The Confederate Flag

[Sperglord Dante]

There are way to demonstrate displeasure towards the federal government, like idk hanging an Ayn Rand portrait or something, that can't be easily interpreted like "niggers should go back to them cotton fields".

 

[Mecha-Lenin]

The idea that he was fighting simply to keep a race enslaved is naive.

And I did not say that.

I can see what you are saying, but suffice it to say that I simply cannot see the slavery issue as taking a backseat to the other (real) issues... with regards to the meaning and symbolism of the flag. This opiion may change in the future, but I simply do not find your argument convincing.

It is less a matter of what the individual fighter had to say about a flag, and more about what the overlying social and economic structures preferred.

For example: an individual soldier in Vietnam may not have supported the bombing of Vietnam whole-heartedly (he may have been drafted, or may have wanted military benefits or prestiege)... but that did not change the fact that America was dropping bombs.

Not sure I understand this one.

An individual who is agnostic, neutral to, or even hostile to the dominant values (and economy) of a society cannot alone change it, and for many they take actions in service of it simply because of pressures (both social and economic) from the rest of society. It is extremely difficult to change the core operations of society, without a decisive (and collective) break such as revolution or civil war.