If you live in the south, then I'm sure you've seen people proudly flying the confederate flag/wearing clothes with the flag on them. It's become a very popular symbol in the south, especially in the state of South Carolina where I live. It's like a never-ending parade of "heritage, not hate", and honestly, we need to talk about why it's not appropriate.

If you are from the south, chances are you have ancestors that fought and maybe even died in the Civil War. I mean really, almost all southerners have family that is connected to that war. I know that I have relatives that fought and died in that war, no matter how distantly related. They're a part of my family history. So I can at least understand the fact that people like to remember and honor their ancestors. What I don't understand is why they choose to fly the confederate flag.

Time and time again, people have constantly stated that it offends them. I don't understand why you would want to continue to celebrate something that people find so offensive. You know that people don't like it and are offended by it, yet you continue to fly the flag out of what can only be called immaturity. I don't think it's ignorance, considering the fact that ignorance is a lack of knowledge/awareness. People that fly the confederate flag are completely aware of what they're doing, and that people don't like it. The fact that they continue to fly the flag regardless of how others feel just shows a complete lack of maturity and empathy.

I think it's also fair to say that the flag is offensive to the country of the United States in general. It represents a dark time, a time of separation and war, and I don't understand how it could represent anything positive. If you truly are proud to be an American, why are you not content with celebrating the American flag? For an added bit of history, why don't you fly one of the original flags with only thirteen stars?

We've all been through American History, and we all know the reasons that the Civil War was started. I personally believe the basis for succession from the union was nothing more than greed and bigotry. Greed, because slave owners didn't want to give up their legal source of free labor, and bigotry, because slave owners disagreed with the union when they said "slaves are people and deserved to be free and treated as such". So again, I don't understand why you would want to celebrate that war, and as far as I and any other educated person is concerned, "heritage, not hate" doesn't have a leg to stand on.