Symbolic Speech and Me

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nick217bball

New member
First things first, I should define the reflective audience for which this was done: A Liberal Arts College in which several flag burnings have occurred in the past year alone, often for no reason other than to burn a flag. And yes, when I said the flag burning was offensive, I was essentially told to sit down and shut up. So now that I've shown that I go to a shamefully disrespectful hippy school, I should inform you that prior to living in Batshitville, USA, I lived in a small town in Tennessee, and saw confederate flags all the time, and owing to the fact that several black individuals owned the flag I might have been desensitized to the symbolic nature of the confederate flag.

The issue itself: A joke to carve a confederate flag in a pumpkin which was to be later transported to my apartment to be displayed inside where no one except friends would see it, and understand the context and intent of the pumpkin. Unfortunately the carving itself was done in a public area, and was protested by a blue haired hispanic height impaired individual, whose ancestors had never been enslaved, and who had never been involved in the war, nor grown up around the aftermath of said war.

From this I've lost a girlfriend, the pumpkin was smashed, and I was generally harassed to the point of tears (I was in the bathroom, it doesn't count as public crying, no baiting please) over being a racist although the intent and connotation of the flag, to my understanding, was less about racism and more about the economic disparity between the North and the South at the time. Due to my poor speech patterns I couldn't defend myself in public against this flogging. If anyone has any advice as to what I should do, or if I should just hide my face for the obvious racist asshole that I am.
 
Tell them you have the right to artistic expression via Free Speech and to shut the fuck up.

I's not like you're putting a swastika, "KKK", "I hate [insert racial slur]" or anything else that's offensive.

If they smash your pumpkin you can have them charged for damaging of private property. And yes, lawsuits have been done for more petty instance, so do not b afraid to pull out that one.
 
Sorry the US civil war was fought over the "right" to use slavery as a means of economic advancement. Read the letters and the newspapers of the time period.....I believe there's an online exhibit at the national archives...i'll edit it in later if i don't forget....Too bad for you and your purile bonehead idea you hippie bastard:rolleyes:

Thats my doggie you fuckin bastard
98f9b50f64.png

Go make wa welcome wagon thread​
 
Actually, many argue that it was a war about centralization v decentralization. Note how instead of creating another democracy, the south created a confederacy. The article is a bit cynical about the issue, but it is indeed more factual.

The truth is Lincoln clearly stated during his campaign that he was not an abolitionist. As a matter of fact, if you read the Emancipation Proclamation, you will very quickly discover that it implies that had a CSA state rejoined the union peacefully, that they could in fact kee their slaves. The way it is worded is that it states only states rebelling against the union will have their slaves freed.
 
I agree with Avidity. You should take this straight to the Supreme Court and by "this", I mean your smashed pumpkin and by "Supreme Court", I mean the bin.

So, you're like a little drama queen I take it. You knew your little project was going to cause controversy...



... and yet you decided to carve it in a public place. Why would you do that?

Also, what's the point of telling us the Nationality of the person who protested the carving. That detail has nothing to do with the story and quite frankly, makes you sound like a racist.

You want some advice? Stop acting like an idiot.


edit: Change your avatar. That's copyrighted material and eyeknow is crazy enough to sue you.
 
???
I swear, you people don't even read my posts so much as hurtle a random dictionary definition to each word and try to decipher ithe sentence's context afterwards. I said it was a punishable offense, which damaging of public property, no matter where it is damaged, is still damage of public property and thus a criminal offense. The melodrama of what you said was entirely unecessary and inaccurate.
 
Again, I agree with Avidity. Some people will find fault in anything and had you carved something seemingly inoffensive like Casper the Friendly Ghost, someone likely would have called you a White Supremist.

Whatyagonnado?


P.S. Avidity, are you seriously taking me seriously? WTF?!?




I completely disagree. He knew it was going to cause drama and he did it anyway.
 
What? Can't a guy be offended at nothing in particular? STOP JUDGING ME!!! XD



There are many posters that cause drama. This is a ranting site, after all. And on that note, the only thing I did consider potetially unecessary in his post was the fact that he told us what race the person is. Topics on the CSA and the Civil War are usually very racially tense, but I think this was merey igonrance on the OP's behalf.
 
You can remind people that freedom of speech means freedom of speech for everyone, not just people they agree with.

While I realize you are NOT a Nazi or KKK person and I don't think they are very good people anyways, our constitution guarantees them the right to their opinion. You can have whatever symbolism you want on your private property provided that it does no harm.

Stand up for yourself.

And I don't see what the big deal about the confederate flag is anyways. Most people who bitch about it have no idea regarding the history behind it. Its like people who freak out when someone has an ankh or reversed cross or a plethora of other symbols.

PS: Seriously guys, another thread turned from a simple discussion into a giant history based argument?
 
I just think it's funny when a drama queen attempts to create drama and then acts all surprised when drama occurs.

I'm not bashing him for being who he is (and the pumpkin is a moot point imo), I'm just confused as to why he's complaining about the aftermath of a situation that he intentionally created.
 
Where did I say it bothered me? Had Avidity not responded I would not have posted further until the OP replied. I'm just calling it like I see it and waiting for the OP's response.

He may have some kind of legitimate reason for carving his pumpkin in a public place. He may provide all kinds of information that will shed light onto this story and make me see the situation differently.

OH NOES! I'm engaging in a conversation on a forum! :tongue:
 
I'll shortly change my avatar as soon as I get home to my computer and have access to photos.
And about the pumpkin itself, the issue is far less about the pumpkin, in which I had no sentimental ties and am glad to let slide, it is the hostility that's currently directed at me that I hate. When I carved this pumpkin, it was in a secluded area on campus with few people there, and there was a friend present with me who was doing the same, and it was to be a bonding experience. The reference as to the race of the protester was to signify that this individual was not a descendant of a person affected by slavery, in which case even if they were offended by casper the friendly ghost as you put it, I would apologize and quickly carve it into a logo on an airplane or something else that was less offensive. It was a lynch mob formed by someone who had never experienced slavery, fought in the war, had relatives that had done either, or even experienced the culture of the south. This is what I was attempting to do, even though my half-assed attempt was ignorant.

Finally, my motive for posting here? I wanted advice, as I'm pretty much cut off from speaking to friends about this for fear of losing the opinions of other friends. I must have been desensitized to the symbolic power of the C-flag by having been raised in the south, and as such am obviously an asshole. I want to know if there's any classy way to back out of this, or if I'm more or less fucked.

And I'm not a hippy, the school was misrepresented to me when I interviewed.
 
People who use big words annoy me.

Back out of what? Nobody understands what the fuck you're blabbering about. Keep it simple and short so me and the little leprechauns in my brain know exactly what advice you are soliciting.
 
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