WeHuntKings wrote:I was having an intelligent conversation about the confederate flag last night with a coworker and how it's really no different than any other symbol of hatred or racism. Perfectly intelligent and civil conversation. And then the manager on duty who was counting the money loudly asks us to both shut the fuck up. He is a native south carolinian. I was very close to losing my job last night...I wanted to scream and yell at him for being so ignorant.
The Confederate flag thing is really complicated. I think that for a lot of people racism doesn't consciously measure into the equation, even though it's impossible to separate the two, really.
WeHuntKings wrote:I was having an intelligent conversation about the confederate flag last night with a coworker and how it's really no different than any other symbol of hatred or racism. Perfectly intelligent and civil conversation. And then the manager on duty who was counting the money loudly asks us to both shut the fuck up. He is a native south carolinian. I was very close to losing my job last night...I wanted to scream and yell at him for being so ignorant.
The Confederate flag thing is really complicated. I think that for a lot of people racism doesn't consciously measure into the equation, even though it's impossible to separate the two, really.
Yeah, but for more people it's a racist symbol. The only people who defend it are white people. Shouldn't that say something? It doesn't really matter if a bunch of southerners don't get it, the rest of the world sees it as such. Defending it is just idiotic.
It'd be like a German wearing the swastika for the heritage/claiming it wasn't the nazi one. Or someone getting the odal rune tattooed on their arm. Just because YOU don't think its a big deal/racist doesn't make it okay. I just think people need to learn a little more respect instead of immediately jumping to defend a symbol of a historically oppressive group.
WeHuntKings wrote:It'd be like a German wearing the swastika for the heritage/claiming it wasn't the nazi one. Or someone getting the odal rune tattooed on their arm. Just because YOU don't think its a big deal/racist doesn't make it okay. I just think people need to learn a little more respect instead of immediately jumping to defend a symbol of a historically oppressive group.
The thing with the swastika is that for thousands of years it was a symbol of peace, and then the Nazis used it for their shitty purposes. The Confederate flag was made for a nation that seccedded from the United States over many issues, and one of the big (main) issues was slavery. The Confederate flag's entire history is rebellion and oppression.
WeHuntKings wrote:It'd be like a German wearing the swastika for the heritage/claiming it wasn't the nazi one. Or someone getting the odal rune tattooed on their arm. Just because YOU don't think its a big deal/racist doesn't make it okay. I just think people need to learn a little more respect instead of immediately jumping to defend a symbol of a historically oppressive group.
The thing with the swastika is that for thousands of years it was a symbol of peace, and then the Nazis used it for their shitty purposes. The Confederate flag was made for a nation that seccedded from the United States over many issues, and one of the big (main) issues was slavery. The Confederate flag's entire history is rebellion and oppression.
Yeah, that's true. Same with the odal rune. But now skinheads wear it. The bad kind. And I know it's a bit of a stretch to make the nazi to confederate jump, but you see what I mean?
Why any state would still want to fly the flag is beyond me. It is absolutely a symbol of oppression
. Also, D.o.S, I wasn't yelling at your or anyone here! I hope that didn't come off that way. I was yelling at the person who made me feel mad enough to post here lol.
I feel you WHK. The racist and homophobic bullshit that you have to put up with living in the south is almost too much to bear. As a south carolinian and native Charlestonian I've been witness to it most of my life. Its really hard to wrap your head around just how full of shit most of these people are. They will sit there day in and day out and feed you all this horseshit about the civil war not being fought over slavery and that the confederate flag not being a racist symbol. Then ten minutes later, and this is the most insidious phrase ever, they'll say some shit like "I'm not racist, i don't mind black people i just hate them fuckin niggrz"
By the numbers...south carolina was once by far the richest colony. Pre civil war at its height the average charlestonian landowner had more money than the average new yorker today. Its not uncalled for to find little shithole country chapels who's architect was robert mills. He was our official state fucking architect. We were loaded as fuck. After the civil war? The crumbling shithole you know us to be today. So i don't want to hear from anybody that slavery didn't have anything to do with the civil war.
