Unfortunately, what's glaringly obvious to me isn't so glaringly obvious to a lot of other folks - at least, not to those with the long-standing agenda of removing the Confederate Battle Flag from view everywhere, especially on the State House grounds in Columbia. Those people have used a tragedy committed by a deranged young man as a vehicle to promote their agenda, totally disregarding the fact that one has absolutely nothing to do with the other. And for those who say that the picture of the madman (I refuse to use his name) with a Confederate flag makes it totally relevant, I guess they never saw this one:
Now, if you use the same "logic" that the race baiters and liberals are using, we now have to close down every Gold's Gym in the nation because they are obviously to blame for this kid's mental illness which causes him to so hate America that he burns an American flag. Yes, absolutely, we must close down all Gold's Gym facilities immediately!
Sound silly? Of course it is. One has absolutely nothing to do with the other, yet the race baiters and liberal activists who have a personal agenda of removing the Confederate flag from public view don't care. They're going to exploit the tragedy for their own purposes no matter what. Of course, you do realize that if this kid had shot up a white church no one would have given a damn, don't you? Nope, the news wouldn't have covered it for more than a day, the governor wouldn't have said much about it, and The Great Pretender sure as hell wouldn't be coming to town for the funerals. Nah, dead white people aren't news because after all, only black lives matter.
Which is bullshit, of course. ALL lives matter, black or white.
The real question I want answered by anyone who supports the removal of the Battle Flag is this: just what, exactly, will this accomplish towards ensuring that such a heinous act doesn't happen again?
Please don't try and tell me that it will reduce the climate of racism, because that's crap. Racism is taught by people, not by symbols. And don't try and tell me that it will reduce the climate of hate, because hate is also taught by people, not by symbols. And in case y'all haven't been keeping up on current events, both hate AND racism exist in all corners of our nation and is practiced daily by both white AND black people. But of course, you never hear about this in the liberal news media because according to the liberal handbook, only white people can be racists.
Which is more bullshit, of course.
To place all of the blame for an act as heinous as this on something as simple as a flag is to totally deny the real issue at hand (and it is NOT gun control), said issue being mental illness. You don't have to be a doctor to look into this kid's eyes and see that he's a few fries short of a happy meal. And the people around him sure as hell knew he was a practicing racist as well as a little bit nuts, but everyone sat on their hands and did nothing.
All of the mass shootings in this country in the recent past (meaning the past 5 years or so) all have one thing in common, that thing being the shooter was batshit crazy and that no one did anything about it. THAT, friends and neighbors, is the REAL problem. Not guns, not flags, not anything but mental illness. We as a society have failed once again to recognize and treat someone with a serious mental illness, and once again the results have been both disastrous and deadly.
How do we solve the problem? Not by taking down flags, that's for damned sure. I wish I had the answer but I don't; that's something that someone with a lot more smarts than I have is going to have to figure out, and then we as a society are going to have to get off our asses and take action. Personally, I'd like to see this happen sooner than later, but I ain't holding my breath.
Now, back to the flag. I fully and completely support the flying of the Confederate Battle Flag in its present location on the State House Grounds for this simple reason: it was placed next to the Confederate Soldier's Monument in 2000 as an addition to that monument, said monument having been erected as a memorial to the brave men of South Carolina who fought and died in defense of the state in the War Between the States. That's why the flag is there, nothing more, and to remove it would be to turn our backs on the courage, valor, honor, and sacrifices these men made in defense of their home state. As a born and bred Southerner I can think of nothing more dishonorable than to remove that flag.
Oh, and by the way, you DID know that there were black Confederate soldiers who fought too, right? I mean, black men who VOLUNTEERED to fight to defend their homes...but you knew that, right?
No? Then maybe it's time for you to do a little research before you go yanking down flags.
IHC
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