, alcohol, ... and everything else.
Nice victory getting Amazon & Walmart to drop the items, but the consumers will simply find a new sorce.
The fastest way to make something desirable is to ban it ...
KeepItReal
(7,769 posts)See how we're not talking any more about easy access by anyone to any kind of weaponry?
HassleCat
(6,409 posts)People in the south seem to be realizing they've been making themselves look stupid for the last 50 years.
SwankyXomb
(2,030 posts)that they've wasted the last 150 years waiting for the Zombie Confederacy to lurch its way out of the dustbin of history.
malthaussen
(17,242 posts)-- Mal