Opposite takes on Confederate flag from The Crimson White

The Crimson White, a paper out of Tuscaloosa, Alabama which serves the University of Alabama, has a pair of articles out today from students who take opposite positions on the Confederate flag. Ironically, the student who writes to condemn the flag claims to be Southern while the student who writes in its defense is from New Jersey. Sometimes it’s easier for those foreign to South to most clearly see through the cloud of confusion and bias raised by enemies of Southern identity and culture. Let’s begin with the article which opposes the flag:

It is preposterous to think that the Confederate flag is as representative of Southern culture as pecan pie and fried chicken. In reality, the Confederate flag represents a rebellion against everything modern America stands for – and is thus not only racially insensitive, but also unpatriotic and disrespectful to the men and woman fighting oversees to champion American values today.

The South should be a place that celebrates its rich culture – of football, sweet tea, and hospitality – in a way that people of all races from all places can enjoy. After all, black southerners have done as much, if not more, to create that culture as white southerners have.

But the South shouldn’t be a place that clings to the Confederate flag. It has no place today’s United States.

Actually, as a Southern nationalist, I completely agree that our flag “represents rebellion against everything modern America stands for.” We are certainly opposed to the present system and its values such as democracy, equality, progressivism, multiculturalism, the police state, the crusader state for global democracy, etc. The traditional South stands for liberty (which is incompatible with equality, socialism, feminism, etc.), local autonomy and a classical Western Civilisation. If the South is reduced to just football, sweet tea and hospitality then there is no distinctive South in a real sense. Sweet tea can be enjoyed anywhere around the world. Football can be played anywhere. Hospitality is a value embraced by many cultures. These, while certainly part of our over-all culture, are not defining aspects of Southern civilisation. Sweet tea could disappear tomorrow and while that would be a shame, we would go on being Southerners. The Confederate symbol, the St. Andrew’s Cross with its stars for all the Southern States, connects those who honour and fly it today with the hundreds of thousands who defended the South against an invading force and sacrificed their lives for an independent South. It not only connects us to our war for independence from the United States, but its design also speaks volumes of the Scottish ancestry of so many Southerners and the central role our Scottish and Ulster-Scots ancestors played in establishing Southern culture in the first place. It connects us to Western Civilisation then and to the Christian religion, central to our identity and values. These notions are far more important and go much deeper into our make-up as a distinct people than just sweet tea and football. I would argue, in fact, that this is one of the main reasons why the Confederate symbol is so hated by Leftists and neo-Unionists – precisely because it so firmly connects us with the deeper roots from which we spring as a people. The Confederate flag is hated by the Left today because it is a national symbol; it is a symbol of the Southern nation of people.

If the flag is truly just a symbol of Southern culture, we’d expect to find it next to other symbols of Southern culture and that’s exactly where we find it. We don’t see the flag or an image of the flag as a certain politician’s logo or seal in political campaigns. Instead, we see it on belt buckles or next to Ducks Unlimited bumper stickers. Perhaps the best evidence for the Confederate flag being a cultural symbol is simply that it’s most often found right next to other Southern cultural symbols.

Absolutely. And why is the Confederate symbol found on virtually anything one can imagine? Why is it so widely embraced by the Southern people? Because it is the most widely recognised symbol of the South around the world. The St. George’s Cross is known around the globe as the symbol of the English people and associated by nearly everyone with that nation of people. Likewise, the rising sun is very closely associated with the Japanese people. These symbols would remain part of the cultures of the respective peoples even if their governments adopted different flags. They are wrapped up in the history and identity of what it means to be English or Japanese. In the very same way, the Confederate symbol is universally recognised as symbolising the Southern people and is wrapped up in what it means to be Southern
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