Why is the rebel flag so disputed?

Most people believe that the Confederate Flag (more correctly known as the Confederate Battle Flag) is a symbol of hatred and division. They have been taught that the Civil War was fought because of slavery, and they feel that everyone who fought for the Confederacy were slave owners and believed in slavery.

There are others who are using this misconception for their own political agenda, and to CAUSE the hatred and division that they are screaming about. By maintaining this hatred, and racial tension, they gain and keep hold of the public's attneion, and the fame and power that comes with it. It is very much like the Whitre Supremist groups that spot false "evidence" in order to maintain their power in the public eye. Without the hatred and TV cameras that they need to spread their falsehoods, they just become another worthless, faceless person in the crowd.

The simple fact of the matter is this: 98% of the people who fought in the gray uniforms had never seen a slave before. Slave owners were usually rich, and it has almost always been the middle income and the poor who have populated the world's military services. They couldn't have cared one way or another if another rich boy had a few slves or not... it didn't affect his life in the very least.

Finally, the Civil War was fought for a few reasons, the main one being the issue of State's Rights. The Confederate States believed that each state knew more what its citizenry needed and wanted than some faceless beauracrat in some city so far removed from them that they didn't know anything about them. The Confederate States believed in a weak centralized government and that the states had more rights than that centralized government. THAT is what the majority of the boys in gray were fighting for.

The Confederate Flag is very simply the flag they took into battle, and means nothing more than the UNion Jack, or the Maple Leaf, or the Rising Sun.

I am from the South, and I don't care much for the rebel flag.

Many people, myself included, believe the Confederacy was formed for an evil purpose....to protect the institution of slavery. That's not to say the Union had clean hands, or that every rebel soldier wanted to keep blacks enslaved. But slavery was just as much a part of Southern culture and Southern politics as anything else.

It's also been my experience that quite often the people flying the Stars and Bars really do harbor racist beliefs, either knowingly or unconsciously. I'm not saying ALL of them are racist....just enough of them to make me suspicious whenever I see a rebel flag in the back of a truck or on a tshirt.

Because people are ignorant, and simply don't understand it. They don't realize that the Confederate flag was NEVER supposed to symbolize slavery, but a state's right to choose their own laws. The "rebel" flag represents a proud bygone era of corsets, bonnets, and antebellum. Sipping brandy. Velvet curtains. Huge, rich plantations. Pride of the South.

The civil war was about more than slavery. Lincoln only abolished slavery as a way to punish the south for seceding. The north won, because of the machinery they created.

Only a small protion of the south owned slaves.

It's the flag of traitors to the United States...

The CSA only existed during a period where they were at war with the USA. Why should we support the traitorous enemies of Ameria?

I have German heritage, but I'm not going to attach a damn swastika to my car and then try to explain to Jews how it's heritage and not hate...

Because libs don't want anyone in America to have freedom

They support burning the American flag

But they don't support the confederate flag

Because people who don't know their history have decided that it is a racist symbol. Southerners think it is part of their heritage.

BECAUSE STUPID PEOPLE DONT KNOW WHAT IT REALLY STANDS FOR!!! BLACKS THINK ITS RACIST, BUT IT IS A SYMBOL OF THE SOUTHERN STATES. THE CIVIL WAR IS A PART OF OUR HISTORY.....NORTH AGAINST THE SOUTH.......THE FLAG REPRESENTED THE SOUTH, AND I'M PROUD OF IT!!!

It is called political correctness!

I dunno except it goes hand in hand with an old truck, hound dog, and a mobile home