A popular liberty-related meme goes something like this: "My words offend you? How weak must you be to be offended my mere words?" The same thing could be said about the debate - or rather, deafs' dialogue - around the Confederate flag.

For those who do not know: A young White supremacist killed 8 black people in a church and he was wielding the Confederate flag, representing the Confederacy (the "Southern States") during the US Civil War. Because of that there has been a hysteric debate about eliminating all traces of that flag.

People "offended" by that flag are pretty weak - there is no other word. A flag is merely a piece of cloth to which too much importance is given. Burning it, notwithstanding what conservatives might think - IS free speech.

And besides, if we are to take down symbols of oppression, then EVERY SINGLE flag on Earth needs to be taken down. Until the 1960s, the Stars and Stripes embodied slavery, apartheid and general repression of Blacks and other minorities - the Ku Klux Klan wielded it with pride during its march on Washington in the 1920s. It also floated over the prison camps of people of Japanese descent during World War II. And we can not even start talking about European flags, with their colonial disasters, genocides and massacres.

Furthermore, if the Confederate flag is to be taken down, what about communist flags (USSR, China)? THEY have caused even more deaths than the Nazis have with their population "cleansings" and oppression of their own people.

And what about noted racists like Larry (?) Bird, Woodrow Wilson and Franklin Delano Roosevelt? They have all militated for segregation/supported it.

And what about noted murderers like Mao, Che Guevarra, Stalin...

And what about... You get the point.

In short, either we take away EVERY SINGLE symbols of racism and go 1984, or we learn to accept them as symbols of past mistakes never to be repeated.

So, take down that flag or leave it as it is?

Before I get into it, first I want to say something about the burning of the US flag and conservatives. As a conservative, I do not think it should be illegal to burn the US flag. As you said, it is your right to free speech and expression. I do, however, think it expresses an extreme lack of respect for your country and that if you hate the US that much you should probably move to a different one.

Now, about the Confederate flag. It should not be banned because not only do you have the right to your own opinions and the right to express those opinions, the Confederate flag doesn't even represent anything bad. People think it has to do with racism and slavery but that has nothing to do with it. The Confederates wanted a weaker central government and that is what the flag represents.

I read a story recently about a bakery that refused to make a cake that looks like a Confederate flag, but made an ISIS flag cake without a problem. THAT pisses me off.

There is nothing wrong with the Confederate flag, and even if there is, you have the right to free speech.

This is like the whole Charlie Hebdo discussion again. It's either free speech FOR EVERYONE (even extremists and people who have a controversial opinion) or for no one, it's that simple.

Yes people may be offended by some things but basically everything out there will offend someone in some way, which in that case means you should basically allow nothing to not offend anyone... Yeah that doesn't even make sense, see what I mean.

And the government should be impartial when possible not trying to push back one opinion by censoring it, or only allowing the commonly accepted opinion to be heard, that's like silencing someone because you have no argument, and wont convince anybody it is in fact wrong, on the contrary it will just make people wonder and perhaps make extremists more vocal, instead you need to outright explain why something is wrong.

This is the definition of a double-standard, I see plenty of symbols every day that literally make my stomach turn. A lot of them on bumper stickers... Anyways, don't be so hard on Larry Bird man. I don't think he's racist. He was just being honest and actually paying a compliment it seemed. I have zero love for him or Boston either.

Well, in the end, the confederate flag did indeed get taken down in South Carolina. Do I agree with this decision? I'm honestly not sure what to think. If the confederate flag is offensive enough to be banned, then every offensive flag should be banned, which includes ISIS, communist, and Nazi flags. I've thought about this for awhile and I still don't know how I feel about this issue. Part of me says it was right to take it down, but the other part of me says that if that flag gets taken down, all offensive flags should be banned.

Teehee, I created another monster!!

tgags123 : Be careful with this "either you are with us or you are against us" mentality. Loving a country does not mean you have to like everything it stands for. Because quite frankly, the US stands less and less for the rule of law and more and more for arbitration and tyranny. I would have no problem burning a flag to protest against this descent down the Road to Serfdom.

Zlinqx : Yes, it IS that simple. As Cartman puts it: Once you censor one, you are going to censor everyone else.

Ferdinand : I do not think he was racist... at the end of his life. But he was a noted member of the Ku Klux Klan, which is not exactly a brotherhood of mankind. Imagine if he had been a Republican... I feel the same for bumper stickers and flags - I find the USSR flag MUCH more offensive than the Confederate battle flag.

gamerforlifeforever2 : I'm not sure how to fell either. It was not done under the threat of coercion (we will blow up the Capitol if you do not do it), after all. And you are right about the slippery slope. So as long as no law is enacted to ban stuff, we should be OK.