Flags of Our Fathers
This one is a little late, but it happens. And it has nothing to do with that movie in the post title. I just liked the sound of it and I'm not above stealing something for a totally different use.
Back on the 4th of July I was cruising through the neighborhood as I turned onto the main road I suddenly saw a giant confederate flag coming at me. It seems one of my neighbors had decided to celebrate our country's independence by flying the flag of a foreign country. Not just any foreign country, but a country that tried to break away from ours.
On the one hand I can see that. The Confederates were trying to get their own independence from a government trying to force them to do things they didn't like. Just like the original 13 colonies. On the other hand the flag is a symbol of hate for an awful lot of people.
I was originally just going to report this as a funny occurrence, but then I got to thinking about it on the mile long walk from the office (stupid downtown parking) to the state parking lot. You hear a lot about patriotism these days and some people think speaking out against the President is unpatriotic. So why do those people not think that flying the flag of another country, a country that the U.S. fought a long war against, is unpatriotic? I've heard a lot of criticisms of the Confederate flag, but never that one. It's also comparable to last year when some children of immigrants put up the Mexican flag above the U.S. one at their high schools. They were deemed unpatriotic and told to go back to Mexico, so why is no one criticizing the Confederate flag that way?
On a slightly related note, The Mrs and I watched Silkwood not too long ago. Kurt Russell played the love interest. Every shot in his bedroom and apartment had a Confederate flag hanging prominently in the background but the movie takes place in Oklahoma. I suppose it's possible that character had some confederate pride because he was from Texas, which was part of the CSA. But I think it's a lot more likely that some set designer just confused his hicks. Some people can't distingush the difference between 'country' and 'Southern'.
Back on the 4th of July I was cruising through the neighborhood as I turned onto the main road I suddenly saw a giant confederate flag coming at me. It seems one of my neighbors had decided to celebrate our country's independence by flying the flag of a foreign country. Not just any foreign country, but a country that tried to break away from ours.
On the one hand I can see that. The Confederates were trying to get their own independence from a government trying to force them to do things they didn't like. Just like the original 13 colonies. On the other hand the flag is a symbol of hate for an awful lot of people.
I was originally just going to report this as a funny occurrence, but then I got to thinking about it on the mile long walk from the office (stupid downtown parking) to the state parking lot. You hear a lot about patriotism these days and some people think speaking out against the President is unpatriotic. So why do those people not think that flying the flag of another country, a country that the U.S. fought a long war against, is unpatriotic? I've heard a lot of criticisms of the Confederate flag, but never that one. It's also comparable to last year when some children of immigrants put up the Mexican flag above the U.S. one at their high schools. They were deemed unpatriotic and told to go back to Mexico, so why is no one criticizing the Confederate flag that way?
On a slightly related note, The Mrs and I watched Silkwood not too long ago. Kurt Russell played the love interest. Every shot in his bedroom and apartment had a Confederate flag hanging prominently in the background but the movie takes place in Oklahoma. I suppose it's possible that character had some confederate pride because he was from Texas, which was part of the CSA. But I think it's a lot more likely that some set designer just confused his hicks. Some people can't distingush the difference between 'country' and 'Southern'.
posted by W at 3:12 PM
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