The Rev. Al Sharpton is a darling of the national news media, primarily because he has a talent for making outrageous statements and the lack of scruples to go with it.
You should keep this in mind. In today’s media-saturated world, nobody can be a successful demagogue without the cooperation of the national news media. Sharpton has even outdone Jesse Jackson as a demagogue.
The latest example is the attention given to Sharpton’s demand that the vice president apologize for visiting a hunting camp where somebody had hung a Confederate battle flag on a door of one of the buildings. The vice president didn’t go into that building and says he did not see the flag. Sharpton’s logic apparently is that any person who finds himself in the vicinity of a Confederate battle flag has somehow insulted all African-Americans.
By that logic, then, Sharpton should apologize every time he visits the state of South Carolina, which still flies the Stars and Bars on the Capitol grounds — or Florida or almost any other state in the South where the flag is flown.
Flags are symbols, and I recognize that the meaning of a symbol is subjective. I also recognize that some — though far fewer than Sharpton would have you believe — African-Americans see the Confederate flag as a symbol of racism. Yahoos like the Ku Klux Klan used to wave it about — along with the American flag. If I were an African-American, I might not like it. If I were an American Indian, I might not like the Stars and Stripes. Some Jews don’t like the Christian cross. Some Christians don’t like the Star of David. Et cetera and so forth.
There is neither legal nor constitutional protection for one’s feelings. If something offends us, tough beans. In a sane and tolerant society, we would recognize that different symbols mean different things to different folks and not raise a stink about someone else’s symbol.
To most Southerners, the Confederate battle flag symbolizes the bravery and devotion to Southern independence shown by our ancestors, who, unlike most demagogues, put their bodies where their mouths were and died and bled for their cause. While slavery was one of the factors in the war, it was not the only one or the main one. Only 6 percent of white Southerners owned even one slave. The Confederate army was not an army of slave owners. In fact, the 1860 census shows about 3,500 free blacks who owned slaves in the South.
Slavery is not the issue. The Confederate battle flag has become a universal symbol of rebellion and independence. It showed up on the battlefields of World War II and on the Berlin Wall as it was being torn down. I frankly don’t give a darn whether Sharpton likes it or not. There is no law that says he has to like it. There is no law that says anyone who does like the flag has to apologize to anybody.
You should also note that this flap about the Confederate flag is a recent happening. Up through the 1950s, Americans of all colors showed respect for both flags. It was common at public concerts for bands to play both “Dixie” and “Battle Hymn of the Republic.” The flap over the flag originated with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. Like the old March of Dimes after the polio vaccine had solved the problem of polio, the NAACP had succeeded on every legal front and frankly no longer had a purpose.
The NAACP was hard up for a reason to stay in existence. It was having a hard time raising money. It had internal scandals. That’s when the NAACP decided to wage war on all things Confederate, and on the Confederate flag in particular. It is frankly stupid for any people to waste time arguing over a historic symbol. As for the veep, his hunting companions should thank God that it was only a flag he failed to see.
This article was originally published at www.LewRockwell.com on November 6, 2007.
Well said. Wouldn’t shock me if the VP does issue an apology though. I hope not, but not counting the chickens.
The problem is that (save for maybe a few) today’s politicians do not have the character or intestinal fortitude to stand up to this hypocrite.
They know that any defense for anything Confederate would not have left their mouths more than 15 seconds before they are broadcast worldwide. Then the sign carrying mobs would show up to his or her house and threaten their family, their very existence, their job, etc. CNN would gladly liken the person to the next Hitler. Multi hair-colored, mentally ill assassins would come out of the woodwork and like Pontius Pilate, the CNN’s of the world would wipe their hands of their involvement.
Good example is the constant “Charlottesville” lie the media continues to throw at Trump. They know exactly what he said, the context of the 30 seconds of audio needed to understand it fully is always excluded, and they refuse to present the truth. The fact that Trump said that there were good people on both sides (partly referring to those legitimately protesting the removal of General Lee’s statue and not to any perceived white supremacist group) cannot be allowed by the spin doctors. I have spoken to fellow reenactors who were actually there that day, and they said a lot of the alleged “supremacists” and the protesters came off of the same buses not as enemies, but more like accomplices. Witnessed with their own eyes. I can only go on what they told me, so I can’t confirm…but these guys are good men, not known liars nor do I think they would lie about it or have any reason to. When they saw this, they knew something really bad was up, and they left. Seems to me there is far more to that story.
But, back to Sharpton. The other option the politicians have is to nod their head in agreement and just blindly agree with him…because let’s face it…that’s a safe move politically these days…we have to understand that today’s “conservatives” are not going to fall on this particular sword. They have voted right along with the mobs to remove Confederate monuments such as the one in the Arlington cemetery, knowing it isn’t’ right, but they do it anyway. I watched in my own state the “republicans’ crying and whining about the flag that was suddenly responsible for a heinous crime in Charleston. A flag FLYING AT A MEMORIAL POSITION ON A SOLDIER’S MONUMENT was somehow guilty of it. It’s illogical pandering to misguided feelings that are being manipulated by people like Sharpton. Many republicans turned their backs on the nearly 30K dead South Carolinians who committed the unforgivable sin of defending the state from invasion by a tyrant’s horde…this betrayal orchestrated at the direction of the worst opportunistic Governor in history whose name I cannot say with initiating a gag reflex.
Side note…I wonder if the Biden Harris sticker on the truck of potential assassin number two is to blame? Why does it get a free pass? Maybe because its lunacy to blame an inanimate object?
This is the reality of it. Race baiters like Sharpton are evil, greedy, money-grubbing, lying extortionists and the groups he represents operate this way as a standard procedure. They roam the countryside, sniffing for opportunity like a buzzard soaring high above.
Right now….They have this country’s politicians’ unmentionables in a tight grasp, and they know it. The politicians are more afraid of his kind than they are of us or losing our votes. If it’s race related or Confederate related….the “conservatives” will cower and capitulate.
This is just one reason this country is plummeting so quickly to 3rd world levels on nearly every front.
FEAR and LIES! That’s what the Sharpton’s of the world rely on. Seeing his comfort with deception on a routine basis, to pretend that man is a reverend and servant of God has to be an affront to any reasonable person….and probably to God Himself but that’s His call.
The type of men who risked and lost everything to start this country in 1776 do not exist today, at least not in the numbers needed to turn the tide or stop the fall of the United States of America. They were filled with FAITH not FEAR.
Keep telling others the truths of history and calling out the masters of deception – plant the seeds and maybe the future generations will see the fruits of this labor. The Truth is a powerful weapon!
Deo Vindice.
Granted….this is a reprint from years ago, but still relevant…don’t know if Cheney apologized back then, but guessing if it was brought up to him today, he would retro apologize like a good little neocon.
Nevertheless, the tactics used by Sharpton have only accelerated and been embraced by the media. Nothing has changed with them, its only getting worse as we’ve seen since 2015.
Charley Reese was one of the greats. I still miss him.
I also miss Reese a lot. Read everything he wrote for LRC, and then some. There are few of his caliber, especially today.