As for the display of the confederate flag? Man thats honestly a real tough one. Its hard to really convey to people that aren't from the south what it means to these people. And its not just exclusively a white thing. Ive seen black people flying it too. I think for the people down here its honestly not about being prejudiced against african americans. I mean sure there are a lot of racists, but as a whole, its about this dumbass sense of pride they take in being southern.
Its all pervasive man...I encounter it wherever i go. People ask me daily "SO WHAR U FRUM???" the emphasis here is that i don't speak like a southerner, and because everyone here automatically has to be illiterate, i couldnt possibly have been born and lived most of my life here. You hear it when encountering anyone who is from anywhere not traditionally considered the south in the sense that the term "yankee" is thrown around with reckless abandon.
Is it really direct prejudice? Im not entirely sure man. My theory on the entire thing is this:
The south, SC, WV, AL, and MISS most specifically, is a hot, poor, festering, stagnant, shitty place to live. It fucking sucks. Endless miles and miles of trailer parks, wal marts, kentucky fried chicken, fucking vape shops, and a church on literally every corner. Everyone is pregnant all the time. Everyone is fucking stupid. If you don't like football, big trucks, duck dynasty and bow hunting, you are a FUCKING ALIEN. Its every shitty stereotype about america rolled into one. And everyone knows it. Even the rednecks. This place is hell. The problem is, where the fuck are they going to go? Its not like they actually want to stay here, but they are too stupid, scared, or poor to get the fuck out. So they stay. Everyone is married and pregnant the second they leave high school....if they make it that far.
I think for them the confederate flag represents the only thing they can take pride in. This place is a shithole but its THEIR shithole and they do things the way they've been doing it since the civil war ended. Fuck the rest of the world cause they can read and why the fuck would they want to come here anyway.
To challenge the confederate flag is to ask them to apologize and acknowledge how shitty and pointless their lives are. And this is not a uniquely southern problem. I think its a large part of why race still divides us. We don't exactly have a national identity. We don't have a cultural heritage. Were a bunch of warmongering greedy fuckheads living on stolen land and doing pretty much everything we can to fuck it up and take everyone else with us.
Do i think we need to take down the confederate flag? That depends. Can we seprate church and state? Moreso, can we separate state and corporate interests? Can we all get real for ten fucking seconds and realize that our entire system is FUCKED, that our government, our police, our insurance and healthcare systems are bought and fucking paid for and that, in reality, we are as much slaves as anyone was 200 years ago? Fat chance right? See thats the shit noone wants to talk about. We don't want to address the fact that we live in a society that is so fucking fatalistic and devoid of hope that this type of shit is a regular occurrence.
I don't know man i just don't know. I saw a news story today talking about how its been determined that were living in the beginning of another mass extinction and my only thought on that was "Oh god, let it please be humans"
....no such luck.
D.o.S. wrote:Yeah I have a Godsmack shirt
jwar wrote:Not to be a dick or anything but My Bloody Valentine sucks ass.
My whole life is a shitpost. One. Big. Shit. Post.
SPACERITUAL wrote:Theres something wrong with me. I have friends all over the world but people a mile away don't want anything to do with me. Its infuriating. I try to glean some stubborn pride off of being "real" and sticking to what makes me me and shit but honestly its just lonely and kind of pathetic.
Go find a (Ki) Aikido Dojo and practice it for a year. It has a lot to do with human contact and communication (both the verbal and non verbal kind). I won't go into details cuz you have to experience it for yourself. Words don't mean crap.
I wasn't that extreme but I can surely relate. Since you're open enough to admit such things, you're on the right path anyway.
Also, wonderful thought clarity and articulation with the southern-post.
rfurtkamp wrote:Bastard stepchild of modern delay times/looping and a Lexicon Vortex would have me whipping out the credit card faster than a hooker at a coke convention.
That thought of mass extinction has been on my mind all year.... I feel more and more like we're gojg to see some sci-fi style apocalypse shit happen in our lifetimes. There's a quote from Daniel Quinn (who wrote the book Ishmael) about how our current way of life requires us to destroy our environment in order to survive. So that's been on my mind a lot lately, and it ties into the other thought.... Which is how money is fucking te whole planet up. Some ethereal, abstract numbers are making all this stuff happen... And places like the federal reserve are printing monopoly money to "solve the issues."
