Extremist attacks on the Confederate flag harms minority rights. Here are reasons.
1. It trivializes major gains in minority rights by making a fuss over a non-important dead symbol of a by-gone era.
2. It draws focus to a very minor skirmish when important battles could be won elsewhere.
3. It attracts political opportunists like honey draws flies.
4. It unnecessarily opens all the old wounds that festered during the Civil Rights movement and prevents consolidation of gains and enjoyment of benefits that have already been earned.
5. It attracts the crazed, odd, insane and unbalanced elements of our society and inflames them to do harm--much like the idiot in Charleston who murdered innocent people simply because he was crazy or evil, or both.
6. It plays into the hands of a few idiots who call for a "race war." Nobody wins a war like that. Everyone loses. Let's stop pouring gasoline on the flames. (Can you see any similarity between hatred for the Confederate flag and hatred for law enforcement officers? At least a lot of the rhetoric is the same--and many of the political opportunists are the same; we see their faces on TV every night--pouring gas on the fires). See points 3 and 5 again.
6. It has no object, no purpose, no definitive end. How do we know when victory is to be declared? It's like commitment to a war with an unknown objective.
7. It destroys credibility. Do you mean you have no concerns greater than someone flying a Confederate flag? If that is the only battle left, you have no battle.
The battle is ultimately NOT about the flag at all. It's about a focal point, any focal point, to perpetuate unrest and anger--to keep the political base motivated. Make them mad, make them turn out to vote. The Confederate issue is too fragile to last. "Police brutality" will get more traction politically and the issue will quickly shift to that -- unless a better focal point can be found.
ReplyDeleteYes, I agree with myself.
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