Confederate Flag Sales Skyrocket As Debate Rolls On
In the wake of the Charleston church shooting that left nine dead, a national debate is arising about the role of the Confederate flag in our society.
Over the last few days, multiple states have renounced the flag. South Carolina governor’s called for its removal from state properties. The governor of Virginia vowed to remove it from state license plates. Mississippi’s house speaker said the infamous battle design needed to be removed from the state flag. All the while, online sales of the flag have skyrocketed.
From Business Insider:
Amazon’s sales of Confederate flags have skyrocketed by more than 3,000% in the past 24 hours.
People are snatching up the flags online after several major retailers — including eBay, Wal-Mart, and Sears — pulled them from shelves.
The retailers banned the flags after last week’s shooting in Charleston, South Carolina, in which a gunman killed nine people in the historic black Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church.
This afternoon, Amazon joined the ranks of eBay, Wal-Mart and Sears by removing Confederate merchandise from its site.
It’s no surprise that people are stocking up on Confederate paraphernalia. The issue is proving to be incredibly divisive, with one side claiming the flag is a symbol for hatred and racism, while the other claims it’s about heritage and state’s rights. This shift in blame is commonplace after a tragedy, when people naturally search out reasons behind the “why” of an issue. Why did the shooter feel so much hatred towards black people? What compels a human being to commit a monstrous act?
Perhaps I am oversimplifying it, but it is possible to be on neither side of an issue. While I believe it is 100 percent ludicrous to take pride in a flag that represented a faction of anti-American, racist fervor 150 years ago, I also disagree with the notion that a reactionary mob mentality of banning or criminalizing anything deemed offensive will solve any problems, at all.
I mean, look at this:
CNN: Does this offend you?
Everyone right now: Yes to both. Don Lemon and the Confederate flag. pic.twitter.com/x1c7GX7mKY
— Nerdy Wonka (@NerdyWonka) June 23, 2015
ARE YOU OFFENDED? WELL, ARE YOU?
When the Confederate flag is inevitably banned from government properties, it will be considered a milestone victory for racism in America.
No racism issues will be solved, but they will be temporarily deflected because of victory over an inanimate object. Symbols don’t have inherent power — people place power in them. Racists don’t need a flag to be racist.
This tragedy shouldn’t be the reason the flag is removed. The flag shouldn’t have been flying on government properties in the first place.
This is usually the point in a controversy where I’d just stick to sports and ignore all the other noise, but it’s the offseason and there is nothing else to talk about. This debate will only get more insane, with (at minimum) 50-plus hot takes on the way — from a slightly drunk grandma at family dinner to an editorializing, overly dramatic SportsCenter anchor and everyone in-between.
Maybe I should just go camping..
[via Business Insider]
Image via YouTube
The confederate battle flag is only flown over a confederate solider graveyard in South Carolina. It should fly over the men who believed in it enough to die for it.
10 years ago at 3:20 pmGoogle ‘Los Confederados in Brazil’.
10 years ago at 3:21 pmTrue heritage.
I guess you’re trying to say that they went to Brazil to continue slavery or something of the like? There were around 10,000 emigrants: “Although a number of historians state that the existence of slavery was an appeal, Alcides Gussi, an independent researcher of State University of Campinas, found that only four families owned a total of 66 slaves from 1868 to 1875″…”Many Southerners who took the Emperor’s offer had lost their land during the war, were unwilling to live under a conquering army, or simply did not expect an improvement in the South’s economic position.”
10 years ago at 3:53 pmNo. They were honest businessmen who singlehandedly turned Brazil into an agricultural powerhouse within a generation.
10 years ago at 5:58 pmOkay my mistake, that’s what I get for jumping to conclusions
10 years ago at 6:16 pmTo those who claims that this flag represents heritage you are wrong. The flag was the the battle flag of Roebrt E Lee’s Virgina army. It was later adopted by the south in 1960s as a symbol of racism. If you want heritage fly the the stars and bars. Being a southern man I am proud of my heritage. As a six generation Texan with ancestors being CSA veterans , I want to be proud of them and their pride in their beliefs. However, it must be noted that the CSA were rebels for an unjust cause and un-american. My point is we can continue to be proud of our southern heritage without racism or inanimate objects which reflect the negative and racist history of the south.
10 years ago at 3:23 pmSomething to think about: Delaware, Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri were all slave states that did not secede from the union, therefore they flew under the Union flag. Does that make the American flag racist?
10 years ago at 3:23 pmJust following leftist thought here. Not trying to insinuate that the Confederate flag (in whatever form it may take) is racist.
10 years ago at 3:37 pmWell that’s a dumb argument if I’ve ever seen one. The good old USA also passed the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments, as well as a bevy of federal laws to atone. Also, the confederate flag was explicitly created to represent racism: https://twitter.com/jnthnwwlsn/status/611684742421999620
10 years ago at 7:33 pmCiting Twitter as a reference? Try again, pal
10 years ago at 12:04 amA little history for you, and this isn’t really a well known fact, even amongst my fellow Missourians:
When SC and the others began seceding, Missouri put secession to a vote in our legislature. It was defeated 89-1, but there was significant confederate support in the state, even amongst those politicians who voted against secession to preserve our economic status. We committed to armed neutrality, until federal forces started attacking and seizing state forts, at which point the elected (what most would consider “legitimate”) government seceded to the Confederacy. However they were ran out of the Capitol and forced to operate, rather powerless, from the southwest corner of the state while a puppet government loyal to the Union sat in Jeff City.
