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As evidenced by the fact that slave ships did not sail under the national flag of the CSA (1st National AKA Stars and Bars), but some did sail under the Star Spangled Banner.
Well not much of anything sailed under the flag of the CSA which is one of a dozen reasons why the south lost.
Oh, sure I could have gone into the history of Charleston and New Orleans ported slave ships. I could have written about the Wanderer a Charleston based slaver owned by John and Henry DuBigon that many consider to be the last ship to bring slaves into the country as late as 1858 - fifty years after the U.S. banded the importation of slave - but what would be the fun in that, plus is takes a lot of time and life is short.
Yes, Africans were sold by other Africans, and yes, the slave trade was financed by the New York Mercantile Exchange and the Northeast and New England states made a pile of money from the slave business. None of which is breaking news.
But!
When it comes to avoiding the point, no one is better at it than Civil War revisionist as the paragraph above outlines. But the fact remains that only the south initiated a war that ultimately killed some 600,000 Americans to maintain slavery. And only the semi defeated stars and bars waving southerns waved that flag for another 100 years of abject racist intimidation, exploitation and a reign of terrorism that makes ISIS look like a bunch of boy scouts.
What they need to do is stop putting emotional women and emasculated eunuch men in charge of schools. Anyone who has a problem with this needs to GTFO of America and never come back. Go to China or Iran or somewhere else where they can live by nonsensical illogical rules made up by radical fundamentalist nutjobs. If there was ever a more clear violation of the first amendment idk what it would be.
Not to mention that at least 10 states still have confederate flags or confederate related insignia on official state regalia- i.e. flags, license plates, letterheads, etc. Only uneducated people believe absolutely that confederate = racism; why should we capitulate to ignorance because these people have no common sense? The fact of the matter is that these kids in no way indicated that they were in favor of white supremacy or slavery, and if our governments still recognize the confederacy as a legitimate political entity, then we cannot punish kids for doing the same.
Public schools, and their absolutely backwards-ass practices **** me off more than any other news category. It scares me to death to think that people like this are allowed to vote and raise children. We teach our kids about government, free speech and the constitution and then turn around and **** all over it with stuff like this.
As for the gun aspect and bostonmike's links, tell me please - how is suspending a kid for drawing a gun in school going to prevent that kid from shooting up his class? If anything it's just going to teach him to better hide whatever warning signs he may be inclined to exhibit in the future, so when he finally does snap and start killing his classmates, it is even more of surprise to everyone.
(And then the kid gets to sit at home during his suspension and watch TV overflowing with 24/7 guns and violence)(and how is getting a 5 day weekend a punishment again?)
When are these small minded fools going to realize that you simply can't stop crazy people from doing crazy things? If someone is truly committed to doing something, it's going to happen, no matter what! Freedom comes with risk, and our founding fathers understood that. I'd rather be free and risk a 0.000001% chance of dying from a psycho with a gun than be living in 1984 and be "safe". There are literally thousands of ways a motivated individual could employ to kill a bunch of his classmates, and not a single one of them can be prevented by this kind of "punishment".
By the time the kid gets to school age its usually too late anyway; whatever mental inconsistencies or chemical imbalances that exist within the brain's neural pathways that cause a kid to be deranged and violent are usually solidified long before middle/high school. The only way to prevent this kind of thing would be to force parents to pass stringent parenting classes that teach child development, morals, and social values before being allowed to become parents. And that would only eliminate the borderline cases. (And despite that clashing 100% with the values and principles on which our constitution was built, I'm still kind of in favor of it) Every society will have a certain percentage of potential sociopaths and psychopaths, a certain amount of whom can be elicited by poor parenting and neglect, and until genetic engineering can screen for and eliminate these genetic markers from the embryo, were just going to have to deal with it.
Of course these are the same absolutely idiotic people who are getting rid or merry-go-rounds because they are "dangerous" for kids. Whats next, getting rid of every tree in the country after some kid falls out of it and dies from a broken neck?
And wtf says guns = criminal intent and/or violence? Maybe the kid wants to become a cop or a soldier. More feminine logic for ya right there.
