Do You Ever Detect Any Hypocrisy In The Flag Amendment Debate?

(This post was originally done on July 25, 2005 in response to a post on the OTBL blog were a bunch of the OTBL bloggers were posing for a picture holding the Stars-n-Bars flag of the Confederate Army. It was taken at a going away party they were having for one of their members. The faces of the flag holders were browned out so viewers couldn't tell who they were. Shortly after this was posted, the OTBL'ers took down their flag picture post.
---JPN)

I happened to be surfing the blogospere earlier today and I stumbled across the picture below. At first the faces on the picture were browned out. Now they have little question marks on them. Now you might think I ran across this on some Alabama website or other site of southern original. But no, this picture is currently posted on the site of our blog comrades ONTHEBORDERLINE.COM. It looks like a nice day with 10 people standing around holding two flags: The Don't Tread On Me Flag and the Stars-n-Bars Confederate flag.



A little research of the OTBL files proved to me that the OTBL'ers have great respect for the stars and stripes of our US flag. To help illustrate their devotion, I include portions of two posts.

On 11/8/2004 Under the heading The Average Joe, Cub posted the 8 points of "average Joedom." Point five was:

Average Joe sees the flag as a symbol to be revered, not burned. He knows that he owes a debt of gratitude to those who fought and died for that flag, so that the leftists can burn it.

On Veterans Day, Admin followed with a post that included this poem about the meaning of our stars and stripes:

It is the soldier, not the reporter,Who has given us freedom of the press.
It is the soldier, not the poet,Who has given us freedom of speech.
It is the soldier, not the campus organizer,Who has given us the freedom to demonstrate.
It is the soldier, who salutes the flag,Who serves beneath the flag,
And whose coffin is draped by the flag,Who allows the protester to burn the flag.

Father Dennis Edward O'Brian, USMC
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Obviously, the US flag has a deep meaning to some ONTHEBORDERLINE. They understand the symbolism and ideals for which it stands. Being that they have this depth and reverence for our national flag, I don't think it would be a big jump for the OTBL'ers to understand that other flags may also represent symbols and ideals that are not so uplifting to certain groups of people.

If I remember correctly, it was an earlier version of our current flag that was carried into battle during the Civil War. The rebels were carrying their stars-n-bars. The number of Union soldiers killed totaled approximately 365,000. On the rebel side, approximately 135,000 were killed. That's a half million Americans killed by Americans on American soil.

I wonder what my great-great grandfather, a Civil War veteran from Wisconsin, would say if he came back and saw a group of Yankees drinking beer and having a good time playing with the Rebel flag? I wonder what all those Minnesota soldiers who died at Bull Run would say? Maybe those 10 people so proudly displaying the Confederate flag should take a walk through the cemtery in Stillwater and spend some time at Colonel Bloomer's grave. Read the words that ring his statue and contemplate their meaning. You will learn that if he were alive today, with only one leg, he would have a hard time tapping his foot to "Sweet Home Alabama."

How many thousands of Black men, women and children died or suffered unspeakable horrors and crimes while the Condererate flag flagrantly flapped in thier innocent faces of twisted agony? Too bad those 10 flag worshipers weren't there to cut their ropes, lossen their "neckties" and wet their parched throats with an ice-cold Budweiser.

Remember OTBL'ers, when you start pinning the flag-burning lapel pin on the "leftist, reporters, poets and campus organizers," they were the ones who worked to put an end to horror carried out by the Southern Capitalists who wore the sheets of the KKK and carried the torches of hate and predjudice.

If you've ever wondered why certain groups might feel the need to burn a US flag, study the pictures below:



Notice the picture with the guys on horses carrying the US flag. Much like the picture currently posted ONTHEBORDERLINE, you can't see their faces either.

On the bottom picture, notice the happy faces on all the white men? The bottom picture brings a different meaning to the phrases "Southern hospitality" and "Southern bar-b-que." Don't forget, the knights in the clean, white sheets would have been the ones pushing for the flag burning amendment. Ironically, they would be opposed to a human burning amendment. They would be the ones defending states rights and accussing the US Supreme Court of "legislating from the bench."

If you are so proud of those flags you are holding up, why are the faces covered up? Afterall, this is America and you have the right to freedom of expression. (Scroll down to an earlier post and read Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" speech.)

I suppose my repeated refrain of associating the ONTHEBORDERLINERs with the word "hypocrisy" is getting to be a cliche. Sort of like hearing Rush Limbaugh potificate about the "homeless" and the "femi-Nazis." Obviously, the symbolism and meanings that get wrapped around flags unfurl a deep and wide variety of opinions and feelings in America. Much wider and deeper than the soundtrack of 4 minutes and 44 seconds of "Sweet Home Alabama" dubbed over the laughter of ONTHEBORDERLINEers swilling cold Budwieser in the land of the free and the home of the brave.
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Follow up to the original post. The OTBL Confederate flag picture disappeared for awhile and came back with a darker version.
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Once again our friends ONTHEBORDERLINE have lowered their Confederate flag. In place of it, I put an editorial cartoon as a placeholder.