• RoidingOldMan@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    12
    arrow-down
    2
    ·
    edit-2
    1 day ago

    Not defending it, but I think for them it means pride in their region/area/heritage. And it’s not about anything deeper than that. It’s like a college sports team for them. Like the rich white fan base for Duke, and UNC being just a couple miles away.

    • glimse@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      21
      ·
      1 day ago

      Personally I’d be ashamed of my regional heritage if the only thing that made it different was slavery…

      • baldingpudenda@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        4
        ·
        1 day ago

        Looking at the south, there’s not much else they can be proud of. Mississippi was god’s mistake. Luckily its surrounded by other shithole states. It’s like having warning signs before you enter a danger zone.

        • FriskyDingo@sh.itjust.works
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          4
          ·
          1 day ago

          That’s quite a bit reductive. We have a lively history of activisim, resistance and rebellion along with the modern cultural influences and destination cities that people flock to far before the fly over states

          Half tongue-in-cheek.

      • jj4211@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        1 day ago

        Of course the Klan also flies the US flag.

        Culturally in the rural south, a lot goes into convincing as many people as possible that the civil war had little to do with racism and instead it was about the elite northerners vaguely bossing the poor southerners around.

        As a consequence, they get that flag flown by a fair number of oblivious people that either worship some idealized vision of the antebellum south or just in general people saying “being a rebel is cool”.

        Like Dukes of Hazard fans largely treated it as a symbol of generic righteous rebellion rather than referring to the core principles of the conflict that created the flag.

    • CaptPretentious@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      1 day ago

      You can be proud of your state/region/etc. without being specifically proud of traitor, enemy state… that lasted what ~4 years? People would rightly be upset if someone few an Al-Qaeda, or ISIS flag, or a Nazi flag, etc. The confederate flag, IMO, is no different. Someone can be from the countries these places operate(d) out of, without supporting, these groups.

      And to claim that ~4 years as heritage… that’s a bit of a stretch. But also, problematic IMO. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/heritage This to me, implies, these people are still actively trying to trade and own human lives.

      • rottingleaf@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        1 day ago

        I think I’ve read that the Confederate flag specifically was one of the flags of Tennessee, so a bit older.

        Anyway, I’ve never been in the USA.