What they need to do is stop putting emotional women and emasculated eunuch men in charge of schools. Anyone who has a problem with this needs to GTFO of America and never come back. Go to China or Iran or somewhere else where they can live by nonsensical illogical rules made up by radical fundamentalist nutjobs. If there was ever a more clear violation of the first amendment idk what it would be.
Not to mention that at least 10 states still have confederate flags or confederate related insignia on official state regalia- i.e. flags, license plates, letterheads, etc. Only uneducated people believe absolutely that confederate = racism; why should we capitulate to ignorance because these people have no common sense? The fact of the matter is that these kids in no way indicated that they were in favor of white supremacy or slavery, and if our governments still recognize the confederacy as a legitimate political entity, then we cannot punish kids for doing the same.
Public schools, and their absolutely backwards-ass practices **** me off more than any other news category. It scares me to death to think that people like this are allowed to vote and raise children. We teach our kids about government, free speech and the constitution and then turn around and **** all over it with stuff like this.
As for the gun aspect and bostonmike's links, tell me please - how is suspending a kid for drawing a gun in school going to prevent that kid from shooting up his class? If anything it's just going to teach him to better hide whatever warning signs he may be inclined to exhibit in the future, so when he finally does snap and start killing his classmates, it is even more of surprise to everyone.
(And then the kid gets to sit at home during his suspension and watch TV overflowing with 24/7 guns and violence)(and how is getting a 5 day weekend a punishment again?)
When are these small minded fools going to realize that you simply can't stop crazy people from doing crazy things? If someone is truly committed to doing something, it's going to happen, no matter what! Freedom comes with risk, and our founding fathers understood that. I'd rather be free and risk a 0.000001% chance of dying from a psycho with a gun than be living in 1984 and be "safe". There are literally thousands of ways a motivated individual could employ to kill a bunch of his classmates, and not a single one of them can be prevented by this kind of "punishment".
By the time the kid gets to school age its usually too late anyway; whatever mental inconsistencies or chemical imbalances that exist within the brain's neural pathways that cause a kid to be deranged and violent are usually solidified long before middle/high school. The only way to prevent this kind of thing would be to force parents to pass stringent parenting classes that teach child development, morals, and social values before being allowed to become parents. And that would only eliminate the borderline cases. (And despite that clashing 100% with the values and principles on which our constitution was built, I'm still kind of in favor of it) Every society will have a certain percentage of potential sociopaths and psychopaths, a certain amount of whom can be elicited by poor parenting and neglect, and until genetic engineering can screen for and eliminate these genetic markers from the embryo, were just going to have to deal with it.
Of course these are the same absolutely idiotic people who are getting rid or merry-go-rounds because they are "dangerous" for kids. Whats next, getting rid of every tree in the country after some kid falls out of it and dies from a broken neck?
And wtf says guns = criminal intent and/or violence? Maybe the kid wants to become a cop or a soldier. More feminine logic for ya right there.
I seriously doubt that I could have said that better, myself.
I would have been interested to read the kids' responses to an interviewer asking them what they thought posing with guns and the Confederate flag was all about. Would be enlightening-- although I imagine a few of the responses would have been "d'uh…"
Not quite sure how you can cover that with "taken out of context" and the daughter's own pathetic attempt at explaining it: "I'm sorry that my picture offended people and especially since my initial caption (that I changed once I realized people took it seriously), but I'm currently on the Civil War trip learning about the history of our country and this just so happens to be a pretty (expletive) important part of it. We were reenacting Pickett's charge in which the South lost 85% of their soldiers. These aren't the Confederate flags in fact, they're the North Carolina regimental flags. I'm proud to be a part of my state and I'm sorry my photo was so offensive but I find it appropriate in that I'm honoring heroes that fought to protect their home and families. Thanks though."
Or just teenagers being goofy. I'm sure none of us every did anything goofy in high school.
The big difference now is social media. Now a goofy pose or tacky comment becomes fodder for the PC police and a shame fest ensues. Whatever happened to live & let live. Social media has become a pseudo Big Brother constantly monitoring everyone's thoughts, comments and posts.
I grew up in the South, still live here in Georgia, and the folks that think this is just "goofy" are the trashy rednecks. They are also the ones freely using the N word, and throw their beer cans and cigarette butts out of their car windows, too. I am white and never thought this was cool.
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Photo caption: "Already bought my first slave"
