I made the mistake of perusing through a newspaper this morning, and in doing so, came upon another boring article about another politician trying to make a name for himself by removing the confederate flag from some government building (or at least I think it was a government building?I don't read the paper long before I hit up the sports section). It turns out, (excuse me now while I cut and paste from cnn.com), that “Senator Joseph Biden, a Democratic presidential hopeful? at Martin Luther King Jr. holiday events, said Monday he thinks the Confederate flag should be kept off South Carolina's Statehouse grounds.”
This is like the twentieth time in my life I've heard this same story. One group of people believe that the confederate flag represents slavery and another group believes it represents the heritage of an overly taxed people who fought oppression. I guess both sides have a case and I truly don't give a fuck what happens to the confederate flag because I'm not Southern and I'm not Northern. I'm from the Midwest. And, though the state in which I was raised was originally a slave state, it also never joined the confederacy (talk about having your cake and eating it, too), and as such, most of our residents never felt very strongly about the validity of the confederate flag.
Then I moved to Tampa where it's still kind of an important issue to some people. And after a while here, I can honestly say that I still don't give a fuck.
Maybe it's me, maybe I'm just naturally apathetic, but it seems to me that the issue here is whether or not the confederate flag represents slavery and/or hatred of black people. Again, I can't be sure about that. I don't claim to know what the flag means and I certainly don't read symbols for a living?it looks like some kind of dressed up, American cross to me?but I still think I know how we can solve this problem.
We can all shut the fuck up and quit worrying about a symbol.
It amazes me the power that a word or a symbol can have over people. But we have to acknowledge the fear and hate associated with words and symbols. After all, no one would put a middle finger on a state flag because of what people associate middle fingers with, namely fucking themselves. So it follows then, that we as a culture must be really picky about what kind of symbols end up on flags.
If only we had some kind of democratic process in place so that people's opinions could be registered?
In my opinion, and call me stupid, this seems like the kind of thing people should get to vote on. I mean, if the majority of South Carolinians want the damn flag to fly then they should hold a vote every so often, confirm or deny that opinion, and then shut the fuck up about it. No matter what that flag may symbolize, and who it may offend, nothing changes the fact that what South Carolina does with the confederate flag is South Carolina's business.
I mean, after all, I don't want people busting into my living room and telling me what symbols I'm allowed to keep there. So why should any state put up with that shit?
Say what you will about the validity of flying a flag that may or may not (depending on your perspective) symbolize hate, and worse yet, slavery, but don't take away anyone's freedom to make it happen. People are stupid, and part of freedom means that the government just has to let them be stupid to a certain extent.
In Florida, motorcycle helmets aren't mandatory. The state is of the opinion that if you're too dumb to protect your head while riding a motorcycle, then you deserve a cracked skull. That's your right as a Floridian. No one, not even the people who ride without helmets, would tell you that it is safer to bike without a helmet on. But still, I believe firmly in their right not to do it. I hate seatbelt laws (and always wear my seatbelt, by the way?they save lives), I hate forced recycling (though I've been known to recycle) and I'm totally against affirmative action (though I've never been affected by it job-wise and I'm not racist) because all three limit choice.
And insofar as my government's concerned, I would rather it just leave the few choices I have left up to me.
I don't know how South Carolina feels about choice, but could you really blame them for feeling the same way?