Symbols

Symbols can be powerful—evoking strong emotions to rise to the surface from some deep, out of view space. I have been subjected to three Confederate flags this last week—all were flying from long wooden poles alongside the US flag—attached to the beds of four wheel drive trucks, validating at least one stereotype perfectly. OK. This is Arizona. I am not in the South. The West should not feel any affiliation or loyalty to the Confederacy. What exactly are these fools embracing and expressing by showcasing this powerful symbol?

The first one I saw last week shocked me. The second had me rolling my eyes and feeling contempt and pity for the owner of the truck. But by the third exposure/assault on my intelligence, morality and humanity, I reacted viscerally. As the owner drove past me I showcased a symbol as well. Can you guess what? Short, sweet, powerful, effective:


AmqzxiNPtXtjtswaBzav1jrzveziuq8wiUQaEyyKRIgF5ZhxMTyzCRQfAINNV4fQXYQ=w300


Think the message was received loud and clear: "Ignorant racists f*** the hell off!"?

Comments

scumbag
oh jehne, your sociopolitical stances I do adore. why can't we be ever-so-closer geographically?

as someone who's been raised and braised in Arizona mostly, yet who spent his first seven years in The South, I can say that Arizona is far more backward than nearly anywhere in the former-con-federacy. it's routine for anyone who's not white to get arrested and put in the clink for the weekend just for putting out a cigarette on the ground prior to throwing it in the trash! this actually happened to my friend hugo. sadness. I've also heard police - neo-facist vehicle of the authoritarian agenda - brag about using excessive force against non-whites. it's amazing. but then this is the wild west. anything goes, jehne. we could walk around topless and bottomless praising the police and barack o'bama, but we can't do anything truly free, say anything in a truly free manner. this is the new manifestation of the South, in my humble opinion. civil rights are, if not an afterthought here in error zona, then just a by-gone nevershouldabeen liberal notion picked up from evil socialist frenchies.

yes, give them the finger, il fico, the two finger salute, do whatever you can. but I suppose we'll just have to wait for most of these people to shoot themselves or their kin in "hold my beer" firearms accidents. one can only hope for the supreme patience necessary. my friend dick - yes, I do have a friend named dick - all 79 years young of him said that's just what we have to do: wait. most of these hicks who espouse Old Southern Values aka Racist and Facist no-intellectism / beliefist godmongering are older folks. their children are either getting educated or they aren't, however their children are coming to see - more and more - that their parents' atavistic values don't hold up when shone upon by the lights of reason and science.

as for education, as you may know, error zona is perpetually at the bottom of the list nationally. is this any surprise? is it any surprise that uneducated hicks go on hankering for the Good Old Ghoulish Days in their conservative haze? it doesn't surprise me at all, especially when one takes into account the phenomenon of last place avoidance. backwards conservatives will blame anyone - brown people, muslims, gays, no matter how ridiculous the conclusions brought may be - so long as they're "free" to believe whatever unsupportable nonsense keeps them in power and low-quality toupees.

sorry for hijacking your bloggywog, dear jehne. that had to get out of me sometime. it just happened to be [[[here]]]

yours in an effective idleness,

s.
 
Violeta
Oh...my...god...

Good for you!!

I live in Columbia, South Carolina, and that tasteless flag finally came down. Last time (2000 ish) they moved it off the dome of the State House, they just childishly placed it on the front lawn, in an even more visible spot, as if to say, "see? we did take it down!" But now, finally, intelligent people have outnumbered the amoebas and it has been taken down once and for all.

I feel less embarrassed to live here now.
 
Violeta
scumbag;bt4791 said:
I grew up in Columbia, SC. man, it's a small world....
Click to expand...

I might know you, then! Haha. Did you ever shop at Papa Jazz Record Shoppe between 95-2000? That's when I worked there.
 
scumbag
nah, I was long-gone by then... moved to Tucson, aka faerieland, in 1988 and have been in t-town more or less since.

it just about goes without saying that I didn't have any friends while I lived in Columbia, and it really explains why i'm so obsessed with entertaining myself through language and the fine art of avoiding people.

here's hoping you're not too sweaty, Violeta.......

yours in faerieland,

s.
 
Violeta
scumbag;bt4793 said:
nah, I was long-gone by then... moved to Tucson, aka faerieland, in 1988 and have been in t-town more or less since.

it just about goes without saying that I didn't have any friends while I lived in Columbia, and it really explains why i'm so obsessed with entertaining myself through language and the fine art of avoiding people.

here's hoping you're not too sweaty, Violeta.......

yours in faerieland,

s.
Click to expand...

Aha! I was born in Indianapolis, but grew up in Columbia. It is a very small town. It's come a long way in the last ten years, though. More interesting shops and even a handful of places that specialize in vegan and raw foods. I went to Catholic schools my whole life, which was very Dead Poets Society, so I can understand the avoiding people thing. Having that kind of education, it makes one only feel comfortable around certain people.

