Here we go again; PC running amok. This time it's a flag's fault.

Well, the Revisionist History Crowd is at it again. This time it’s trying to not only redefine what something stood for but also trying to obliterate it from our country’s culture. Yep, you guessed it; I’m talking about the recent outcry to remove the “Confederate flag” from public properties.

Just so we’re clear; let’s start with the basics. The official flags of the Confederacy – as in the Confederate States of America (CSA) - looked like this:

“The First Official Flag of the Confederacy. Although less well known than the "Confederate Battle Flags",the Stars and Bars was used as the official flag of the Confederacy from March 1861 to May of 1863. The pattern and colors of this flag did not distinguish it sharply fom the Stars and Stripes of the Union. Consequently, considerable confusion was caused on the battlefield.”*

So, they changed it to look like this:

 “The second Official Flag of the Confederacy. On May 1st,1863, a second design was adopted, placing the Battle Flag (also known as the "Southern Cross") as the canton on a white field. This flag was easily mistaken for a white flag of surrender especially when the air was calm and the flag hung limply.”*

So, they changed it to look like this:

“The third Official Flag of the Confederacy. On March 4th,1865, a short time before the collapse of the Confederacy, a third pattern was adapted; a broad bar of red was placed on the fly end of the white field.”*

What is being vilified every way from Sunday today as “the Confederate flag” is this:

 

"Virginia Battle Flag or Confederate Navy Jack: The Confederate Battle Flag. The best-known Confederate flag, however, was the Battle Flag, the familiar "Southern Cross". It was carried by Confederate troops in the field which were the vast majority of forces under the confederacy. Used [also] as a navy jack at sea from 1863 onward. This flag has become the generally recognized symbol of the South."*

“Note: It is necessary to disclaim any connection of these flags to neo-nazis, red-necks, skin-heads and the like. These groups have adopted this flag and desecrated it by their acts. They have no right to use this flag - it is a flag of honor, designed by the confederacy as a banner representing state's rights and still revered by the South. In fact, under attack, it still flies over the South Carolina capitol building. The South denies [– and has repeatedly denied -] any relation to these hate groups and denies them the right to use the flags of the confederacy for any purpose. The crimes committed by these groups under the stolen banner of the [confederacy] only exacerbate the lies which link the seccesion to slavery interests when, from a Southerner's view, the cause was state's rights.”** [Emphasis added.]

Additionally, over the years – until the decades wherein Political Correctness infected the thinking of this great United States - this battle flag has been flown by many an adolescent or twenty-something from a camping tent or in an apartment window or on the wall of a garage or apartment to symbolize not states rights, slavery, secession or anything but merely a symbol of a rebelliousness youth thumbing their noses at the rules and expectations of more settled adult society. Hell, I’d wager 90% of these kids didn’t even know there was/is a difference between the official government CSA flags and the Virginia Battle Flag.  

And that goes for these dimwit liberal revisionist history types who have likewise hijacked this battle flag to stand for subtle, institutionalized racism and/or insist that wherever it flies it inspires the imbalanced to racial violence. To these preposterous notions I say “Bunk!” The “confederate flag” – whether it’s a variation of the official CSA flag or the Battle flag – is just a piece of cloth and as such, hasn’t and cannot  hurt anyone in and of itself – unless twisted into a rope to hit someone with or a case of them were dropped on someone’s head. And it stands for more than the South of the Civil War. Rather it stands for the Southern culture – genteel manners, pride (in heritage, of being from the South), cuisine, religion, tradition, just to name a few of the good things in the South both of old and today.

So, if the state flags of Alabama, South Carolina or any other Southern state incorporate some variation of a “Confederate” flag, maybe the revisionist historians, the opportunist race baiters and the other hysteria mongers should think on the idea that it is that larger portion of the good that is Southern culture that is being represented in those flags and not some ridiculous idea that the South is gonna rise agin’ and recast blacks into bondage.

And maybe when they see a young kid with a “Confederate Star and Bar” on a t-shirt or a hat or hanging from a bachelor pad wall, maybe they should realize that it was just some 1% fringe element unstable youth that wrapped himself in that flag claiming some kind of divine mission to go out and slaugher a bunch of innocent black churchgoers and focus instead on the 99% of the rest of the youth for whom that “Star and Bar” symbolizes rebellion and mild non-comformity of youth.

But, that’s probably asking far too much from today’s dumbed-down-but-politically-correct American culture.

* Streufert, D. (unk). The Flag of the United States, Confederate Stars and Bars.  Retrieved 2 July, 2015 from http://www.usflag.org/confederate.stars.and.bars.htm

**Note contributed by BJ Meksikatsi. http://www.usflag.org/confederate.stars.and.bars.htm