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> It probably started as something racist by the survivors of the war, but morphed into what it is today, something that isn't considered racist by most around

> It probably started as something racist by the survivors of the war, but morphed into what it is today, something that isn't considered racist by most around where I live. I am saying this as gently as possible: the majority of bigots don't walk around thinking or saying "Wow I sure am a bigot!". They mostly just think of themselves as normal people with normal values. > Do you really think NASCAR, a big business, would have previously allowed it to be flown if it was universally considered a hate symbol? There is a team in the NFL that is named a literal slur against indigenous Americans. I am not quite sure where one would get the idea that the US sports industry is a bastion of sensitivity.

thaumasiotes 6y ago
> I am saying this as gently as possible: the majority of bigots don't walk around thinking or saying "Wow I sure am a bigot!". They mostly just think of themselves as normal people with normal values. This argument tends to make me agree with the southerners who want a symbol of their own. Q: What do you get when a San Jose doctor has a Google engineer over to dinner? A: Lively conversation about how stupid everyone is in Alabama. I'm not making that up. Here's the conversation piece (a piece of paper) a family friend brought over for dinner with my parents: M R DOGS A R NOT O S A R C M P L I B M R DOGS As he delighted in explaining to everyone, this is the "Alabama literacy test". You're meant to read it as follows: 'em are dogs 'ey are not oh [y]es 'ey are see 'em pee? [w]ell I be! 'em are dogs! The southerners responding to this sort of sentiment are doing exactly the same thing Mark Knopfler did in Money for Nothing: That little faggot with the earring and the make-up Yeah buddy, that's his own hair That little faggot got his own jet airplane! That little faggot he's a millionaire! The "faggot" in question is of course Mark Knopfler himself, responding to his own haters with an implicit "screw you". Spend enough time telling a group of people that you hate them and everything about them, and they'll start developing cultural elements specifically oriented around flipping you a middle finger. (And for what it's worth, it seems like a safe assumption that the use of the confederate battle flag as a symbol of southern culture derives from its use in that role on The Dukes of Hazzard.)

thaumasiotes 6y ago

> I am saying this as gently as possible: the majority of bigots don't walk around thinking or saying "Wow I sure am a bigot!". They mostly just think of themselves as normal people with normal values. This argument tends to make me agree with the southerners who want a symbol of their own. Q: What do you get when a San Jose doctor has a Google engineer over to dinner? A: Lively conversation about how stupid everyone is in Alabama. I'm not making that up. Here's the conversation piece (a piece of paper) a family friend brought over for dinner with my parents: M R DOGS A R NOT O S A R C M P L I B M R DOGS As he delighted in explaining to everyone, this is the "Alabama literacy test". You're meant to read it as follows: 'em are dogs 'ey are not oh [y]es 'ey are see 'em pee? [w]ell I be! 'em are dogs! The southerners responding to this sort of sentiment are doing exactly the same thing Mark Knopfler did in Money for Nothing: That little faggot with the earring and the make-up Yeah buddy, that's his own hair That little faggot got his own jet airplane! That little faggot he's a millionaire! The "faggot" in question is of course Mark Knopfler himself, responding to his own haters with an implicit "screw you". Spend enough time telling a group of people that you hate them and everything about them, and they'll start developing cultural elements specifically oriented around flipping you a middle finger. (And for what it's worth, it seems like a safe assumption that the use of the confederate battle flag as a symbol of southern culture derives from its use in that role on The Dukes of Hazzard.)