It is way too hot here, yes. Haha. Cheers :)
 
scumbag
hiya v.,

ahhh, I hear you. I wasn't educated via catholic schools, but I did go to private snobby ones. The whole experience was very alarming and imprinted upon my pre-frontal cortex the very savvy impression that people are worth staying away from.

I love Dead Poets Society! I watched it just two weeks before Robin Williams offed himself. And then I felt very odd when news arrived that he'd died. At once tremendously sad and profoundly grateful for just the one artifact of my shitty youth, DPS. It really helped at the time, and, as a practicing poet, continues to inform somewhere in the hinterlands of my mind.

Did you ever get out of Columbia for college / uni? I can only deal with intelligent, educated - whether formal or otherwise - people. You could say I'm in the wrong country, the wrong state, the wrong county and the wrong apartment complex... And you'd be on the mark. I have a hard time coping with people who aren't those things and who aren't creative and who don't question what's going around them / in them. Perhaps you understand?

Yours in the transcontinental sweat lodge....

s.
 
realitybites
scumbag;bt4789 said:
oh jehne, your sociopolitical stances I do adore. why can't we be ever-so-closer geographically?

as someone who's been raised and braised in Arizona mostly, yet who spent his first seven years in The South, I can say that Arizona is far more backward than nearly anywhere in the former-con-federacy. it's routine for anyone who's not white to get arrested and put in the clink for the weekend just for putting out a cigarette on the ground prior to throwing it in the trash! this actually happened to my friend hugo. sadness. I've also heard police - neo-facist vehicle of the authoritarian agenda - brag about using excessive force against non-whites. it's amazing. but then this is the wild west. anything goes, jehne. we could walk around topless and bottomless praising the police and barack o'bama, but we can't do anything truly free, say anything in a truly free manner. this is the new manifestation of the South, in my humble opinion. civil rights are, if not an afterthought here in error zona, then just a by-gone nevershouldabeen liberal notion picked up from evil socialist frenchies.

yes, give them the finger, il fico, the two finger salute, do whatever you can. but I suppose we'll just have to wait for most of these people to shoot themselves or their kin in "hold my beer" firearms accidents. one can only hope for the supreme patience necessary. my friend dick - yes, I do have a friend named dick - all 79 years young of him said that's just what we have to do: wait. most of these hicks who espouse Old Southern Values aka Racist and Facist no-intellectism / beliefist godmongering are older folks. their children are either getting educated or they aren't, however their children are coming to see - more and more - that their parents' atavistic values don't hold up when shone upon by the lights of reason and science.

as for education, as you may know, error zona is perpetually at the bottom of the list nationally. is this any surprise? is it any surprise that uneducated hicks go on hankering for the Good Old Ghoulish Days in their conservative haze? it doesn't surprise me at all, especially when one takes into account the phenomenon of last place avoidance. backwards conservatives will blame anyone - brown people, muslims, gays, no matter how ridiculous the conclusions brought may be - so long as they're "free" to believe whatever unsupportable nonsense keeps them in power and low-quality toupees.

sorry for hijacking your bloggywog, dear jehne. that had to get out of me sometime. it just happened to be [[[here]]]

yours in an effective idleness,

s.
Click to expand...

I honestly had not experienced overt racism in AZ until just then. In Florida, it was an inescapable daily occurrence. This area may be a bit more enlightened. Though... I have had three different men let me know just what they thought of Hillary Clinton after noticing my 'in support of Hillary' bumper sticker on my car. I always use to say that the racist, sexist, homophobes will die off as well. But these guys—with the flags—were under thirty. It seems like homophobia is becoming more rare at a much faster pace than racism.

I'm sure racism is alive and kicking down there near the border. So sad. Can you believe the idiotic crap coming out of Trump's mouth? He was in Phoenix the other day. 4,000 dimwits crawled out from under their rocks to hear/see him. :rolleyes:
 
realitybites
scumbag;bt4791 said:
I grew up in Columbia, SC. man, it's a small world....
Click to expand...

Better late than never right? Of course that is exactly what has stimulated the flag flying backlash. Rednecks Rebelling. Sounds like a reality show. Maybe they can air it back to back with Duck Dynasty.
 
BrummieBoy
Well, this is a far more interesting blog topic/thread discussion than anything on the 'official' threads. We have a toxic issue with the UKIP 'Turnip Taleban' claiming the flag for their recidivist agenda but it doesn't have the whole slavery baggage that the Confederate flag ignites. We have Bristol, the epicentre of the slave trade, but you'd never know it as the history has been largely erased by gentrification.

best wishes
BB
 
realitybites
BrummieBoy;bt4803 said:
Well, this is a far more interesting blog topic/thread discussion than anything on the 'official' threads. We have a toxic issue with the UKIP 'Turnip Taleban' claiming the flag for their recidivist agenda but it doesn't have the whole slavery baggage that the Confederate flag ignites. We have Bristol, the epicentre of the slave trade, but you'd never know it as the history has been largely erased by gentrification.

best wishes
BB
Click to expand...

Thanks for stopping by. Always appreciate your insight and worldly knowledge.
 

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