That’s why the Confederate Flag has 13 stars- one is for Missouri. I believe one is for KY too, often also considered a state that “never seceded” but I don’t know the history there.
10 years ago at 12:03 amGuy in Connecticut shoots up a classroom of school children. “It was the gun’s fault!”
Guy in South Carolina shoots up a bible study at a black Church. “It was the flag’s fault!”
Where the fuck did the logic go in this country?
10 years ago at 3:24 pmWell, they’re trying to ban guns in this instance too. As if he couldn’t have walked in with a knife, or a bomb, or drive over them with his car as they were walking out, or use a match to set fire to a building….. liberals are stupid.
10 years ago at 3:56 pmRight? Like does everyone think that when all of the Confederate flags are removed racists are all of a sudden going to not be racist anymore?
10 years ago at 11:33 amI double dog dare Madison Wick to flood Rowdy Gent with Confederate flag apparel- unless he’s chicken.
10 years ago at 3:27 pmI second this double dog dare
10 years ago at 9:45 amIn today’s America: Flags tell people to commit mass murder and Guns go off on their own and kill people. When will we realize it’s the individual that commits the crime? Not inanimate objects.
10 years ago at 3:29 pmNo one is making the argument the flag made him do it. The argument is about what the flag symbolizes now. It’s pretty clear now that the confederate battle flag is a symbol of racial hatred, as that’s what it was used for in this instance that has been heard across the world. The swatstika didn’t make anyone kill Jews, but it’s not something I would proudly wave around because of the connotation associated with it.
10 years ago at 8:16 pmI’m not gonna say it’s racist. I’m not gonna say it’s not racist. I am gonna say that up north most people see it as a sign of racism, whether or not southerners know that. I’m also gonna say that before the swastika was used by the nazis it was a sign of peace, but now pretty much everyone associates it with racism
10 years ago at 3:33 pmYep. Except the confederate flag has been about racism since its very inception: https://twitter.com/jnthnwwlsn/status/611684742421999620
10 years ago at 7:36 pmWill you shut the fuck up Denzel, no one gives a shit about your goddamn Twitter post.
10 years ago at 8:49 amWhile I agree that only the flag of the United States of America and state flags should fly over government buildings, the simple fact is that confederate flags are about people’s heritage. A heritage which they have a right to be proud of. Confederate soldiers didn’t fight to save slavery, and they damn sure didn’t do it because they were racist bastards like the shooter was. They fought for a cause they believed in, and many fought simply to defend their homes which were being invaded. And many died for it. Their ancestors deserve to have something like s confederate flag to remind them of that. Pulling it from store shelves is ridiculous.
10 years ago at 3:36 pmI don’t get how half the time people on here can have the biggest pro-America boners and then the other half the time respect/defend something that is a symbol of treason to America. Race issue or not, that’s what it is-the flag a failed state flew when going to battle against the United States.
10 years ago at 3:44 pmI was about to comment something along these lines, but sweet Jesus someone finally pointed it out. What’s funny is half the rednecks that fly the confederate battle flag fly an American flag as well which literally contradict one another.
10 years ago at 4:04 pmAmerica was based on treason towards Britain for not wanting a strong central power telling them what to do without allowing them more input and high taxes for the time. The Confederacy was based on the same principles but towards the Union. So why is it so far a reach from supporting one treasonous country to another if you’re looking at it that way. A lot of countries started as treasonous factions to somebody else. What they’re supporting is standing up for what they believe and being willing to fight/leave if they don’t agree which many see America as a symbol for. In the South they also see them as 65 years later betraying those same ideals to crush the South.
10 years ago at 4:11 pmMy point is about having pro America boners and also being pro confederate. I’m pretty sure no one here with a pro American boner is also all about England too.
10 years ago at 4:17 pmEngland also never stood for standing your ground against an unfair government like America and the Confederacy both were at their inceptions. It’s the idea of rebel pride and standing your ground. England is usually the aggressor in those situations.
10 years ago at 1:14 amNo taxes happened, the states seceded before Lincoln took office. Nothing happened and they left, the equivalent of a temper tantrum because their candidate didn’t win.
10 years ago at 6:24 amIt’s regional and cultural pride. Sure, the (battle) flag represented a defeated state, but for many of those men and women that war and time period became part of their identity and it was passed to their descendants, as any major conflict or upheaval is likely to do. People nowadays don’t fly it in hopes of a new Confederacy, they fly it as in honor to the South and their past. And as Dubya pointed out below, it seems like those rednecks tend to fly the American flag more than other groups which is quite ironic since their ancestors tried to secede (or atleast that’s how they’re stereotyped in cartoons, videos, etc.). I’m sure there are failed or nonexistent symbols that are now used for other purposes, but I can’t think of any off the top of my head – there are probably a lot in Europe.
10 years ago at 4:14 pm