Not that you asked
Let me preface this by saying that I agree with the Supreme Court decision on gay marriage and the vote to remove the Confederate Flag from the South Carolina State Capitol grounds. I agree with the first because I believe that all American citizens should be treated equally. I agree with the second not just because that flag is offensive to some, or that it has been adopted by hate groups like the Ku Klux Klan, The Aryan Brotherhood, and the Nazi Party. That flag is a reminder of the biggest mistake the South ever made, and a past practice that is a point of shame.
That said, it's time for gay rights and civil rights groups to tone down the celebrations. The battle is over. You have won. It's time to be gracious in victory.
There are many people who oppose gay marriage who aren't going to go on TV and rail about the "evils" of homosexuality. They aren't going to write letters to the newspaper claiming that we are all going to Hell because of gay marriage. They certainly aren't going to stand outside of a gay marriage or funeral with a sign saying, "God Hates Fags." They have gay friends and family members that they care for and love.
At the same time they have their belief, based on their religious background that homosexuality and gay marriage are a sin. They can hate the sin while loving the sinner. Their feelings should be respected. Bathing the White House in rainbow colors was disrespectful of these people and shouldn't have been done. Gay people should have the right to marry, but not the right that everyone should be happy about it.
As for the Confederate Flag, it has no business being flown over any government building or property. If you think that flag should fly over a state capitol, how would you feel if the 13 original colonies flew the Union Jack of Great Britain over their state capitols?
That flag shouldn't be put away and forgotten. It should be in museums to remind us of the two biggest mistakes the Southern states ever committed. The first was to break away from the United States to form a country that allowed slavery. The worst was to fight a war over it that left the South devestated. In fact, it left the region in such bad shape that it still lags behind the rest of the country today.
You can argue that many Confederate soldiers fought bravely in that war, but you can't avoid the fact that the cause they fought for was wrong. The soldiers that fought against America in all of its wars fought bravely, but I'm glad we won those wars. Can you honestly say that we would be better off if today there was a United States of America and a Confederate States of America?
It's time for Southerners to put that war behind them. It's also time for the rest of the country to put that war behind them, and quit treating the South like a red headed stepchild because of it. Yes, there are still bigots in the South and people who display the Confederate Flag, but those people are now in the minority. The Jim Crow era is dead, and even those who wish it weren't know it's never coming back.
While the South has changed, the stereotypes the rest of the country have about us haven't. They still think of the typical Southerner as uneducated, dimwitted, shoeless, and inbred. In just about any movie or TV show, if a character is stupid he has a southern accent.
Just look at cable TV to see how Southerners are portrayed. Moonshiners, Hollywood Hillbillies, a reality show in Hardy, Ark., where one character is proud that he has never worn shoes. Two other shows, Here Comes Honey Boo-Boo and 19 Kids and Counting are no longer on the air, not because of their negative portrayal of Southerners, but because of off-camera behavior of the stars. The Dukes of Hazzard was recently pulled from TV Land, not because of its portrayal of Southerners but because the car in the show had a Confederate Flag painted on its roof.
Yes, it is time to move the Confederate Flag to museums. It is also time to stop perpetuating the negative stereotypes of the South.
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