Originally Posted by revjimk:
Well I didn't want to get into ******** but I have to reply to that. My feelings on the Confederate flag didn't come from "mainstream media" & I have lived in the South. In fact my family moved from NYC to small town Virginia when I was 10, in 1960, Civil War centennial & full scale segregation, which we all thought was horrible & un-American. We had to stand up for Dixie during HS pep rallies, & the schools taught a very pro Confederate version of history, probably the same kind of thing you were taught. I was there for first school integration & it was a positive thing, South was forced to confront racism, which still hasn't happened in the North. As for Civil War... fought for "States Rights"? Right to do what?... own slaves, & the Confederate leaders were very open about that. The "States Rights" line only came up after they lost. If you really love the South (including ALL its people) you should hate the Confederacy because they brought untold suffering to their own people. Civil War killed more Americans than ALL out other wars combined until Gulf War 1. IMHO, Confederate leaders were traitors... Nazi symbols are ILLEGAL in Germany...
As for NASCAR's decline, plenty of people on this board gave their reasons for not liking NASCAR, & you're the only one who brought up Confederate flag issue. Its boring racing...
Can we get back to sprint cars now?
First, I never mentioned ********. Second, some of what you say is true, some not. Third, I will never hate the confederacy, slavery is a separate issue and is disgusting. I’m gonna drop some truth on you, only 16% of southerners owned slaves, 84% did not. The south represented 30% of the US population, but paid 80% of the taxes. The rights of the states were at the heart of the reason for sesession because we were being financially abused. Now was segregation ugly and reprehensible? YES. My father still instinctively thinks in segregationary ways, but he’s from that generation, I am not. They say the winners get to write history and that’s true, but that doesn’t make it all true. While you lived here for a time, it’s not exactly the same as being from here. My family has been here since the late 1700’s, I am the third and named after a governor of Georgia from the mid 1800’s, my cousin was Secretary of State and his statue is at the base of Stone Mountain. I only mention all that to show how deep my roots run here, but that doesn’t mean I condone everything that’s ever happened. The media, public education and many ill informed celebrities like to link Confederacy and Slavery like they were one in the same, they were not. As morally high as it sounds to say the north fought for freedom of the slaves, it just isn’t true. The slavery angle came later when enthusiasm for the war in the north was weaning. Bottom line Confedracy isn’t a replacement word for slavery. I’m not angry with you, I understand why you feel the way you do, I’m sure you saw some ugly stuff while you were here, I have to, but like the numbers I listed not everyone here is full of hate and racism. The south still wears the stain of racism, but I see more of it up north and on the west coast than I do here daily.
As to Nascar, it was born here, the same way Indy car was born in Indiana, but like I said earlier the flag deal was just one more thing in the move to separate itself from its base. It won’t bother me to see NASCAR crumble, they chose to leave the loyal and grass roots could use the sponsor dollars. I’m not mad with you and I hope you aren’t mad with me.