If you're like most people, you probably think of harmless goofballs like this guy:

Or maybe you think of Civil War re-enactors like these folks:

I guess the worse case scenario is that you think of scumbag lunatic wastes-of-oxygen like these reptiles:

I guess all of that is to be expected. It seems like any symbol that's adopted by public groups gets forever associated with those groups. The Confederate Battle Flag, however, means many different things to us Southerners. Most of us react to it in a way that is somewhat summed up by this common bumper sticker:

A lot of folks, myself included, do see it as a symbol of our heritage and our rich cultural history. And yet, it's come to mean something else to me in recent years. Something maybe a bit surprising.

Personally, the Confederate Battle Flag isn't something I associate with the Civil War first and foremost. I don't think much about the Civil War on a personal level, to be honest. The majority of my ancestors came to this country in the early 1900's, after the Civil War was over... and the few ancestors I have who were in this country during the war lived in northern states. If they fought in the war at all, it would have been as Federal troops, not Confederates.

To me, the Confederate Battle Flag has become a reminder that those who mock the South and Southerners in general... well, they are the ignorant ones. The South has produced many of the finest statesmen, artists, leaders and visionaries that the world has ever known... but to many people, if you come from the South, you are bound to be an inbred hillbilly:

Oh, well. Far be it from me to try to talk people out of treasured ignorance, especially if they draw some comfort from it.

Nonetheless, the Confederate Battle Flag is becoming a symbol of a different kind to many Southerners. I'll try to explain.

Many Southerners have adopted the word "Redneck" as a badge of honor, and we refer to ourselves as "Rednecks" with some degree of defiant pride. I guess it's similar to the way many young black people have turned the hateful, ignorant word "nigger" into the empowering, affectionate word "nigga." Or the way that many homosexuals have embraced the word "queer." Once you embrace and adopt a word that was invented to cause hurt, it changes the word itself. It removes it's power to do harm and changes it into something different. Something positive.

It's the same for many of us with the Confederate Battle Flag. What is often seen by outsiders as a symbol of our imagined ignorance and uselessness is, for many of us, simply a symbol of unity. Consider how many homosexuals have embraced the pink triangle as a symbol of unity and pride in who they are. I think there's also a correlation with the song "Yankee Doodle," which was originally conceived by British troops as a way to mock pre-revolutionary Americans.

And lest you think that the Confederate Battle Flag is a symbol that's only been adopted by white Southerners, I think you ought to know about men like H.K. Edgerton and J.J. Johnson, both of whom are black men who see the Confederate Battle Flag as something more complex than a simple symbol of racism and ignorance. It's not a white thing, it's not a black thing. It's not a "thing" that can be summed up with a quick bumper-sticker explanation, really. It has something to do with who we once were, with who we are now, and with the long, hard road and difficult lessons that got us here.

And it has something to do with the way we're portrayed in the media, in the movies, on television, and in the popular culture at large.

Now, we know that we're not going to change that libelous image any time soon. The American South is the last region in the world that it's safe for our politically correct society to mock. Especially white Southerners, who are pretty much universally portrayed and viewed as stupid devils. Yeah, it gets old and sometimes it does hurt our feelings. And, yes, it is nice when fellow Southerners who just happen to be black (like Edgerton and Johnson) speak out in our defense. The south has had a long row to hoe since the days of the civil rights movement. As a white Southern male, I have to admit that it feels good when our black Southern brothers give us a pat on the back and tell us we're doin' pretty good.

So what about the rest of the world? The people who see us as the last source of safe mockery? Can we change them? No. Are we going to change ourselves? Hell, no.

Does it matter? Not as much as it used to.

Because, ya know what? A lot of the characteristics of the south that others mock are things we're actually proud of. Yes, we tend to be religious people. Yes, we value the outdated concept of the nuclear family. Yes, many of us take offense at the things we see in today's secular culture. Yes, we like NASCAR. And, yes, we still think that Mayberry is the ideal that any community should strive for.

And, by the way, we're a force to be reckoned with at the polls.

We're here. We're Redneck. Get used to it.

Permalink -- Posted by Darrell at 12:26