Free Speech or Hate Symbol?

[Unregistered]

Presented Above are two diffrent flags. Which one of these flags is offensive, and should not be allowed to flown in public? Which flag needs to be censored? Why?

Now let me cover the Common Arguments since they are essentially the same thing.

Confederate Flag:

One Man says: A symbol of hate, and a constant reminder of the slave days. It is racist and flying it violates my rights.

Another Man Says: This is a symbol Sourthen Pride

Rainbow Flag:

One Man Says: This is a symbol of homosexuality, something that is against my religous beleifs. Allowing this to be flown violates my rights.

Another Man Says: This is a symbol of Gay Pride

Being an Adult, and being an American is about protecting our rights as a whole. Not just protecting the things that you agree with, but protecting the things that you dissagree with as well. Despite that fact that I do not like the gay pride flag, and that I personally do not want to see it flying from City Light Posts, I feel it has as much right to be there as any flag. By the same token the Confederate Flag has as much right to be flown as the gay pride flag. Neither one of them is truely offensive. The only thing in question is ones personal feelings and weather or not they have the right to let them be known.

One mans pride is another mans source of dissgust, but does that make it hateful? Are the gays commiting a hate crime when they fly their flag?

You can not pick and choose when issues like this arise. There is no Grey Area in censorship. You must either support Censorship, or you must Support Free Speech, even if what is being said is not what you agree with. I will always fight on the side free speech, because tomarrow it might be me they want to censor.

[Navaron]

I say letem both fly. People can burn my flag, so everyone else can fly theirs. I also have the right to burn theirs (not that I would)....

[mistled]

Let them both fly. Neither of them represent Christianity, so no one on this forum should have a problem with them.

[archaic1128]

I say let both flags fly. That is what freedom of speech is all about. Tis a sad day when we get sued or persecuted for not being in the "politically correct". Unfortunately, we are losing are right to free speech daily because someone gets offended, pretty sad if i say so myself.

[Unregistered]

The sad part is that they do it under the guise of protecting our rights. If you ever talk to a libral they will tell you that "Our Civil Libirties are being eroded", then turn around and create legislation to censor what we hear, read, and say.

[SandTrout]

Both should be able to fly, even though political corectness banns the first.

/me grabs asbestose suits for Unregistered, archaic, Naveron, and Mistled.

Bring on the flames.

[Arshune]

I'm gonna say that freedom of speech is all well and good as long as people understand that there's no reason to go off and say things just because they can. I can legally call people hateful names, but does that mean I should? We shouldn't go making laws to punish people that say things like that, it just shouldn't be encouraged.

I don't think the Confederate Flag is a symbol of southern pride, they lost that war AND some of the Confederate states were in the west. Let it fly if you want to tell people "I remember the time when my state got beat."

I don't really care if someone wants to fly a rainbow flag to say what kind of personal life they have, as long as what they're doing only pertains to consenting adults.

[Mtx]

I could care less about a piece of cloth.

[Civilian]

IMO, the Confederate flag is a hate-symbol. I am much more offended by that, and could see how an African-American would be offended by that flag. The Gay-Pride flag, is not offensive and I don't understand how you can argue it is. The best you could argue is the life the people who fly that flag lead is offensive to several religious groups, but it would be like telling a Baptist church they aren't allowed to put up a cross because their lifestyle offends me.

That being said, any person deciding to fly these flags has the right to do so. I DO NOT and will not support the flying of the confederate flag at state institutions or buildings unless it is at a site of historical significance.

I will tell you this, I have had friends, specifically during the days that I was in high school that chose to fly the confederate flag, and these people(no matter what they may argue) did NOT like black people. I was extremely naive then, and have since come to my senses, but I have seen this type of racism first-hand.

[SandTrout]

Hate shouldn't be encouraged, but that is something we must do on our own, not try to have laws passed against it.

I can't wait till Lex finds this thread.

[MrVicchio]

Its al in the eye of the beholder.

I see nothing wrong with the Confederate flag, for it does not stand for hate, or racism, as much as some would liek you to believe. Rather is stands for Southern Pride.

Much is made of the fact the Condfederavy had slavery, but did they fight a war becuase they hated black people? Or because that was how the world was, in thier view?

Damn, once you realize that was the main reason for the civil war, the differences in culture, and not fall prey to the racist red herring, it makes the issue clearer.


Slavery was a horrid institution, that still exsists today. But condemning a symbol of something because i is ASSOCIATED with racism, is wrong, in that light, the US Flag should offend you, for the USA once allowed slavery.

[Navaron]

WTF. I'm not going to delve further into this, but the civil war did not start over slavery. It was fought over states rights. The year before the entire country went through a massive recession, but the south grew immensely, this was all the proof that they would be better off without the shackles of Northern laws. So they left the union. The whole war was fought for states rights, the right to declare slave state or not was just a fraction of those rights. Go read some history people, I hear that everywhere. Don't make me start scanning in pages from history books. I'll do it.

[afex]

people who associate the rebel flag with slavery and therefore hate are simply ignorant, thats all there is to it.

sure slavery happened during its era, duh. but that isn't what it stands for.

with that logic we could associate the gay flag with AIDS and therefore disease and death.

[MrVicchio]

Nav, I didn't say it did strt over lsavery, I said the differnces in Culture, and IMHO implied other reasons.

[archaic1128]

Nav, You might have to read those pages to most as well. It is quite common for most people to not research, it's easier for them to go along w/ opinions of others. But hey, history books are nothing don't you know...the media is unbiased.