I want a lifestyle that at the very least involves working bullshit jobs as little as possible, and at best doesn't involve me succumbing to some "how can I make more money with 'x' sort of scheme." I feel the brunt of this ass backwards American (human?) way of life whenever I'm commuting to work..... None of this shit makes any sense, and I fear that the survival of the human race will entail to destruction of much much more than we've already done. Trying to find some hope somewhere...
solutions already work, but if you get caught up in the disinformation and distraction shit ofc you'll think there's "no escape".
I love it how Geoff points out that Humans should be Stewards of Life, of the Planet. Well u gotta work a lot and work hard to get there. Time to rise up from the ashes.
rfurtkamp wrote:Bastard stepchild of modern delay times/looping and a Lexicon Vortex would have me whipping out the credit card faster than a hooker at a coke convention.
That's definitely the kind of thing I'm looking for, but it still requires me to have access to, if not own a plot of land (Which would require me to pay for it and then pay property tax on top of it). After my last post I got to thinking how when a bank prints more money (that's not backed by a single tangible thing) it is literally turning trees (well, maybe, hopefully they're printing on recycled material, but I don't trust them) into the very thing that's propagating a big problem.
I realize there are solutions to these issues, but it's hard to keep high hopes until the average person is taking more responsibility for themselves. When you live in a big city, most of what you see are lazy people contributing to the problem....
I'm actually usually more optimistic, but I've just been feeling trapped by this money/job cycle, and the more I look for a way out, the more it feels like a cage.
But I get you with the frustration that sometimes ensues cuz of people who don't appreciate their life and the life around them enough. I just use it as creative fuel. Perhaps my music will kick the stupid out of their head, perhaps not, but they will die out anyway.
Get connected to a time bank, or find some local group of exchange, or ask your local permaculture association for directions. Idk, lots of ways. The network has grown strong silently through these last 50 years, like mycelium grown it has.
rfurtkamp wrote:Bastard stepchild of modern delay times/looping and a Lexicon Vortex would have me whipping out the credit card faster than a hooker at a coke convention.
alexa. wrote:But I get you with the frustration that sometimes ensues cuz of people who don't appreciate their life and the life around them enough. I just use it as creative fuel. Perhaps my music will kick the stupid out of their head, perhaps not, but they will die out anyway.
I think this is a juvenile way of looking at it. Tell that to someone working a jack shit job whose loved one has cancer but can't get treatment they need because most healthcare doesnt want to touch that with a ten foot pole because it might hurt their bottom line.
Tell that to someone who was just incarcerated for selling something that grows out of the fucking ground because their state and federal reps refuse to draft legislation for legalization because losing the liquor and tobacco cutbacks might hurt their bottom line.
Tell that to the kids getting out of grad school who can't find jobs and are having their credit, and thusly their ability to ever sustain a normal life in this fucking dump completely destroyed because they're already $100,000 in debt from student loans that they have no way of immediately paying back, and can't get any sort of deferment because it would hurt sallies maes bottom line.
Tell that to the family community members in charleston who've just had their lives torn apart because taking the time to give a shit about the proper treatment of mental health in this country is laughed away because it would definitely hurt the bottom line.
The only thing i see dying out here is rationalism and compassion. I mean it would be great if music could save us but last i checked GG Allin is fucking dead and no longer saving anybody.
D.o.S. wrote:Yeah I have a Godsmack shirt
jwar wrote:Not to be a dick or anything but My Bloody Valentine sucks ass.
My whole life is a shitpost. One. Big. Shit. Post.
If permaculture and transition 2.0 isn't compassion and rationalism, idk what is And I was talking about people: who take selfies and waste their lives, support industries that destroy the planet, hurt others; if you get my drift. I want to help everyone but you just can't.
rfurtkamp wrote:Bastard stepchild of modern delay times/looping and a Lexicon Vortex would have me whipping out the credit card faster than a hooker at a coke convention.
