A Simple Test

We're going to do a test.  Get a piece of paper and something to write with, or just open up a new Word document.  Once you're ready and without hovering to see the URL, click on the link below and write down the first five words that come to your mind.  Don't think--just react and write.

Click here when you're ready.

After you've written down your five words, start reading after the jump to find out why I asked you to do this.

Read over what you wrote.  I'm willing to bet that your list was made up of at least one of the following words or phrases:

• race/racism
• KKK
• Confederacy
• slavery
• war/Civil War

We'll get to why these things are important in a moment.

In a rather interesting post about political bias and microeconomics yesterday, Matthew Yglesias added a tongue-in-cheek caption to a photo he used, labeling a woman holding a Confederate flag as a "freedom/slavery loving tea partier."  This garnered a bit controversy, and his first bit of writing today addressed why he stands by the label.

I discussed the dangerous implications of maintaining tainted symbols in popular culture back in December,and I agree whole-heartedly with Yglesias's simple response to his critics:

"The answer is that I have no idea whether or not the woman in question favors enslaving black people, but I desire to live in a world in which the social understanding is that embracing the Confederate Battle Flag is an embrace of the cause of treason in defense of slavery...

...Hence, I fully intend to continue stigmatizing those who embrace it. I don’t think this is a difficult question."

It doesn't matter how you try to explain a modern display of the Confederate Battle Flag.  The simple fact is that this symbol is irrevocably associated with some of the most vile and lurid parts of our nation's past.  When used in a modern context, many consider the flag to be synonymous with a rejection of authority.  Indeed, they are right.  But there is nothing noble or casual about parading this horrid emblem around on a cap, bumper, or belt buckle.  As Yglesias points out, it was the idea of defying authority to protect an institution that dominated the lives of millions that this image became so familiar in the first place.

Think back now on the words you wrote down earlier.  I highly doubt that your list would differ drastically from that of every other American familiar with the basics of our national history.  Our inability to separate this flag from its origin is a good thing--it should haunt us.  To deny the source of this symbol's power is to rebuke the suffering of millions in a feeble effort to utilize shock value as a way to draw attention to feeble and misdirected causes.

Let it go.