Bars and Stars

I've seem memes galore about the banning of the Confederate flag.  I'm against banning anything, but at the same time I don't think that "banning" is the right word to apply to what's happening to the Confederate flag.  There's no law that says, "Thou shalt not manufacture the flag."  There are no laws banning the flag.  What's happening is that businesses are making a cold, hard calculation and deciding that it's best for their bottom lines, at this point in history, anyway, not to sell or not to show the Confederate flag.  There are no laws banning the flag.  That state assemblies and congresses may want to remove the flag from public places, which I think is a good idea, doesn't equal banning the flag.  There's no law that says, "Thou shalt not display the flag on your premises." There are no laws banning the flag.

As to why I think it's a good idea not to make use of the flag, there are two reasons, both of them also deriving from memes that I've seen.  With the first I agree:  you're perfectly free to fly the flag; and I'm perfectly free to conclude from that decision that you're a bigot.  Free speech has consequences.

Why a bigot and not just someone who celebrates the greatness of the Southern past?  Well, consider another meme, which says basically that the Confederate flag is in principle not different from the American flag.  The American flag has flown over many and many a despicable act of horror and terror, from the genocide of Native Americans to the enslavement of Africans and from the mistreatment of Revolutionary War loyalists to the massacres at My Lai and elsewhere, too numerous to count.  All flags, the American included, have presided over horrible events.  But (a "but" worthy of an elephant, it's so big) although the American flag may have flown during such horrors, the purpose of America, and so of the flag that represents it, is ultimately not genocide or slavery or mistreatment or massacre.  On the other hand, the Confederate flag had one purpose:  to preserve and protect the institution of slavery.

So, again, my three points:  there are no laws banning the Confederate flag; I think it's stupid to take Dukes of Hazard off the air or to forbid the flying of the Confederate flag; I reserve the right to attribute the intended purpose of that flag to those who choose to fly or celebrate it.