I’m draping a swastika flag off my Grove tent this fall and I promise I’m not racist. It’s just that I’m feeling quite void of heritage these days, so I’m just going to order one for twenty-five dollars on the Internet. I want to feel German, and what a glorious time in that country’s history! Do you know how much the Nazi Party did for Germany? Have you seen the Olympiastadion?
I know I can pick any other time in German history to be proud of. Charlemagne was all right. Hell, I might even take pride in being a modern German. Did you see that victory over Brazil at the World Cup? No, us Germans had it made back before that war ruined everything.
So the Holocaust was bad. That was almost seventy-five years ago, though. The people who actually lived the negative history of the Nazis are dwindling. Who is left to be offended? The sensitive, attention-seeking liberals? It’s time to let go of past grievances and celebrate what’s good with the world; let me focus on triumphs of my German heritage. It’s heritage, not hate.
Using the Confederate flag as a symbol of your Southern heritage is kinda like being a secondhand Neo-Nazi because you believe the swastika represents the “golden age” of Germany.
It’s nice that you want to be proud of something, but I’m not sure you understand what you’re saying.
Of what South, exactly, are we supposed to be proud when we look at the Confederate Battle Flag? I cannot think of one Good Old South that does not in some way depend on the institution of slavery and the racial oppression of African Americans, yet using the flag that completely embodies that time in our history is not even remotely racist?
I’m really curious about the non-racist interpretation of the Confederate Battle Flag.I want to believe that it represents something positive about the South. It just offends so many people, and I am not sure why people still won’t admit that.
If you want it to mean something else, change it. No real attempt has been made to cleanse the Confederate flag of its terrible history, however. We can’t keep pretending that it’s not racist.
Ryan Felder is a public policy major from Philadelphia, Miss.
