Confederate Flag - Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community

FiftyBelow · 08-02-2009, 11:01 PM

Ever since I've been back in Calgary for the summer, I've been noticing a lot of US confederate flags being flown. Sometimes a huge one draped all over the back window of a truck. Anyone know what exactly the flag stands for and what it represents? I get the sense that racial connotations are involved since we're not exactly a southern US state... and flying it here doesn't seem to have any historical connection with the area.

rubecube · 08-02-2009, 11:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FiftyBelow

Ever since I've been back in Calgary for the summer, I've been noticing a lot of US confederate flags being flown. Sometimes a huge one draped all over the back window of a truck. Anyone know what exactly the flag stands for and what it represents? I get the sense that racial connotations are involved since we're not exactly a southern US state... and flying it here doesn't seem to have any historical connection with the area.

I infer racial connotations when I see it flown in the U.S., so I can understand why you'd feel that way.

Tyler · 08-02-2009, 11:06 PM

Dumb Canadian rednecks who have never known what it means to live in the south, pure and simple.

FiftyBelow · 08-02-2009, 11:10 PM

I guess I just find it strange to see so many. Maybe its because I've been in Vancouver so long... but I feel like I'm noticing a lot more signs of "white supremacy" around Calgary than ever before. I'm a visible minority and several times this year I've had a few rednecks direct racial slurs at me. I've always been proud to be born and raised in Calgary but lately I'm starting to lose that feeling.

Buzzard · 08-02-2009, 11:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Tyler

Dumb Canadian rednecks who have never know what it means to live in the south, pure and simple.

I'd have to agree. I'm sure the majority that display it wouldn't know the diff between the meaning of it, and the flag of Nigeria. They see it in their easy riders mag, and think "Hey, my pit bull Thor would look good in my 4x4 with that as a curtain in my back window! Kind of compliments the balls hanging from the hitch." Whatever.

rubecube · 08-02-2009, 11:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Buzzard

I'd have to agree. I'm sure the majority that display it wouldn't know the diff between the meaning of it, and the flag of Nigeria. They see it in their easy riders mag, and think "Hey, my pit bull Thor would look good in my 4x4 with that as a curtain in my back window! Kind of compliments the balls hanging from the hitch." Whatever.

Hey check out my new Affliction shirt!

starseed · 08-03-2009, 12:32 AM

I noticed one too. It just seems like an evil symbol to me. I wonder what is going through their heads when they fly that flag.

rubecube · 08-03-2009, 12:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by starseed

I noticed one too. It just seems like an evil symbol to me. I wonder what is going through their heads when they fly that flag.

Mostly air.

Calgaryborn · 08-03-2009, 12:40 AM

It's like skulls & crossbones or flames. They are just trying to project an image. I doubt it has anything to do with white supremacy for most of them.

schteve_d · 08-03-2009, 12:47 AM

The Duke boys were racist?!

CrusaderPi · 08-03-2009, 12:55 AM

The Confederate flag has never bothered me. I spent a lot of time reading and thinking about the civil war when I left university. I found that I identified with the South's struggle to preserve state rights and their bitterness over the growing economic disparity. I can see a little bit of Alberta in their cause.

That being said, I would never fly the Confederate battle flag in public, its current symbolic meaning is not something I could stand behind. Even if the Confederates did produce some damn pretty flags.

icarus · 08-03-2009, 05:21 AM

When I was a kid I always used to see the Confederate flag all over the place in Western Montana/Idaho Panhandle. Obviously those states didn't even exist during the time of the Civil War and if they did, they're pretty far away from the South. Now I just realise that those people who display it are just rednecks at best and white supremacists at worst.

Resolute 14 · 08-03-2009, 08:25 AM

Odd. I haven't seen one in nearly forever.

Though I expect the only people that would fly one are the ######s with giant F250s, truck balls on the back, and have never hauled anything heavier than a case of beer.

Azure · 08-03-2009, 10:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by starseed

I noticed one too. It just seems like an evil symbol to me. I wonder what is going through their heads when they fly that flag.

Evil?

Really?

Can I call the Union flag evil too?

Cause I would rather fly the Confederate flag and honor Lee than fly the Union flag and honor Lincoln.

Azure · 08-03-2009, 10:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Resolute 14

Odd. I haven't seen one in nearly forever.

Though I expect the only people that would fly one are the ######s with giant F250s, truck balls on the back, and have never hauled anything heavier than a case of beer.

Here in Alberta most of the people that fly them probably are.

But that is more of a case of who THEY are, and not what the flag represents.

People really do have a skewed viewpoint of the civil war.

TurnedTheCorner · 08-03-2009, 10:38 AM

I can't recall ever seeing one in Calgary. I guess I live right.

transplant99 · 08-03-2009, 10:53 AM

Yeah....somehow the real symbol that the Confederate flag meant/means got lost in anti-rascism.

Obviously there are some that use it as a way of displaying hate, but that number is quite small.

The South are a very proud people and that time in their history will never be forgotten as that was maybe the most cruel war ever fought. It literally divided families and pitted neighbors against one another.

You still see it a bunch down this way, and more than anything it is a source of pride for them....not for slavery or any such stuff but for their heritage and way of life in years past.

South Carolina was forced to quit flying it in 2000 IIRC because 3/4 of African-Americans wanted it down.

Originally it was nothing more than a battle flag...it was only decades later anyone looked at it any differently.

Table 5 · 08-03-2009, 11:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by transplant99

Yeah....somehow the real symbol that the Confederate flag meant/means got lost in anti-rascism.

Rightly or wrongly, symbols can change over the years, and often times it's hard to recover their original meeting. The Swastika used to have a totally different connotation as well, and good luck trying to use that one without unleashing a beast.

I would imagine the people in Alberta are not flying it for southern pride or any personal civil-war reason, because unless there are a lot of Southern transplants, that just doesn't make sense.

Resolute 14 · 08-03-2009, 11:05 AM

I'd say most Albertans would fly it for two reasons:

1. They tie it to being a redneck
2. They think they are being a rebel

Clarkey · 08-03-2009, 01:19 PM

There's a farm somewhere in Saskatchewan right off the Transcanada called Triple "K" Ranch (or something like that). It's got big bold white letters on the roof of the barn. I wonder if the name has a racist connotation or whether that was simply the brand that has been passed down from pre-KKK times.