I will agree it does belong in a museum explaining how it has been associated with the pro-racism movement and how long it has taken the pitiful racists of the south carolina to step away from their history of ignorance. WTF? Sorry, you don't put political spin/bias in museums. Museums are educational or perhaps a mixture of entertainment and education. That would be a classless dick move of an epic nature. You do know they have a slavery museum in Charleston, right? Chock full of facts and history - so people can make up their own minds and form their own opinions.
How is it educational if it ignores a prominent aspect of history, just to make people feel good? I've been to two concentration camps, one in Czech Republic, one in Germany. The presentations were... different. In Germany, thhe camp had been cleaned up, rebuilt, and fashioned in to some kind of zen garden. There were significant display elements that talked about how comfortable it was for the guests, how clean the dorms were (to prevent disease), etc. I don't know, I suppose that could be accurate, but there was virtually no mention of the ovens (and this was a camp that had them). The Czechs put a lot of effort in to displaying the execution wall (still packed with bullet holes), the "infirmary" where diseased patients were given experimental "treatments", etc. Now it is very possible that the Germans told the truth. But by only telling part of the story, they crafted a tale that might best be termed a white wash. Museums need to show the ugly with the good, and there is a lot of ugly with that flag.
Holy fuck something good came out of MTV? Color me surprised. Anyway as per the guys statement. I have a grandmother who lived through the war in Nazi Germany. So she should raise the Nazi flag to tell everyone that germans are industrious and strong. She is proud of growing up and living in germany, but is not proud of the Nazis. Still, it was the flag where she was and there were many hard working good people there so she should proudly shot it, right? Fucking wrong. You cannot wash that clean. Germans from her area found a new flag to support because they do not agree with the ideology the Nazi Flag represents. The same thing goes for the Southern Swastika. It represents people who were fighting for the right to own slaves. It represents people who fought to have racist laws put in place after slaves were regarded as people. That is what it means to society, and just because you want it to mean something else does not make it so. When you fly it you send a message of discrimination and racism. That is how it is seen by others. You can play pretend that you are not trying to do that, but really you are just trying to put something up that says to black people you are still there even though you lost. That is a racist message for sure.
Have you taken to pulling my words out and arguing against them without the general quoting system because you are afraid of me responding? Why did you not associate that quote to me? You did make effort to bold it so people know it was not you saying it. Wow, that was fucking pathetic. Please do keep my name in there in the future. Now onto your point. I actually get a little kick out of your hiding like this. You must recognize I kick the shit out of a lot of your arguments to go through this sort of effort. Yes, that is correct a museum would show it in all of it's tainted glory with a statement about how it was used and for what purposes. Sometimes those statements make people feel bad. However it should not be whitewashed because that is dishonest. I am perfectly fine with it being associated with the modern racist. You may not like that it is, but that stain should forever be remembered. If that makes you feel bad about your life, attitude, or doings it should tell you that you fucked up and did the wrong thing. You were wrong, and that happens.
It's not ignoring any history - there's a way to get a point across and still ber tactful and professional. But you don't have to whiteash it either. People are intelligent enough to form their own opinions. Like the slavery museum. Do they really need to hang up a sign saying SLAVERY IS BAD? I went to Dachau in Germany in 2002 and they showed a "warts and all" display showing the shitty conditions, the brick wall where they executed people, etc.etc. But that would make sense since Germany is full speed ahead with showing that Nazis were bad and they have turned themselves around. Now if you want to make your own private museum and call it "THINGS THAT ARE EVIL AND HERE'S WHY THEY ARE EVIL" then I guess you could display and say what you want.
That's very interesting. I've only been to one camp at greater length, Dachau. My impression was different, but I guess it also plays a role how much of the history is considered present in cultural memory anyway, and how much is considered news. Which one did you go to? (I'm pretty sure though they wouldn't use the term "guests". That's... horrid.)
I do not recall the name of it, as it was not one of the more famous locations. I left feeling very angry, not just at the NAZIs but at the curators, too.
Dachau does (or did when I was there) a very good job of explaining exactly how the entire concentration/death camp system was, in a very detailed and accurate way. Great place to take your kids who are old enough to be interested in history. Mine were 10 and 12 or so at the time. We never got the time to go to Aushwitz - Iraq sidelined that. The halocaust museum in DC is very interesting too.
There were countless smaller camps through Europe in addition to the more famous larger ones. It's amazing really how they could have all ramped up so quickly in a relatively short time, but sadly they did. Yeah, Germans are VERY touchy about the NAZI subject. When I was stationed there we had an Army Major get in HUGE trouble because he jokingly called a German gate guard a "Soup Nazi" totally in jest, but I guess the guard was not a Seinfeld fan. Also some German guy taught his dog how to give the "Heil Hitler!" salute on demand - it did not end well for him.
