North Vs. South, Is the Civil War over?

Yep, I feel exactly the same. The southern states, owing much to their Celtic ancestors, simply want to be left alone and not told what to do and how to do it. The Confederate flags, to me, mean a fight to be left alone, and I have no objections to it as that.

The southern states, thought to be protected by a limited federal government, decided to cecede rather than be told by some lawers 1000 miles away what to do. Most of us had never seen nor owned a slave.

But when we southerners allowed the Clan and other Nazi-wannabes to hide themselves behind it's colors we lost our flags. They, across the globe, have become symbols of hate and intolerance. I applaud the recent voter approval of the new (old) Georgia state flag.

I think that flag to cool. I did not know they changed or actually after living in georgia in college what the flag even looked like till now.

Gee, it looks a lot like the CSA First National Flag.


Attached Image. (Click thumbnail to expand)

The problems is they want to be left alone and living in 1850.

I spent 2 years in Cartersville, GA. This is the town where parts of the movie "Deliverance" were filmed. These folks were really as strange as depicted in the movie.

Well I was born and raised in California, lived in Atlanta for 14 years. The whole time I lived in the south I was considered by many to be a "yankee." Now I didn't think the west had anything to do with this conflict. However all my mother's family were born and raised in the south and several of my ancestors were confederate soldiers who fought in the War Between the States. So does that make me a yankee or a confederate? It was a very sad and horrific time in our history, despite what you are or were.

I had my artwork exhibited in the Etowah art gallery in downtown Cartersville for almost 5 years and was very happy with both the way they represented me and how much they sold for me. Unfortunately the director resigned to move on into the business world, the arts group running the gallery never found anyone quite as cool to replace her, and the gallery closed last year.
For three years I exhibited annually at the Roselawn Festival too, and had the opportunity to meet many of the fine folks who live in the area.

I must say that in my experience, the movie Deliverance does not represent the people of Cartersville at all.

Cartersville, like many small towns has more than one culture. The "cultural group" drawn to an art gallery would not fit the 'strange' catagory, by any means. The strange folks seldom come to town at all......

I also encountered many kind, pleasant folks there. That doesn't change the presence of the "other" cultures that are there.

Yeah, but does it have more than 1 branch on the family tree?

Yeah, but does it have more than 1 branch on the family tree?

It is true that many of the local "interesting" familys are lacking branches on their family trees....I saw the same phenomenon in southern Utah.....towns where having extra fingers and toes was the norm......

That's just plain disturbing.

It's even MORE disturbing when you are visiting that small town and the locals are looking at you suspiciously.....You start concentrating on NOT breaking the speed limit while leaving town.....

Unfortunately, people do not want to take the time to really understand history and what really happened.

They consider it a racist flag when in fact the flag was based upon the St. Andrews Flag. Which is a cross. Isn't the story that St. Andrew saw the image of a cross in the clouds? There is a long story behind that which I can not remember right now.

It has been branded a racist flag by many people that, lets just say, would rather not have standard U.S. history classes in school and would rather focus on all of the bad things the U.S. has done rather than the good things. Ignorance works both ways.

I think the message that is trying to be expressed is that soliders from the U.S. fought each other, bravely and died. They fought for what they thought were true values.

More should have been done to honor confederate soldiers and as proof I offer Lincoln's example. During the celebration of victory at Washington D.C. he insisted that the band play Dixie in honor of the confederate soldiers. He certainly saw a vision that few of his time could see.

Also, it seems that a number of current day forts and troops are from states formly of the confederates. They carry a long military tradition that dates back centures.

Good point, Macfive. Unfortunately common usage gives otherwise innocent flags and symbols negative conotations. The Swastica is a good example of this. An ancient cross given bad press by it's use to represent evil people. It is the same for the various Confederate flags.

O'siyo,
*remembering the 'sign' enter at your own risk* when posting on this thread~
Is the 'war' over between the North & South? No, no and no As long as there are a victors/losers, differences of opinions/beliefs, politicians/religious leaders reminding us daily there was a war, and more than one person in both the North and South, the 'war' will continue~ The South have never applied the 'band-aid' called reality and the North refuse to refrain from reminding Southerners they 'lost' the war~
~~Sty-U

O'siyo,
After reading the posts here and seeing what everyone wrote about the Confederate Flag I was compelled to post this. A letter to the editor in my local paper ~ ~

Confederate Flag not Racist Symbol
There's a terrible misconception that the 'Confederate Flag' represents ignorance, bigotry, and racism. Wrong!
Confederate flags, (there were several variations) represent, in their historical context, the aspirations of a people--the Southern people--who felt themselves threatened by a powerful, invading army and were determined through courage and steadfastness to defend their homes, their families, their land, and their honor. Theirs was a defensive war for self-determination.
Once again the issue of Confederate flags has become a political football, kicked around by those either ignorant of history or a small, but vocal group simply using the issue to inflame passion and advance their own political fortunes.
Racist groups who misuse Confederate flags are regularly condemned by Southern heritage groups. They're not representative of what the Confederate flag means anymore than when they use the American flag or the Christian cross. The abuse of something doesn't nullify its true meaning.
In the context of southern heritage and culture, the Confederate flag is a beautiful symbol. But, unfortunately, the attack on Southern heritage grows. No other culture and heritage is so viciously attacked.

~~Sty-U