Right, the article points that out - they chose the word confederate originally to reflect their 'rag tag' nature, and went along with some confederate imagery

Right, the article points that out - they chose the word confederate originally to reflect their 'rag tag' nature, and went along with some confederate imagery as a running joke. Some people saw the use of 'Confederate' and the Dixie flag as offensive, so they changed it via member vote. I've lived here about 25 years combined and spent 5 years in other states (including South Carolina and New York), some city, some rural, and my experience is that the rebel flag is not that common as compared to other places (I even saw several in rural areas of upstate New York). Different experiences, I suppose.