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>>>In any case, the Klan's extensive use of the flag turned it into a symbol of racisim and hatred as objectionable as the swastika. <<<

Has India, which is heavily populated by literal Arians who migrated from the Caucasus mountains over the centuries, put the swastika to rest? It remains a religious symbol that appears prevalently there to this day, does it not?

You just don't get it. Do you? The 'facts' of origin or the alternative appearances or uses of some symbol don't matter. They can have all the swastika's they want in India and jews worldwide (and anyone not insensitive to their concerns) will find it offensive and will recognize this and not display them.

Herein lies a problem with the Republican party and minorities. It's easy to portray conservatives as coldhearted and insenstive because of issues like this battle flag nonsense.

Liberals don't need to demonstrate that the ranks of conservatives are filled with vile, slobering, hate spewing bigots. They just need to point to things like the confederate flag issue and say "they are insensitive". Sure, guys like you might have a logical and historical case that the CBF symbol has been maligned unfairly and that blacks have an irrational aversion to it (like jews do to the swastika--after all it's just a religious symbol). But in making that case you reveal your underlying insensitivity to their issues and stumble headlong into the trap set by the liberals.

You need to make a choice--broad appeal of conservative ideas to minorities (and therefore survival of said ideals becuase demographics is NOT on your side otherwise), or headstong support for a symbol reviled by minorities and the label of racial insensitivity.

You might characterize this as abandoning principle for political expediency. I see it as giving a little to gain a lot.

Because someone else uses a symbol in a despicable way, I now have to avoid the symbol? Besides the KKK started as a secret society to fight the reconstructionist carpetbaggers. It perverted into an anti-black cult, which became mobster-like and used its terror to attack anyone, white or black, that stood in the way of its leaders will. I heard one story in eastern Oklahoma, where the KKK intimidated other whites to stop them from dating certain ladies, to contribute money etc. This behavior brought intense resistance to the KKK and their destruction as a political power.