Comments on: How Many Spaces?

By: T. Nelson Taylor

T. Nelson Taylor — Mon, 20 Jul 2015 18:15:40 +0000

Thanks for the comments and kind words. I always appreciate everyone's viewpoints, even if provocative or slightly edgy. The particular flag in discussion certainly has its share of unwanted advocates. The Sons of Confederate Veterans (SCV) reportedly consulted their legal team a couple decades ago in a bid to claim ownership/stewardship of all Confederate symbols, specifically to thwart misuse by the hate groups – something they admit has gone on too long. Before any suit was launched however, their attorneys' research indicated that the effort would be another lost cause, stating that use of those symbols are part of free speech and unobtainable for ownership by any one group. By this logic, pretty much any public domain symbol has the potential for misuse and subsequent "practical ownership". Shame, really. If you dig deep enough into some of the recent KKK reports, you might catch the CSV's denunciations. Too little, too late, I'm afraid.In any light, the flag debate should not detract from the reasons and remaining questions as to why Dylann Roof pulled the trigger. It should also be noted that the recent shooter in Chattanooga — as is becoming all too common in these cases — was also off/on a mix of medications, including anti-depressants. The evidence is building./T

By: Unknown

Unknown — Wed, 15 Jul 2015 19:23:10 +0000

Of course, I am enjoying the video recommendation as well. 😉

By: Unknown

Unknown — Wed, 15 Jul 2015 19:22:20 +0000

Well said, Mr. Taylor…regarding all of the above!!! (Including single spaces.)

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 15 Jul 2015 15:39:20 +0000

For what it's worth, I don't think that going after the flag is necessarily the wrong thing, even if it's not as important as directly addressing the problem of racism in this country. The thing we all ultimately tend to forget about flags is that their whole point is to serve as a rallying point (both for community and ideology). In this case, the flag clearly has been utilized as a rallying symbol for people spouting racial hatred. Though Roof probably would have still turned as the hateful person that he did due to a background that he shares with a tragically large amount of our national population, that flag almost certainly allowed for him to better find that there were (and are!) more people just like him.In turn, that just as certainly contributed to his belief that his cause was just and that others would follow his action. Though we are certainly expending more of our attention on the flag than we should in this whole scenario, it's still definitely an important thing to discuss rendering the flag as a cultural taboo until either it can be transformed into a better symbol or we make better inroads on fixing our problem with racism. Once it stops being used as a rallying point for bad people, then maybe it can be used as a fun symbol of rebellion (of course, at that point, there's still a perfectly good American flag to use in the meantime).

I won't deny that this whole experience has perhaps exposed a further community for which the flag serves as a rallying point: assholes. As insulting as this may be, let's face it, if significant portion of the national community says "Hey, that makes me uncomfortable (because of an extremely understandable historical context)" and your reaction is "Well I'm just going to rub it in your face even more," you might be an asshole. Chances also are that the people who join you in that rallying point will also be assholes. While maybe we do have a problem with people getting offended a little too easily, I think it's perhaps just as easy to forget that not everything is an example of the PC police crying fowl over spilt milk and that maybe there's a legitimate reason behind it.

Also, while I'd normally agree that exhuming a soldier's corpse is going to far, I don't think I'll be shedding any tears over that soldier being Nathan Forrest.