I'm confused now. Serene says symbols are dynamic. swastikas were good now they're bad.
You say that symbols are not dynamic. Confederate flag means slavery end of story.
You could maybe resolve this with symbols can be tarnished by great evils like the holocaust or slave trade.
But then the pink triangle, which was a sign of persecution and is now a sign of pride, blows that to hell.
I'm just saying that this one symbol means different things to different people and that most any time it comes up each viewpoint basically just insults the other by refusing to admit that there could be more than one way to look at things. I'm not sure that does any good.
Personally, I think if you assume everyone who has a confederate flag is a racist, you are stereotyping.
I also think that everyone has the right to be offended but that doesn't mean they have the right to be free from free expression.
I believe that if enough people tell you they're offended by your expression, you're being inconsiderate even if your original intent was not to offend.
Finally, I believe that more free speech is always good even when it is offensive because the freedom to do what is acceptable rarely gets impinged upon.
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branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2007-03-21 08:40 pm (UTC)You say that symbols are not dynamic. Confederate flag means slavery end of story.
You could maybe resolve this with symbols can be tarnished by great evils like the holocaust or slave trade.
But then the pink triangle, which was a sign of persecution and is now a sign of pride, blows that to hell.
I'm just saying that this one symbol means different things to different people and that most any time it comes up each viewpoint basically just insults the other by refusing to admit that there could be more than one way to look at things. I'm not sure that does any good.
Personally, I think if you assume everyone who has a confederate flag is a racist, you are stereotyping.
I also think that everyone has the right to be offended but that doesn't mean they have the right to be free from free expression.
I believe that if enough people tell you they're offended by your expression, you're being inconsiderate even if your original intent was not to offend.
Finally, I believe that more free speech is always good even when it is offensive because the freedom to do what is acceptable rarely gets impinged upon.