Your opinion, please, on a bumper sticker I saw

[Bertha Venation]

It showed the Confederate flag and read something like "You don't have the right to tell me not to honor my ancestors."

Thoughts?

[_dynamicdems]

1. That sounds reasonable unless you look at it this way.

How would the same be received in Germany if a person were to show a swastika with that quote on a bumper sticker? I'm guessing not very well.

[OffWithTheirHeads]

13. They might not like that in Germany but

here they make it a sign, swastika and all and take it to town hall meetings where the Goobers all cheer!

[dembotoz]

2. perhaps an updated version of the hated republican sticker from 2000

you lost--get over it


Ya know, we could use that bumper sticker for other things too.....

[HopeHoops]

3. My translation goggles read "Hi, I'm a racist dumbfuck"

They work pretty well.

[brendan120678]

4. I'd say that....

the First Amendment gives me the right to tell you just about anything I damn well please.
I'll concede, however, that the Government doesn't have the right to forbid you from "honoring" your ancestors by showing that flag.

[mnhtnbb]

5. You have the right to strut your bigotry--just don't expect me to agree.

[peekaloo]

6. I'd compliment the driver

on his/her purty mouth.

[NJmaverick]

7. So he has a right to crow about the pro slavery south

but you don't have the right to tell him what you think about that.

Typical right wing double standard

[Curtland1015]

8. So he's a secessionist?

Huh.

[Orsino]

9. Doofus.

Hiding racism behind ancestor-worship.

I can't guarantee it, of course, but that's my first thought.

[Shell Beau]

10. Actually I do have the right to tell him that. He has the right not to like it.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

12. good point, free speech is a two way street.

[gbate]

11. Co-worker of mine has one that reads "Heritage, not Hate"

[SidneyCarton]

14. It's a mixed bag.

How does he honor his ancestors? I have ancestors who fought in the CSA too, I'm not ashamed of them, but I don't believe racism, prejudice and segregation does them any particular honor either.

Senator Jim Webb wrote a book called "Born Fighting" which dealt on the subject of Confederate remembrance a little. Most Confederate soldiers didn't own slaves, they thought they were fighting to defend their homes (this is important, what a man or woman believes they're fighting for is as important, if not more so than what they're really fighting for, because it is what motivates them) As such, I respect that those ancestors who wore gray in the Civil War did so for reasons that they felt were honorable. I don't believe that they fought because they loved slavery or were raging racists (indeed in the case of one of them, I know with certainty he wasn't) but I accept that 140+ years after the fact, we realize they fought on the wrong side.

[Dr Fate]

15. He's right. In turn, he has no right to force me to honor to his ancestors either.

That's why I generally oppose having confederate flags flown in certain public places.

[SCantiGOP]

16. "I'm not a racist but"

Anyone who starts a sentence with that is about to say something outrageously racist.

[graywarrior]

17. I hate black people

And I hate you for not hating black people.

[krispos42]

18. "And why exactly do you want to honor THOSE ancestors?"

would make a nice complimentary bumper sticker.