Slightly off topic, but completely relative to the conversation:
Look how much, and more importantly, how intelligently, both Dixie and LaLou have added to this debate. They're obviously both very intelligent young guys, LaLou has served our country (for which I'm grateful), and yet Southerners are often pre-judged for being "dumber" than their Northern counterparts.
And, hey, I've made jokes about the Ozarks and the like in my day. But I'm not a politically correct guy and it was all in fun. But when you read what these two great posters have to say about their "neck of the woods," and what that flag means to Southern pride, you can only draw one objective conclusion:
As far as personal use goes, the flag stays. It means too much to these folks. That's not my usual "two cents." That's a period, with an exclamation point!
Thanks. I hate that stereotype more than anything but I'm also not stuck up enough that I will laugh along at it too if that makes sense. Like I told someone on facebook yesterday, my family hasn't owned slaves since my 5th Great Grandfather which was well before the war. I won't apologize for them because they were not the only ones to own slaves, and I won't apologize because it had nothing to do with me nor did I have a hand in it. As I've said before, I had two Grandfather's on the CSA side, the 37th and 47th Alabama, one died at Missionary Ridge in Chattanooga after being paroled in Vicksburg. Then I had a Grandfather on the 23rd Pennsylvania Volunteer Zouave regiment (Google Zouaves, cool stuff) who was injured and discharged after Malvern Hill. So of course I support both sides and can't say I would support one over the other. I would say if you ran into me or LaLou anywhere other than here you would say we were not two inbred rednecks from the South except for probably our slang and accent. But we'll both admit we have idiots living down here as well.
But like you said if I could sum up the flag in two words it would be Southern pride. It's not that we hate outsiders or anything like that, matter of fact you know my love for the Northeast. Rhode Island is one of my favorite states to visit. But like you mention with the Italians that stuck together, lived together, etc. when they made their treck to the U.S. we are the same way.
As for the Ozarks we can agree, some weird folk up there
