We Live in the Time of the Zombies

[Torgo]

Dear God, what is wrong with this country?

First off, some crazy skinhead decides to shoot up a black church. I am not defending the guy at all; he deserves to be hung by his balls and burned alive.

But then...it starts.

"If he was black or muslim he would be a terrorist, but since he's white hes just mentally ill"

"White people cannot understand, they don't deserve to say they are sorry"

People apologize for their skin color. People fight over their skin color. The hashtag "StopWhitePeople" begins to trend on Twitter. It picks up steam. Soon it goes back to the shadows, but the trend of hate towards human beings because of their skin color continues on social media.

Give that a couple days to die off. Now, it falls back the classic scapegoat, the gun. Obviously it was the gun deciding to float into the church and shoot people, eh? Better ban every gun in the country (never mind that criminals don't mind laws and the law abiders lose a method of defense).

A few speeches, Obama throws in a few words, and soon, it evolves. Now, the Confederate Flag, a symbol of both states' rights and a bloody civil war, comes under fire. Protests begin to remove it from the SC capitol building.

Heres where I get pissed off: reading garbage like this:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-...itor_b_7640654.html?ncid=txtlnkusaolp00000592

While I was out jogging this morning, I passed a neighbor's house that I have passed every day for almost three years. Usually I stroll right on by without giving it a second thought. Today, though... today was different. I stopped in my tracks and blankly stared until a car honked at me to move out of the way.

This house flies a Confederate flag.

Read into this; the writer had not even realized that the house had a Confederate until he read about the protests in the nation over them. ONLY NOW is he upset, because the media told him to.

BTW: if you wanna fly it, fine. It's your FIRST AMENDMENT RIGHT to do so! I can disagree with it, but that doesn't take away your privilege to fly it. (Some people cant get this through their heads).

back on track: The writer didn't care or even notice until now, when the media brought it to his attention. Now, it must be hated with all his passion, until it gets taken down. After all, his opinion is the best and only way!

Bull. Shit.

This didn't even matter until now, yet you have the audacity to demand it be taken down immediately? Because of some stupid protest? I can bring up a ton of aspects I want changed, no one is going to do a thing.

But you control the media, you control the world. It worked in 1984
, it works in North Korea, it works in any dictatorship. We are becoming zombies, ready to believe anything they come up with, and we take it hook, line, and sinker. Just like this writer exemplifies, the media can get us to do things we wouldn't have cared about before. it is quite scary.

 

[Барбоса]

And it comes from both sides of the media.

Those who are suddenly so anti-Confederate flag balanced out by those who would try to hide/ignore that it has any negative connotations - a symbol of states' rights and standing up to tyranny rather than a defeated secessionist state inexorably tied to the preservation of slavery.

We won't even go into the conversation about some news outlets focusing on the SC shootings as an attack on Christianity rather than the blatant racist it really was.

Personally, I have long thought that the continued prominence of the Confederate flag is a disgrace. Sure, people have their right to fly it, even if it is tinged with that disgrace, but for a government building to fly is horrendous.

The focusing on this flag is symptomatic of something else though. Listening to Obama and other Americans speak of Sandy Hook and now SC, a large portion of the population are completely exhausted with the gun control issue, especially when the legislators seem incapable/unwilling of doing anything at all.

When the murder of 20 6 year olds did nothing, an attack on a black community will do nothing too.

Picking up on the flying of the Confederate flag is a newer story that people can maybe get behind; one that can be painted as being part of an underlying societal problem; one that might even see some change occur.

In other words, it is not a battle that already seems lost.

 

[George Steele's Barber]

You just complained about the media's influence on people's opinions and used 1984 as an example. Do you understand both the irony and stupidity in that?

 

[Torgo]

And it comes from both sides of the media.
Personally, I have long thought that the continued prominence of the Confederate flag is a disgrace. Sure, people have their right to fly it, even if it is tinged with that disgrace, but for a government building to fly is horrendous.

I agree with you, sir. But as you said they have the right to fly it, that does not mean they have the right to ignore criticism. It also does not mean that the people who oppose it can force them to change it. Perhaps it should not be flown in a state building, however.

Regardless, like you also said it is a story that the media is getting people behind, and this is what I am getting at- people just eat it up.


George it makes sense; the media puts stuff out and the people believe it. Looking back, 1984 might have been a poor example but nonetheless it is a result of what happens when propaganda and the media drives peoples minds. Big Brother comes into power.

 

[Spidey Revivey]

The flag has always been a subject of ridicule. It just happened to take the death of defenseless churchgoers for a healthy majority to realize there is no heritage that piece of cloth holds to it but the systematic oppression of people who weren't white Christian men from the South.

Want to honor Southern heritage? Practice hospitality.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

Generally speaking, the controversy surrounding the Confederate Flag isn't something new, it's just something that's been brought back to the forefront because of the Charleston church shooting, the revelation that Dylan Roof was a vehement white supremacist and his own statements that the massacre was racially motivated. From 1956-2001, the flag of the stage of Georgia prominently featured the 2nd national flag of the Confederacy, AKA the Stars & Bars, before finally changing it after years of protests. As of right now, the only state in which the Rebel Flag is still featured is, surprise surprise, Mississippi, which the worst record in regards to the civil rights of African Americans, by far, of any state in the country.

