Depends whose saying it. :-)
But more than that, Ney said, he was stunned to see two large Confederate flags flying from trucks in the video staging area, emblazoned with the words "The South Shall Rise Again."
I'm stunned, too, that people still think it is cool to fly this flag. Our society should bury these flags -- not flaunt them.
Why?
Because the Confederate flag symbolizes racial tyranny to so many, including Ney.
"I was appalled that this racist symbol was receiving de facto sanction by the city of Wichita," Ney wrote to me in an e-mail.
Not so, said City Attorney Gary Rebensdorf.
By law, Rebensdorf said, the city could not consider the content of the speech produced by the people responsible for the music video.
"The city did not condone any acts or statements by Craig Morgan or those working with him," Rebensdorf said. "Neither did it censure those acts or comments. If the city had attempted such improper censorship, Morgan could have found several lawyers in the same building as Mr. Ney's office who would have gladly taken that case."
Said city spokesman Van Williams: "It's a First Amendment issue. City government can't keep insensitive idiots off the streets any more than The Eagle can keep them out of its Opinion Line."
Ney called that argument "nonsense."
"The message is not important to the city?" Ney asked. "Does the city contend that they would give equal treatment for a Nazi street fair or a Klan festival? Close down a busy city intersection for a day so Michael Moore could film an anti-Bush TV spot? I think not."
Dallas Henry, the video's director and producer, said he didn't realize the flags were there; area residents were invited to come down to fill the streets with vehicles. The flags definitely won't appear in the video, he added.
"No way. Absolutely not," Henry said from Los Angeles. "If I had seen them, I would have taken them down. I was watching the monitor, and it wasn't in any of the shots."
If the director didn't know the flags were there, certainly the city couldn't have known. The Eagle reporter covering the event didn't see them, either.
Still, the larger issue is the insistence of too many people to publicly fly this flag.
Last month, University of South Carolina football coach Steve Spurrier caused a stir when he said a televised game had been marred "by some clown... waving that dang, damn Confederate flag behind the TV set. And it was embarrassing to me and I know embarrassing to our state."
A few years ago, a Derby student drew the flag and got suspended. Later, the appearance of the flag at the downtown flag pavilion offended people.
Now this.
The interesting thing here is how Ney, the city and even the producer of the video seem to agree that, at minimum, the Confederate flag is divisive.
They understand the terror and hate that the flag represents for lots of people.
So why are people still flying it?
When the South rises again, what does that mean? Another Civil War? Rejection of American principles? A return to slavery?
This flag doesn't belong on city streets, in videos or in the middle of civil discussion.
It belongs in our past -- in museums and in history books -- along with the ideas it represents.
Looks like this fool Ney is trying to make a name for himself.
He should stick to chasing ambulances.
I’m pure yankee and the flag doesn’t bother me a bit.
Fools wo forget, or worse yet deny history, are doomed to repeat it.
Yeeeehhhaaawwwwwhh - The Sauth weeel rahs ahgeeen!
And what lose?
Wichita - how ironic...
To this Yankee, it means that Democrat redneck white trash want to go back to the good old days of segregation, lynching, and enslavement of black people.
I think we have much greater problems with the Politicly Left in this country than we have with the Rebel Flag.
I have great worries with the Illegal Mexicans flying the Mexican flag during Hateful protests than I do with the rebel Flag.
Get A Grip.
I’m not ashamed to be “white”.
Here is a video that was posted in another thread. It was originally on Youtube, but got pulled for some reason. This is the only site I can find it on now.
Be advised that there are links to adult oriented videos at this site.
http://www.yikers.com/video_the_civil_war_in_four_minutes.html
I’m not going to debate the civil war. But, watch the casualty numbers and also watch how aggressive the South was in trying to Conquer the North.
Oops, I think I meant the North attacking the South
Depends whose saying it. :-)
“Because the Confederate flag symbolizes racial tyranny to so many MORONS, including Ney.
There, that fixed it.
Slavery existed almost a hundred years under the Stars and Stripes, but I guess this ignorant writer doesn’t know that.
Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)
Or off its editorial pages...
I don't think this is what they're after at all. I think they want to erase 80 years of American History because they don't like it.
What it means is, “Eat musket lead”.
FUBU?