NotUrsula
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Apr 19, 2002
They can claim whatever they want. It doesn't change the fact it symbolizes being a traitor to the United States.
The thing is, though, if you take that idea out to its' logical conclusion, an American flag symbolizes being a traitor to England. There are other examples all over Europe where boundaries have changed over the past thousand years.
The Confederacy seceded, after having formally declared an intention to do so. It was not clandestine. They did it openly and with formal deliberation and official votes, and declared themselves a separate nation. The whole process, for all its poisoned reasoning, was eerily reminiscent of the political maneuverings that led to the American Revolution, yet I cannot recall any occasion in the past 100 years or so when Britons took serious offense at the display of a US flag in UK territory. Thus, the whole "treason" argument is rather a red herring, when there are so many other associations that are much more repellent.
The problem with the Stars & Bars, as with many symbols that have come down to us through history (and yes, including the swastika) is that long after the original reason for its display, a group with an agenda to push has co-opted it with a new meaning (and maybe with subtle changes, like reversing the way it faces), and that meaning gets much wider press than the original, which leads onlookers to assume that the meaning they have heard of is the only meaning that it has. Unfortunately, you cannot un-birth that new symbolic baby. Wise people understand that regardless of what it might mean to you (hypothetical you, of course) personally, display of such a symbol WILL associate you with the more commonly-known meaning, and if you do not want that to happen, you have to refrain from displaying the symbol.
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