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Ask
Auntie Pinko
January
11, 2002
Dear Auntie Pinko,
I'm a real liberal kid in high school in a real conservative
part of Maryland. Recently I got in an argument about the
Confederate flag and how I believe it is a symbol of hatred
while my friends call it a symbol for states rights. Please
clarify what the rebel flag really means to America.
Nick,
Annapolis, MD
Dear Nick,
America is made up of millions of individuals, and our Constitution
guarantees each of us the right to assign whatever meaning
pleases us to various symbols - like the Confederate flag.
This is why, although Auntie Pinko personally assigns a definitely
uncomplimentary meaning to the Confederate flag, I am in complete
support of an individual's right to put those silly-looking
flag decals across the back windows of their pickup trucks,
display it in front of their trailers, embroider it on their
ball caps, etc.
This right to assign our own personal meanings to various
symbols, and to behave accordingly, is part of the freedom
guaranteed to each American by the First Amendment. And this
discussion is especially timely right now because of the current
popularity of another symbol - the American flag - and the
heavy baggage of meaning being loaded onto it by would-be
thought police, the media, and commercial opportunists who
see a golden opportunity for fast bucks.
In other words, Auntie Pinko would protect your friends'
right to display and honor the Confederate flag for the same
reason I would expect them to protect my right not to display
the American flag, and not to pledge allegiance to
that symbol. My personal religious and ethical beliefs do
not allow me to extend to an inanimate object - even one which
symbolizes the most noble of human ideals - anything that
resembles the worship I reserve for the Divine.
And that, Nick, is the essence of why I believe America,
as a country, is worthy of my loyalty and my diligent observance
of the responsibilities of citizenship. Those responsibilities
include: educating myself; giving time and effort to participate
in the democratic process; paying the taxes that promote the
public well-being; and being prepared to offer the deepest
personal sacrifice to which I can morally commit if government
by the Constitution of the United States is in immediate and
present physical danger.
They do not include: paying homage to national symbols, offering
unquestioning support to political leaders, assuming that
anything my country does is morally right simply because it
is my country, or believing that the economic and political
interests of my country are superior, better, or more important,
than other countries' interests or than the ability of the
planet Earth to sustain human life.
So, Nick, while Auntie Pinko might question the taste of
those who honor the flag that flew over the defenders of human
slavery, she will never question their right to do
so. That is what the Confederate flag means to this American,
at any rate.
And thank you for asking Auntie Pinko!
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