I'm always reluctant to post on the Confederate battle flag controversies. And, this one has descended into the muck that has nothing to do with that flag and the shit that currently surrounds it.All true, Tim. But the same thing can be said about those who marched behind the stars and stripes.
I can't condemn that flag. I understand the sentiment that allows some folks to do so. But, at Gettysburg, and countless other places, the soldiers of the Army of Northern Virginia didn't give one rat's ass about slavery as 15,000 of them walked across that open field during Pickett's Charge in lockstep in front of the heavily fortified Cemetery Ridge as they assaulted the Union positions on that ridge through a half mile of absolutely open terrain where they were exposed to fire the entire length of the way.. And, they walked through that storm of union musketry, artillery, and grapeshot with the battle flag in front of them. They had cannon firing at them from the left and the right. They had thousands of Union soldiers firing at them from behind stone wall positions on the ridge. Estimates vary, but the generally accepted version is that they suffered somewhere around 10,000 casualties in 15 to 20 minutes. Think about that.....650 to 750 casualties per minute. My math skills aren't good but that equals out to about ten men going down every second as I calculate it. And, they almost carried the line at the High Water Mark near the trees in the center of the line.
Valor deserves recognition and there was no higher valor than that exhibited by the soldiers of the Army of Northern Virginia that day. And, the flag they followed into that firestorm was the Confederate Battle Flag. Not because the stars and bars represented slavery, although that may be the case today. Because of the man next to them following that flag, not for slavery but for it's military symbolism... and willing to give his life for it, the same way they were.
Stupid dramatic shit I know. But, I believe it.
So, post up your stupid videos, call each other names, argue about every stupid thing you can think of.....but....don't forget the mostly poor, mostly no-slave-owning, mostly ignorant and uneducated boys and men who viewed that Confederate Battle Flag as something worth dying for. Not just as the topic of some silly internet argument 150 years later. Originally Posted by timpage
But are we not supposed to distinguish between the causes? Especially 150 years later when some people still wave the Stars and Bars at political rallies?
Motivations and beliefs count.
Al Qaeda has flags, too.