Symbolism over Substance
In the frenzy to remove and/or deface all things Confederate, be they flags, statues, memorials and yes, even headstones, much more is lost, than won, over these vacuous gestures. Listening to the talking heads as they bloviate through their all-too-predictable mantras, one might be led to believe the lie that were it not for the Confederate battle flag flying on the South Carolina capital grounds in Columbia, Dylann Roof would not have perpetrated the murder of nine innocent people on the evening of June 17th , in Charleston…. Yeah, right.
Turn back the clock a fortnight ago, when no one…NO ONE…was talking about the Confederate flag….or what they THINK is the Confederate flag.
The familiar banner, known during the Civil War as the Confederate Battle Flag is not, nor ever was, the flag of the Confederacy. What is erroneously referred to as the stars and bars was not that, either. The “stars and bars” was actually a flag that was based on the American flag. It had three very broad stripes, two red and one white (the bars) with a field of blue in its upper left hand corner with seven stars in a circular pattern- representing the original seven states (the stars) of the Confederacy. This flag was the original and first flag of the Confederate States of America. Show a picture of this flag to the talking heads who are most opposed to the display of the Confederate flag, and damned few of these imbeciles would raise any ruckus about it, which only goes to show that the loudest of mouths are frequently in close proximity to the smallest of brains.
Because from a distance, the original Confederate flag looked too much like the American flag (often causing friendly fire, on both sides, during the early years of the Civil War), the more familiar Battle Flag of the Confederacy with its pattern of thirteen stars arranged in a blue “x” on a red field was adopted for the purposes of battlefield identification. This pattern, set in the upper left hand corner of subsequent Confederate flags, became the second, third, and fourth official flags of the Confederacy- not unlike the state flag of Mississippi, which is still flown today in the Magnolia State.
It is altogether understandable why the Battle Flag of the Confederacy is offensive to some- particularly black Americans whose distant ancestors were slaves. It might even be understandable (this is a stretch) why the same flag is offensive to some white Americans, whose ancestors fought for the Union during the Civil War. What is not particularly so understandable is why this flag is so offensive to those who can claim neither connection- slavery nor service.
Liberals, in particular, love to “Monday morning quarterback” and thereby “second guess” the motives of people who are now long since dead- trying to apply current sensitivities of political correctness and contemporary ideas of moral right and wrong to those who struggled with divisive issues one hundred fifty years ago. They will tell you the big lie that every Confederate soldier taking up arms against the Union did so because he inherently believed in, and was willing to die for, the institution of slavery. This lie- and it’s a whopper- conveniently dismisses the fact that only one percent of those fighting for the Confederacy were slaveholders, and also conveniently dismisses the fact that thousands of black southerners fought for the South. Perhaps it is conjecture to believe that a majority of these men, too poor to own slaves, would risk their lives for an institution that did not benefit them in the least, but we seriously doubt it. Never mind explaining that to a liberal- their minds are made up that the Confederate army was the nineteenth century equivalent of the twentieth century Nazis.
It is said that history of all wars is written by the victors, and that the passage of time tends to divorce history from that which actually took place. Nevertheless it is a matter of historical record that the Civil War did not become the “war to free slaves” until January, 1863, when Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation (which, by the way, exempted the border states of Maryland, Kentucky and Missouri) was set forth. Until then, the war was about national unity versus states’ rights (the right to secede) and even the songs soldiers on both sides sang lay credence to this all but forgotten reality.
It is also amazing that so many politicos, who once celebrated Confederate flags and monuments (Mrs. Clinton, anyone?), now find it politically expedient and contemporarily convenient to jump on the “take down the flag” bandwagon. Yet, in the final analysis, people seem to forget that flags, like guns, do not and cannot kill- only evil people of all races and political persuasions can, and all-too-often do, kill- with absolutely no thought to any flag.
Today, we see that Confederate flags and Confederate monuments are coming down and being defaced, respectively. So, what is next?
Well, on many campuses across the country, academic elitists are now sounding a similar clarion call to haul down Old Glory, because they and the students they indoctrinate with prevarications and revisionist history, find that the flag of the United States is offensive- that it symbolizes American imperialism and American atrocities, and other such tommyrot as they would have us believe. They have actively encouraged desecration of the American flag and have petitioned to have it hauled down so as not to offend the all-so-precious sensitivities of those who do not respect the flag or what it stands for.
So, to all of you who wish to see a flag from the past taken down, would you be so willing to see your country’s flag, Old Glory, also taken down, because some people find that it is also offensive?
My, the crickets are chirping aloud this June, aren’t they?
-Drew Nickell. 24 June 2015
© 2015 by Drew Nickell, all rights reserved