Tightening the Grip: Starts in the Schools as Always

[HammerStone]

Story: http://www.wltx.com/news/story.aspx?storyid=62738
"We are very clear that the Confederate flag is a symbol of hatred, bigotry and racism," said Rick Kaufman, the Executive Director of Community Relations at Bloomington Kennedy High School.
This is the kinda of legislation that's in the pipes. What you say, do, or have on your possession can cause you to be labeled as a hate-crime offender. I understand that a school environment is a school environment, but the kids are in the parking lot.

 

[HammerStone]

Also, point out the subtle problem with this article aside from the main one I highlighted.(Hint: It relates to bureaucracy!)

 

[For Life]

"The confederate army was in rebellion to the U.S. Army who were about money and power,"
Big Brother doesn't want anyone to remember people standing up to the US govt. The civil war was not about slavery, as kids are taught in public schools, it was about power and the people lost and government won. Of course a public school is going to make the Confederate flag enemy number one. Who decided the Confederate flag was a symbol of hate, bigotry and racism? I see it more as a symbol of the natural rebel inside every American. I can see how that could make the socialists a bit nervous.

 

[Wakka]

This reminds me of when a man in Texas flew a Mexican flag over an American flag on the same flagpole. This raised a lot of controversy and eventually led a Vietnam vet to come over and cut both the flags apart (on account that the US flag was defiled).

 

[tim_from_pa]

What can I say? I'm glad that my youngest kid is graduating from public school today and will not be subjected any longer to this filthy doctrine educational system. The so-called rationale and beliefs of them is so far out in left field compared to the founding Father's vision of a nation that it is astounding. I'm starting to think that the people behind this crooked system are not even related to those who founded this nation as their thinking is so far removed as if its no longer in their genes or something.I am totally disgusted at the racist hatred against the confederate flag. Just try to remove someone else's flag and see if this country would not be plagued with riots, vandalisms along with cries of "racism". But I guess it's OK to remove a a poor southern boy's symbol of his heritage. As soon as these judgers and condemners stop being hypocrites and start talking from the right end, I will listen. In the meantime, their speech is putrid.I agree with the previous poster that the Civil war was not about slavery as most (90-some percent as I remember) southern people did not own them (but General Grant did!) and the southerners only wanted to protect their properties and families. The issue was about state's rights issues and economic ones as well as the south gravitated toward a lucrative agricultural economy.I am starting to detest the things up north here more and more. People are in too much of a hurry and too serious. One day if I want to get away from it all, I may just want to be a red-necked southern boy with his truck, dog, and gun rack in the back living in the sticks, and yes, with the Confederate Flag. That's true American to me.

 

[HammerStone]

Well you can look up Jefferson Davis's memoirs/writings and he very clearly stated that the war was not started because of slavery. Slavery was merely the uniting factor in that it was something that arguably made the south what it was at the time. It was an issue that embodied the real issue which was the battle between different outlooks on the government. If the war was truly about slavery, why would Lincoln court the so-called "border states" that continued to practice slavery? Obviously, the Union followed suit because how good does a war sound when your side is the side that believes in stronger governmental control?All of this, of course, has dissappeared from the history books because it exposes the real problem with the government's growing control. I'm 100% with Tim, I've studied many of the founding fathers and faces of the American Revolution and they'd simply be appalled as this sprawling mass we call government today. This issue just illustrates the problem. It's a bad one. Just as I said, though, it starts with the small things. We're now seeing the first generation to be truly raised thinking the Confederate flag is a symbol of black-hating racist whites that are backwards thinking. They first falsely create hate and then hyporcritically respond to hate with more of it.

 

[tim_from_pa]

And let me add one more thought for the skeptics out there that believe that the war was over slavery and what I was saying (and others) is bunk.I am a presidential fan of Franklin Pierce (14th president), and the First Lady Jane Pierce. As a matter of fact, 4 summers ago we visited Concord NH and amongst other places we visited the Pierce graves. I always held a strange fascination for Jane as there was something sorta delightfully creepy about her. Here's a picture. Something seems haunting about her. Jane PierceAnyway, she was a devoted Christian woman whose quiet demeanor commanded much respect (people watched their mouths around such a Lady as her) She was adamantly against slavery. However, having her children dying of diseases and seeing her remaining son killed horribly in a train wreck, she sank into very deep depression. She would only allow certain people around her. And here is the punch line to the skeptics. And of all people who were dear friends to her, was none other than Confederate President to be Jefferson Davis! As history can attest, it was not long after their administration that the civil war took place, but the Pierce's administration was the groundwork for everything that led to the civil war.I challenge people to study them and see the pieces that fell into place that was the makings of the civil war. Most mouth off about racism and slavery and don't know the first thing about the Pierce's. I think I would have befriended President Pierce who in many ways reminded me of myself---- very charismatic. He was a little bit of a party animal (opposite of Jane) and drank. In the end when depressed and his administration was over, he was quoted as saying, "There is nothing to do except get drunk."

 

[For Life]

I went to public school as a kid and they taught us that Lincoln was a hero. He saved the country and ultimately the world from slavery according to the textbooks. No one brought up any states rights issues or the percentage of southerners that owned slaves. According to the history I learned the North was 100% morally right and the South was 100% morally wrong. It wasn't until I became interested in real history that I learned more of the truth to the story. It's funny how Presidents will allow the people to think one way in order for them to achieve a goal that had nothing to do with what the people thought was going on.