So how do you respond when you see the Confederate flag? Did you recoil in horror? Did you shit your pants? Did you have no reaction at all? Did you spend the last few minutes crying and shouting “RACIST!” at your monitor while those around you stared on in bewildered discomfort?
Well, some local folk apparently do the latter in Maryville.
In a story semi-related to the outcry against the University of Mississippi for their use of the rebel flag and Colonel Reb, the Maryville Board of Education has voted to ban all flags – rebel, seasonal or otherwise – from Maryville High School football games.
MARYVILLE – The leader of a group of Maryville High School supporters dedicated to preventing the removal of Confederate battle flags from school-sponsored events says his coalition is prepared to go to court to see the tradition maintained.
Gary Young’s statement followed a Maryville Board of Education meeting Tuesday night at which the board approved a safety policy that bans flags – Confederate and otherwise, unless OK’d by school administrators – from Rebel football games and all other school-sponsored activities.
The school board wrapped the flag ban in some blather about “safety,” but the motivation is obvious – political correctness, pure and simple.
Those supporting the policy, including MHS Principal Ken Jarnigan, said the flags represent a safety hazard at football games particularly, and they tread on the sensibilities of minorities, who see the flag as a symbol of slavery and oppression.
If Ken had really wanted to sell the “safety” angle, he probably should have left off the part about “treading on the sensibilities of minorities,” which exposed (unshockingly) the true motivation behind the ban. While we’re on the subject, the American flag treads on the sensibilities of many leftists, muslims, Hollywood actors, rock stars and Jane Fonda – shouldn’t we have it removed from these games as well? The change in language used to implement the new policy is interesting as well…
The change eliminated a part of the second section of the policy that banned action “associated with oppression, hate or anything else that may cause other students, parents, visitors, constituents, school district employees, spectators or any other individuals to
feel uncomfortable based on race, color, creed, gender, ethnic origin, sexual orientation, religious belief/non-belief.”
It was replaced with a ban on “fighting words” that might “cause substantial disruption.”
This seems more in line with how we toothless Southern hicks talk anyway. Here is a sample of our daily interaction with one another:
Southerner #1: What ya’ll know?
Southerner #2: Not much, ya’ll. How’s yer still?
Southerner #1: Perty good. My last batch got me enough to afford this straw hat. Like it?
Southerner #2: Well, I thought yer last batch tasted like horse piss. Different strokes an’ all I guess.
Southerner #1: Them’s fightin’ words! Prepare to be vanquished, varmint!
At that point, both parties usually go back to their truck to get their shotguns off their gun racks and commence to shootin’. But I digress.
Back to the topic at hand… the old policy was meant to make sure nobody feels uncomfortable. If society continues down the politically correct path of making sure nobody ever feels uncomfortable, I guess we’ll finally achieve the Socialist Utopia where no one ever feels uncomfortable and everyone is equally miserable in every possible way. Shit, I felt uncomfortable the first 18 years of my life, and I came through alright (well, mostly).
So what’s my take on the “controversy”? I say let ‘em fly the flag. Leave Colonel Reb alone down at Ole Miss, while you’re at it. It’s a symbol of the old South – and I’ll be the first to admit, the history of the South isn’t pretty – but racism and slavery are only a piece of the South’s historic puzzle. I know those are the only parts of our history that the rest of the country cares about, because it makes us an easier target for their ridicule, but there’s a whole lot more to Southern history than that.
Sure, there are klanesque white-supremecist factions who have hijacked the flag as their symbol, but rational people can surely separate the flag from its more unsavory presenters. And while we’re on the subject of flags, they are just symbols, which is why I don’t support a constitutional amendment against burning the American flag.
If some jackass takes it upon his or herself to desecrate the American flag, they are exercising their right to free speech. They’re idiotic and vile, but they still have the right to do so. I also support judicial leniency against anyone who kicks their ass as a result, btw.
Okay, in looking back at this post, it’s absolutely lost any kind of focus, so I’m quitting. Long story short, quit yer bitchin’.
Except don’t visit Sadie because we’re broken up.
