March 20, 2004
Where is the American Civil Liberties Union when you really need it? Are you serious? Have school officials in Caldwell County gone completely off their bean, banning tee-shirts with Confederate flags? Where will this "We're afraid someone might be offended" nonsense ever end? Do our political institutions plan to keep their heads in the sand forever, or will they eventually stand up for the majority rights that our government was established to provide?
What's next? Will neck chains or bracelets with crosses be banned, because someone finds Christianity "offensive"? How about Carolina Panthers license plates on cars parked at school, because somebody else happens to like the Redskins? (Oops, there's another offensive label!) How about leather shoes, because some animal rights wacko gets upset? Enough is enough.
First, at the risk of being branded a "racist"--because that's what flag opponents do--the battle flag only represents a unique heritage to a great many more Southern Americans than are even remotely offended by it. The War for Southern Independence--and who knows, another one might be brewing--was just that, an attempt to break away from a centralized government that was both economically and politically repressive to Southern interests.
Not only was slavery not a direct cause of the Civil War for Southerners, but that sad institution would have died anyway of its own economic weight in a couple more decades, with the continued development of new technologies to make agriculture more productive. To say otherwise is to spread "the big lie" that the winners of the war put off on the losers. I defend the right to display the flag under the First Amendment, but I don't defend slavery.
I am truly remorseful that anyone, anywhere, would be offended by a display of my heritage--my great- great- grandfather died at Gettysburg--but where does the right to ban that display of heritage come from? If it matters to anyone, I could be "offended" many times a day by what I view as the idiocy of people who just aren't like me--saggy pants, body piercings, tattoos, guttural chants that are supposed to pass for music, Howard Stern and his ilk, cigarette smokers, rednecks who show crack when they bend over, body odors or perfumes that sting the eyes....How far do you want to go with this?
One of the qualities that Americans should hope their schools would teach their children is maturity--which includes learning how to live with not having everything their own way, as well as the ability to bear an "injustice" without wanting to get even.
Our children need to understand, too, that "diversity training" means they must learn to live with a whole array of activities and attitudes they personally find repulsive and that "political correctness" is really a catch-phrase for trying to make everyone think alike. Besides growing thicker skins, Americans need to focus on ways we're all alike, rather than ways we're different.
We need to lose labels like African Americans, Asian Americans, Native Americans, Mexican Americans, Irish Americans, etc., and just be happy with "Americans"--which by itself can be pretty special. Schools are an extension of government, and government--almost by definition--can only restrict our individual freedoms, not create new ones.
Whatever happened to political leaders, or dare I say "rebels," who said things like, "I disagree with everything you say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it"? If those who feel "offended" are really Americans, then they ought to champion the right of those kids at South Caldwell who want to wear a 140-year-old flag on a tee-shirt!
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