Compared to the fact that we've spent much of the past 1.5 decades embroiled in wars and conflicts in the Middle East, the financial strain that such wars put on our economy, the economy crashing in 2008 and the subsequent recovery process over the past 7 years, this issue hasn't been at the forefront. Had photos of Dylan Roof not been shown holding and waving the Confederate Flag, I think there's a good chance that the issue wouldn't have been brought up again; after all, there've been several high profile instances the past several years involving violence and death towards African Americans at the hands of Caucasians that have had a number of racial allegations and charges behind them. The old adage of a picture being worth a thousand words still holds true as there've been several photos shown of Roof holding a Confederate Flag and I think it's reminded people of something they've forgotten, something that's lain dormant for the last 14 years or so. Was the flag created with the intention of being racist? Probably not, but considering that one of the primary goals of the Confederacy was to uphold white supremacy while simultaneously keeping blacks as property, the flag itself has been viewed as a symbol of racial prejudice, intolerance and the view of non Caucasian peoples as inferior; it's impossible to separate the two and it's futile to even try.

Being from what's traditionally viewed as a southern state, though a southern state that didn't secede from the Union, I always find it laughable when people try to claim that the Confederate Flag is a representation of our heritage. The thing about the Confederate Flag is that it was born out of the single most treasonous event in the history of the United States in that 11 states seceded from the United States to form their own country and declared war. When you get past all the hoopla and pagentry, the Confederate States of America was nothing more than an enemy nation. Why does this particular flag of an enemy nation warrant special treatment? Because a lot of men died fighting for it? Well, so the hell what; a lot of men died fighting for the Nazi flag during WWII, but we don't honor those enemy combatants by flying their flag.

As far as heritage goes, it also never ceases to amaze me that people constantly harp about all the good aspects while usually ignoring the negative aspects. Slavery is part of our heritage, a damned unfortunate and downright shameful aspect, but it's part of it all the same. While the Civil War was about more than just slavery, slavery was the primary reason and it's ultimately what most people say when you ask them a question like "What was the reason for the Civil War?" If you ever watch any of the old Western movies that were so huge during the 30s, 40s, 50s and 60s, one thing you often see is the depiction of the classic American cowboy or soldier is of this noble, heroic figure while Native Americans are often portrayed as half naked savages out to kill the white man. A lot of the time, Hollywood glosses over the fact that about one out of every three "cowboys" was black and their contributions are never heroically portrayed in hyperbolic fashion on the big screen or the various times the government fucked over the Native tribes by ignoring treaties and promises. Anyhow, I guess my point was that a lot of people like to pick & choose parts of their "heritage" while purposely ignoring the negative aspects associated with it.

 

[George Steele's Barber]

George it makes sense; the media puts stuff out and the people believe it. Looking back, 1984 might have been a poor example but nonetheless it is a result of what happens when propaganda and the media drives peoples minds. Big Brother comes into power.

So was the point of your example to show how a book has influenced you in to thinking a specific way therefore admitting to being a mindless zombie?

BTW, what you're describing is nothing new and people are no worse or different than they were over the last 100 years. The biggest difference is the quantity of media available and accessibility. People have always been influenced by media, whether it be books, newspapers, movies, internet etc. If anything, there is more differentiation of opinions in media today than you may have found pre-internet.

But on the whole I think you posted this topic because beyond your youth and ignorance you don't like that conservative themes are getting a kick in the ass by reality this week.

 

[Torgo]

George, the book was an example.

also, I don't give a shit it its conservative or liberal; I am upset that the first amendment is being disregarded by an issue that has been dormant until the media has flared it up.

 

[Spidey Revivey]

But it doesn't disregard anyone's 1st Amendment rights. The day it is unlawful to carry around a Confederate flag is the day you can say that without sounding like an idiot.

And this issue has never been new. Having lived in Arkansas/Texas all of my life, I'm telling you this has always been a hot topic. But that flag is one of a foreign nation that is no longer recognized and hasn't for over a hundred years. It belongs in a museum.

I just find it really sad that instead of talking about the families effected by this, the right wing turns it once again into "They're trying to take our [insert whatever people will blindly defend]!!" I mean, damn. It's a piece of fabric. People value a cloth more than other people's lives.

 

[Jack-Hammer]

As has been pointed out, this has nothing to do with the First Amendment. No one is saying that it's illegal to own a Confederate Flag, have a Confederate Flag sticker, license plate or to even fly it in your own front yard if you choose to do so. Now that would be an infringement of First Amendment rights, but not wanting officials to fly the flag of an enemy nation born out of a treasonous act on government buildings isn't.

I personally don't believe that owning one automatically means you're racist or have racist views any more than owning a gun automatically makes you some crazy right wing radical. However this flag, while not officially the national flag of the CSA but was the battle flag of the Army of Northern Virginia, was later adopted by people later on to express their racist beliefs. Since the end of the Civil War and right on up through modern times, the fla has been featured quite prominently by hate groups like the Ku Klux Klan, the American Nazi Party, the Aryan Brotherhood, the Aryan Nations, the National Alliance, The Order and nearly every other high profile white supremacist group in the United States. So if someone owns one and they're misunderstood because of it, unfair or not, it's just how the mop flops.

 

[ABMorales787]

Coming from the Latin community and only getting to truly feel the vibe now of what "racism" is, in the sense of people being from radically different cultures all over the place, I'm actually quite glad I spent 21 years in a nice, small, enclosed island. It taught me that if I'm gonna hate, I'm gonna hate every fucking one. No shits given on skin color or culture, etc. including my own people. Sounds crazy, no?

Well, black, white, purple, if you feel the need to take human life on insubstantial reasons, you're mentally ill. Or really fucking ignorant.

 

[NSL]

If an individual wants to fly the Confederate flag, or any flag, on their own home, then I don't give a rat's ass. It's the fact that it's flying at the state house, as a symbol of what the state stands for, and that's wrong. It should have been removed, and never put back, when the South lost the Civil War (or, as many locals call it, The War Of Northern Aggression).

It was a slap in the face to Rev. Pinckney, as well as the other victims, that as his body traveled to/from the statehouse, it rode right underneath that flag.