Skip to main content

The Confederate Flag: Can a Flag Change Its Stripes?

For many of us outside the USA the Confederate flag brings to mind only one thing, The Dukes of Hazard and, specifically the show's iconic car, The General Lee. It was a fun TV show from our childhood that somehow taught strong family values whilst thumbing its nose at a mildly corrupt Police force and causing thousands of dollars damage to Police vehicles.

Back when the original show was hugely popular no one ever thought about the implied racism of the Confederate (or 'rebel') flag. Other than a severe lack of ethnic diversity in the cast, not uncommon for shows of that era, no one associated the show or the flag with racism. It's not surprising that several of the shows stars have spoken up (once again) supporting the flag and the values they feel it represents.

Differing ideas on the Flag.
Clearly, over time, the Confederate flag has come to represent something else, namely racism. It's an evolving idea since many US states and their people are still very proud of the flag under increasing pressure to stop flying them at various locations, including government buildings.

On the one side people say the flag represents great Southern values and heritage whilst on the other it represents an army and government that supported slavery and fought to keep their slaves.

I don't profess to know the actual history of the flag though I've read much about it and what it represents in the wake of the murder of nine people in a church in South Carolina. Reportedly the killer posted a photo of himself alongside the Confederate flag to social media thus sparking the flag debate yet again. Because, obviously debate over a symbol is easier than understanding why anyone walks into a church and shoots nine people of color.

What I do know is that history is destroying my childhood memories. When you have people like Bill Cosby, Michael Jackson, Rolf Harris and Garry Glitter being accused and/or convicted of sexual crimes it's hard to enjoy your memories as they always end in a postscript of where that person is now. A happy memory becomes either sad or at least an expression of disappointment.

I really enjoyed The Dukes of Hazard during my childhood and that car, the General Lee, was the most awesome car on television. It could damn near fly. With Warner's decision to no longer sell merchandise featuring the confederate flag that means an end to General Lee toy sales.

As more and more support for the removal of Confederate flags grows the harder it becomes to enjoy a TV show that was never about racism but will forever be postscripted to that idea.

Billy Idol
It's a shame really. Whatever you think about the Confederate flag, you have to admit it's one of the best looking flags around, used often to represent 'rebels' everywhere - even Billy Idol used it at one point in his shows and merchandise.

What I would like to see is supporters of the flag not only embrace it but to spread the idea of the values it currently represents for them in today's world. Push back against the tide of people suggesting the flag is racist and firmly associate the flag with anti-racist values.

Yes the heritage of the flag includes slavery and, depending on who you talk to, the Confederates either fought to keep their slaves or they fought to remain independent of the Union (or both), I don't know, but the flag could grow to mean something else.

If a flag can become a racist symbol then surely it can grow into an anti-racist symbol? Change its stripes, so to speak.

When you think about it, the confederate flag could be embraced by the true rebels who fought against racism. People like Rosa Parks (Yes, I know that idea is probably very offensive but read on). A flag that rebels against its own history and becomes a symbol for true family values and equal human rights. That would be something the Duke family would support.

Keep the flag and open a new chapter in its history of what it represents.

Comments

Buy Gifts and Apparel featuring art by TET.

Popular posts from this blog

I'm Confused About Why People Prefer to Say Discombobulated?

D iscombobulated. Is a word that I think someone rediscovered about three or four years ago (maybe more because the pandemic years have thrown out my sense of time) and now I hear it a lot. It's not a new word by any means, but when I started hearing multiple celebrities using it in everyday sentences, I actively had to look up what it meant. Define it with as many synonyms as you like but essentially it's just another word meaning 'confused'. Seinfeld Quotes: Quotes.net The words are pretty much interchangeable. He was discombobulated by too many choices. He was confused by too many choices.  My confusion is the length of the word. It's unnecessarily long with too many syllables. There are many other words that mean confused, and therefore also mean discombobulated. Most of them are shorter and easier to say. So why not just say 'confused'? Perhaps discombobulated sounds more intelligent, maybe?  Hawaii Five-0 Quotes: Quotes.net I've noticed it gets us...

TV Series Review: Skeleton Crew (2024) (Disney+) *No Spoilers*

I f you saw the trailer for  Skeleton Crew  and decided the show looked too much like Star Wars for little kids, and didn't watch, you missed out on a real treat. While I will say this show was definitely targeted at bringing in younger fans to the Star Wars universe, it is very much more like family viewing than kids only TV. Not to mention, characters are literally gunned down or murdered on this show, but without the really graphic violence you might see on a more adult orientated show. It's actually no more kid only orientated than the first series of Stranger Things  (2016), or even the original  Star Wars  (1977) movie. In fact the whole show is a not so subtle homage to original Star Wars (1977), Treasure Island  (1950), and eighties movies like The Goonies  (1985), ET  (1982), Explorers  (1985) and others. The plot is very straight forward. A group of children, living in the Star Wars equivalent of the suburbs, find an aband...