Reverend Clementa Pinckney, the pastor of Emanuel A.M.E Church, was also a South Carolina State Senator, serving since 2000. His body will lie in state, at the capital, on Wednesday. He would certainly be well known to many members of the legislature. This personal relationship could have an affect on the events at the capital this week. The South Carolina legislature is currently convened in a special session to work on the budget. The State Assembly has scheduled a vote this morning to expand the session to include the matter of the flag. This will require a two thirds vote from each house of the legislature. Hopefully, Republicans and Democrats in South Carolina will unite, and take care of this matter. The tide turned on this yesterday, when Mitt Romney, a big supporter of Governor Haley, went on twitter and urged her to take down the flag. Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/24/us/south-carolina-nikki-haley-confederate-flag.html?_r=0
We do business with about 15 plants specifically for WalMart, I've personally been to 9 of them and have seen the audit reports for all 15. I also know that my competitors have 3rd party social accountability audits in place for the factories they deal with. On every tender they send out it's written quite clearly that they will not accept product from factories that don't have these audits. I have no idea how many suppliers WalMart has overall, but I'm sure the number is staggering. This isn't to defend WalMart - the money they squeeze out of suppliers like me has definitely left a bad taste in my mouth, but like a battered housewife I keep going back because there is money to be made - but it is what their requirements are.
So if I understand correctly, you're not talking about producers abroad, but about their suppliers in at least Western countries?
No I'm talking about factories primarily in Thailand and China and 2 in Europe. I function as the importer between a manufacturer abroad and WalMart - after I ship product here from say China, I warehouse and distribute the items to WalMart distribution centers.
So who put Confederate flag items in Walmart? Don't they have a board of directors? Are they all racists, or was it left up to Hillary?
So if it isn't through working conditions, how does Walmart manage to get its suppliers to supply so cheaply?
The state shouldn't fly the flag or issue official items like license plates with the image of the flag, it implies they condone racism... And politicians finally are starting to see that...
Well wages in China and Thailand are still cheap despite the audits, relatively speaking. Labor costs over there are rising though, so the Chinese are now starting to buy land and build factories in North Africa where the labor is even cheaper so look for that to become more the norm over the next decade. There's other ways as well - they negotiate with ocean lines to pay a fraction of the cost of ocean freight due to their immense volume, which is a huge advantage. Their supply chain is incredibly effective, innovative and well managed. Being anti-union definitely helps. Their margins aren't terribly big either but that's fine with them thanks to their incredible velocity and rapid turnover. Also making up for the low margins are suppliers like me that are forced to pay ridiculous listing fees and insane penalties if a shipment is short or your delivery is a minute late. There's demo fees, promo fees, the amount they deduct off a check - often without warning - is ridiculous and takes forever to fight to get the money back and there's no guarantee you will. WalMart has even been known to demand to see their supplier's financials and make them take a cut on their margin if they want to hold on to the business. The bidding process is pretty nasty too, essentially they beat the shit out of the suppliers telling us we need to be at a price that's often unrealistic and impossible to achieve. There's been times where we will match the price even though it's at a loss to us, just to make sure no one else gets the business. I know my competitors do the same, and I know manufacturers will also take off their pants at the chance to do business with WalMart. You've got to be careful though - companies that once did huge business with WalMart are now bankrupt. They're a machine. While I have a love/hate....well mostly hate....relationship with them I have to respect what they've been able to accomplish in just 50 years. For all their dirty pool, and there's a lot of it, they've been responsible for some incredible innovation in the retail sector.
Yesterday I was driving a friend home, and we saw a guy on his street with a Confederate flag flying in his front yard (Mind you I live in southwest Ohio). He was a shirtless guy, (And Shoeless) with swastika tattoo's on him. But he was flying the flag on HIS OWN private property, and as an American I believe he has the right to do so. As I have the right to assume his mother and father are brother and sister as well. And to assume he has served prison time and is educated to the 3rd grade. My friend commenting, "What a piece of shit" was also within his rights as well.. As for Government buildings and facilities, (Except for museums) it NEEDS to go, It was NEVER adopted by the Confederate Government. It has no business being used. Nuff said.
Here's the deal with license plates: if you don't allow one type of special license plate (which you have to pay extra for in most cases BTW) then you shouldn't allow any special/vanity license plates - because anything can be interpreted differently. Then you run into free speech and favoritism issues and conflicts. BTW anything special related to the actual US military plates are the cost of typical plates, but only one set. In other words I have "Retired Army" plates. I could also switch to "Disabled Vet" plates but I would have to pay extra for those. But unless you are missing limbs and shit that's not cool. Since the sandbox, the "disabled" bar is pretty high. But yeah confederate plates would cost extra I would think. I have never seen a vehicle with them so maybe they aren't popular or allowed in Georgia.
Speaking of swastika tattoos - this is sort of pathetic yet funny: my step-brother has a big bullet scar on his head, near his temple. That tends to make potential employers a bit uncomfortable. So he got a tattoo that covers it up. The tattoo is a big Aryan Brotherhood symbol tattoo (might be featuring a swastika in the tattoo, the mug shot isn't a good one). Yeah, that's much, much better! BTW I have had no contact with the man since we were teens, but he wasn't into anything like that at the time - he was pretty mellow and soft spoken, so who knows what he's like now after most of his adult life behind bars.
Here's the work-around if you are determined to have CBF plates - put your personal unofficial CBF plate on the front of your car along with the normal state plate on the back. Or go the bumper-sticker route. Everybody wins! You the driver can invoke your freedom-of-expression, but the government isn't promoting racism/hate. This is why I love the US!
I wonder what will be peoples reaction when some racist nut blows away half a dozen African Americans ranting that "They took away our flag!!"
That he's crazy and needs to get over it? That's what blacks have been hearing about slavery any time it's pointed out why blacks are overall more screwed than other minorities, right? What's good for the goose is good for the gander.
