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Pastimes : Don't Ask Rambi -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Rambi who wrote (46471)	2/4/2000 4:33:00 PM
From: The Philosopher	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 71178

In this case, SC has to make a decision whether to stop flying a flag which some see as a positive symbol and some see as negative. Let's keep in mind that the flag is flying now, so it's not a decision whether to fly the flag in the abstract. It's a decision whether to stop flying it because some people object to the symbolism which is obviously important to others. I think this distinction is very important (sort of like instant reply in the NFL where the refs don't make a call de novo, but rather have to see irrefutable evidence that the first call was wrong). For me, it would be a different debate is the flag weren't flying and it were a question "should we or shouldn't we fly this flag"? That's not the issue. The issue is "should we take this symbol we now fly down because it offends some people?" And to some extent it's "Should South Carolina continue to fly this this symbol we have been flying for over 30 years because it offends some people most of whom don't live in South Carolina and don't share our historic heritage or historic understanding of the flag, but take it down because they are using an economic boycott and hurting our citizens in order to try to force us to abandon a symbol which is of value to many of those people." I wonder -- if they were flying a flag with the Aids ribbon on it, and it offended right wing churches, would you still agree that they would take it down because it is a sign of controversy? Or would you say they should have the courage of their convictions and keep it flying even if some narrow minded people find if offensive? Or, perhaps a more relevant example, flying a flag on Martin Luther King's birthday which honored King. That would certainly offend some people, no doubt about it. That's the problem. The principles involved tend to get lost in the issue of whether you like this particular symbol or not. To me, since I have no feeling about the symbol one way or another, I am more interested in the underlying principles and how these principles might be applied in future, and whether I would be accepting principles which would come around to haunt me when they are applied to other circumstances I DO care about.