TV Series Review: Creature Commandos (2024) *No Spoilers*

O fficially, Creature Commandos is the first show of James Gunn's kind of reboot of the DCU. Technically though, it starts with James Gunn's, The Suicide Squad , and includes his series, Peacemaker , as the events of both are either referenced or felt within the show. Potentially that means Margot Robbie is Harley Quinn in the DCU, but I'd be surprised if she would even want another crack at it, let alone that James didn't recast the role. However that's a whole other rabbit hole for a character that may not appear again for at least a few more years. Creature Commandos is Suicide Squad but with monsters, and no real threat of Suicide - well, having your head blown off if you stray from the mission at least. Though I don't recall that being a thing in Gunn's Suicide Squad movie since the team was renamed 'Task Force X'? Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) somehow still has a job, but is no longer allowed to use humans on her team, so she assembles a team of...

TV Series Review: The Penguin (2024) *No Spoilers*

W hile we wait for an eternity (well an eternity in movie fan years anyway) for The Batman Part 2 , sequel to Matt Reeves acclaimed, The Batman  (2022), we have, what is essentially a direct sequel with  The Penguin , a limited. eight episode, TV Series set within a week or two of the end of the first film. Unfortunately it's a direct sequel to Colin Farrell's Penguin rather than Robert Pattinson's, Bruce Wayne/Batman. Fortunately that's the only real disappointment I have with this series.   Right from the first episode The Penguin establishes itself as a show for grown ups who enjoy actual character development, that hooks you in, is thought provoking, and raises questions that you expect will be answered as the story unfolds. After the events of The Batman, there is something of a power vacuum left in Gotham's crime world that Oswald 'Oz' Cobb a.k.a. The Penguin, sets out to fill using his experience, quick thinking, and his ability to hustle his way into...

Introducing Resident Dragon: The Trials and Tribulations of Living in a Shared House with a Dragon in the Suburbs

Resident Dragon Cast: TET, Red the Dragon Cool Froyd the Cat, and Grrr Dog. Buy Prints of finished toons . L ast year (2024), for my birthday in May, my sister bought me a quality, metal bodied, ball point pen (black ink).  As someone who likes to sketch with ball point pens, and with a big concern that these last few years I really wasn't drawing as much as someone who considers themselves to be an artist should, I decided to put the pen to good use. In June of the same year I bought two A5 sketchbooks and spent as much time as I needed to fill a page with ball point pen 'doodles', each morning after breakfast.  I'm predominantly a cartoonist who's always drawn from imagination, so filling a page in a sketch book is not a challenge. I just draw a line, or a circle, or whatever and see what emerges. Filling Sketch Books Just to Draw More Filling an A5 sketchbook page would take me about 20-25 minutes. I drew all kinds of random things, occasionally using the time to...

Real Flying Car Prototypes That Look Like What the Movies Promised - Ace VTOL GT Slipstream, Alef Model A, and the Bellwether Flying Cars

Ace eVTOL GT Slipstream Flying Car. I've been a little obsessed with flying cars of late and I thought I was done with the subject for now but then Google News put  flying car company, Ace Vtol , based out of Perth, Western Australia in front of me. How could I not take a look?  The GT Slipstream's next-generation Arc Reaction Engines. Images: Ace Vtol website. Especially when their flying car, the  Ace eVTOL GT Slipstream , kind of looks like a regular car (in terms of size and shape) and has engines that look like they're straight out of a sci-fi movie. Even more surprising is you can actually pre-order one of these vehicles . Ace Vtol has done a USD$250 million deal with Palm Beach, FL based Aeroauto , the leading retailer of eVTOL vehicles in the United States to sell the craft to future owners. The GT Slipstream is described on Ace Vtol's website as follows: The aircraft, named the GT Slipstream, is a two-seater flying “muscle” car that will reach spee...

Movie Review: The Fall Guy (2024) *Minor Spoilers*

W hen I initially heard they were making a movie version of the TV series, The Fall Guy (1981-86) , I was definitely interested, as a person who tuned in to that series, weekly, when it originally aired. I had intended to see The Fall Guy in the cinema but, for whatever reason, didn't get there, and didn't prioritize seeing the film as the reviews, and more importantly, general information about the movie came out. Specifically, The Fall Guy makes no effort to capture whatever magic it was the TV show had that made it the show it was. A fact that is driven home by the reworked TV series theme song, played over the end credits and behind the scenes footage of stunts in the film, that removes all references to real world actors and replaces iconic line of "I'm the unknown stuntman who made Redford such a star" with the nonsensical "I'm the unknown stuntman who tries to win your heart." - sure... I guess... I mean, the original song is about never gett...