tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3906718086309436335.post5821163916001722406..comments2024-03-12T05:02:14.140-04:00Comments on MOUNTAIN MUSINGS: Corrupted SymbolsNCmountainwomanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00615765649828716560noreply@blogger.comBlogger19125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3906718086309436335.post-90035967453103400062015-07-04T14:39:55.697-04:002015-07-04T14:39:55.697-04:00Good words... I've been pondering the meaning...Good words... I've been pondering the meaning of this flag a lot lately and agree with your thoughts.sagehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17499891950639742366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3906718086309436335.post-70528866578931475102015-07-03T11:04:06.138-04:002015-07-03T11:04:06.138-04:00Thank you all for your comments.
Lowcarb - It is ...Thank you all for your comments.<br /><br />Lowcarb - It is always best to look for the positive things in life.<br /><br />Cheryl - I agree that people should have the right to display the flag on their property, but I do believe it sends a certain message about them.<br /><br />Suz - Yes, driving in Florida does give sight to many Confederate Flags, especially in the panhandle.<br /><br />Linda - Thanks for dropping by.<br /><br />Donna - Yes, the Hindu flag does sometimes get mistaken. In the Milwaukee suburbs, an old school building had the "good luck" swastikas made into the bricks on the tower. There was so much misunderstanding that they were cemented over.<br /><br />Patti - Interesting that we both took on the same topic and came to the same conclusions.<br /><br />Troutbirder - THANKS I will likely never again see my name in the same sentence with David Brooks whom I admire greatly. Even when I disagree with him on some more conservative issues.<br /><br />Bug - I would love to read his take on this issue. He does have such a great way with words.<br /><br />Pat - Thanks<br /><br />Robin - That's one of the wonderful things about blogs. You can read thoughts from people all over the world.<br /><br />Sharon - thanks for dropping by. I totally agree with you.<br /><br />Dick - thanks for dropping by. I have checked out your blog and like it very much. You are so right about the irony of exemption for people with a lot of slaves.<br /><br />Linthead - Well said.<br /><br />Vicki - I love the defining elements statement.<br /><br />Mary Lee - I also sang some of the gleeful and mournful Stephen Foster songs. And yes, many plantation owners paid someone else to fulfill their conscription.<br /><br />KB - Yes it was indeed a week of change and all for the better.<br /><br />Glenda - I agree. Many of us went a very long time without recognizing the hurt that the flag caused.NCmountainwomanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00615765649828716560noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3906718086309436335.post-77925902358293712782015-07-02T13:04:13.341-04:002015-07-02T13:04:13.341-04:00This is the best post I've read on this subjec...This is the best post I've read on this subject. Having grown up in the deep south, I never thought of the flag as being racist, although we never flew the flag. I only saw it flying along with the state flag, etc. Sadly, I had no idea that it was so offensive to black people. Now that I've read your post, and see how the swastika was corrupted, this makes so much sense to me. The flag our ancestors honored is no more. It has forever been corrupted and should be put away in museums as part of history.<br />Thank you for such a thoughtful and well researched post.Glenda Beallhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17953170428175025248noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3906718086309436335.post-13876219571341256562015-07-01T20:03:01.990-04:002015-07-01T20:03:01.990-04:00I learned a lot from this post. Because I've n...I learned a lot from this post. Because I've never spent much time in the southeast, I didn't know many of the things you mentioned - like the songs you sang in school and the teachings about the Civil War. I also didn't know the original meaning of the swastika symbol.<br /><br />Thank you for a thoughtful and educational post. I agree with your conclusion whole-heartedly.<br /><br />Last week was certainly a week of change.KBhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16885661679762446456noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3906718086309436335.post-50034688998108096702015-07-01T16:34:22.159-04:002015-07-01T16:34:22.159-04:00So glad you wrote this! I went to school in easte...So glad you wrote this! I went to school in eastern NC and cringe now at some of the songs we sang each morning. Stephen Foster probably would now, too, even though he wrote them. I'm certainly no student of the Confederacy, but what I have read about what is now recognized as the "Confederate flag" leaves much confusion as to how this particular version came to be accepted. I understood that it was the battle flag of northern Virginia (Robert E. Lee's area) and that at the end of the war, Lee said it should be retired and never flown again. <br /><br />Wasn't it also the case that the reason many of the wealthy southerners didn't fight was that they could pay someone to go in their place? sigh. I need to read more history. I'm with you though, about displaying this flag. No more! Mary Leehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02811932255861253977noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3906718086309436335.post-91591121900093682702015-06-30T17:33:03.558-04:002015-06-30T17:33:03.558-04:00Such a good post. Caroline. A corrupted symbol is ...Such a good post. Caroline. A corrupted symbol is exactly what it is. It became popular with segregationists during the Civil Rights movement. These days, as a friend said, it's useful to<br />define a certain element -- much like the rattle on a rattlesnake. Vicki Lanehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08114677510459055768noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3906718086309436335.post-83529766549633991192015-06-30T15:42:49.419-04:002015-06-30T15:42:49.419-04:00Indeed, Dick. I'm pretty sure my great-great g...Indeed, Dick. I'm pretty sure my great-great grandfather "volunteered" to avoid the draft. He didn't join until September 1862, and by volunteering he got to pick his unit, a company composed almost entirely of fellow men and kinsmen from Burke County, NC. If he had waited to risk the draft, he would have been randomly placed. My take on the subject is that the flag became a museum piece at war's end and should have stayed that way. As it is today, it is a symbol too widely adopted by white supremacists, hate groups, segregationists, and on and on and on. A few years of being a battle flag does not counterbalance 150 years of pure hate.Carolina Lintheadhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16335905555994442416noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3906718086309436335.post-7026711706357397852015-06-30T10:54:11.421-04:002015-06-30T10:54:11.421-04:00Fine post. I'm in total agreement. It may be \...Fine post. I'm in total agreement. It may be \of some interest that the Confederacy instituted the first military draft in North America. Thus, many rebel soldiers were fighting because they had to, not because they supported or opposed a cause. Later, the union also drafted soldiers. One unique feature of the Confederacy's draft (added shortly after adoption) was that anyone who owned 20 or more slaves was exempt. The draft also applied only to white males, calling into question claims by some that numerous blacks fought for the South. Dick Kladehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11793395712483278104noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3906718086309436335.post-262096913969007342015-06-30T08:45:44.167-04:002015-06-30T08:45:44.167-04:00As you wrote so well, the Confederate flag needs t...As you wrote so well, the Confederate flag needs to be consigned to history. It can be honored there and on the tombstones of the men who died fighting under that flag. Nearby my home, a SC cemetery has a tombstone for a man who died at age 105. The stone lists nine battles he was in, including Gettysburg. The Confederate flag honors him. On the other hand, are the pick-up trucks with a large Confederate flag flying from the back. They are the flags that are a dishonor to those solders who died.Sharonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08301574214662204114noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3906718086309436335.post-30143304361898771752015-06-29T21:30:23.993-04:002015-06-29T21:30:23.993-04:00I completely agree. Thank you for writing it down....I completely agree. Thank you for writing it down. Many of my favorite bloggers are from the south, and it is your presence that reminds me to the humanity and kindness everywhere. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3906718086309436335.post-30329300530943743402015-06-29T20:29:23.235-04:002015-06-29T20:29:23.235-04:00Eloquently stated. Thank you.Eloquently stated. Thank you.Pathttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01797740598410430452noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3906718086309436335.post-25071778796109602862015-06-29T17:58:27.073-04:002015-06-29T17:58:27.073-04:00Amen & amen! I'll have to see if I can get...Amen & amen! I'll have to see if I can get Dr. M to post his take on the situation - as a historian and a great great grandson of a confederate soldier. (Hint - it's pretty much the same as yours)The Bughttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07509037206264761261noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3906718086309436335.post-51331325252299961872015-06-29T17:54:20.503-04:002015-06-29T17:54:20.503-04:00I've read two really good editorials on this s...I've read two really good editorials on this subject recently. One by David Brooks in the New York Times on Wed. & one by Carolyn on her blog. Kudos to both....troutbirderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14087811292280881959noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3906718086309436335.post-41971474081917299352015-06-29T17:27:54.933-04:002015-06-29T17:27:54.933-04:00We did hit the same notes today, though your post ...We did hit the same notes today, though your post was more thoroughly explored and presented better. Well done--great post.<br />I went to school both in the north and south. In the north we were taught the war was about slavery, in the south, it was deemed economic. Totally different view points of the same action. Arkansas Pattihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14156004753267665579noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3906718086309436335.post-23041141142368796032015-06-29T16:13:34.756-04:002015-06-29T16:13:34.756-04:00Excellent! I agree that the Confederate flag has b...Excellent! I agree that the Confederate flag has become corrupted.<br />And the comparison to the Nazi flag (though not the Nazi regime) is most apt.<br />We have recently had a mini-influx of Nepalese immigrants. In our neighborhood of some 40 houses, 5 houses have been bought by families from Nepal. And understandably they decorate the exterior of their houses with celebratory banners--that feature the Hindu cross, facing left instead of Nazi right. Predictably, perhaps, some neighbors misunderstood and wondered why the Nepalese were displaying Nazi flags. It took some explaining.<br />With the Confederate flag--there is no explaining.KGMomhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05165941950953938943noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3906718086309436335.post-31964590196976393742015-06-29T15:19:04.277-04:002015-06-29T15:19:04.277-04:00Thank you for this valuable insight for a northern...Thank you for this valuable insight for a northerner. I too see both sides but I tend to agree with it not being on display on public property.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04899177125372996519noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3906718086309436335.post-36753056685689424112015-06-29T13:31:57.682-04:002015-06-29T13:31:57.682-04:00We've had many discussions regarding this in o...We've had many discussions regarding this in our home lately. We can see both sides of the flag's story/history....and of course, being way down south, we do see it everywhere as well. Personally, I think that if it offends someone, it shouldn't be touted in the faces of others. But then again, some people feel if it's their 'right' to fly that flag and aren't concerned with the emotions of others. *sigh* so much controversy; it's so overwhelming for me right now. Great post. Busy Bee Suzhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18115487928147732314noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3906718086309436335.post-69565298218767065362015-06-29T13:16:30.787-04:002015-06-29T13:16:30.787-04:00You state your case well.
It seems the right thing...You state your case well.<br />It seems the right things to do.<br />I am sure there will be those that will display the flag on their home but perhaps now it will be minimal.Cherylhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14802468583972118464noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3906718086309436335.post-28337608611094868022015-06-29T13:13:00.053-04:002015-06-29T13:13:00.053-04:00We do seem to be living in very unsettled times at...We do seem to be living in very unsettled times at the moment, and many of the news stories are not always good.<br /><br />However, I do my best to try and find positive stories that happen locally and within the community. There are good people out there who do think of others and want to help.<br /><br />All the best JanLowcarb team memberhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07961199165290289611noreply@blogger.com