Facts versus Opinion And Cognitive Dissonance

Investing the time and effort to fully understand a subject more fully takes time and sacrifice on our part. Leaving history and facts in context with an open and objective mind are just a few of the prerequisites of gaining a simple working knowledge of whatever it is we are studying.

Our bumper sticker society loves to try and educate themselves on various subjects with one-liners. This simplistic approach replaces what it takes to contextually gain even a small grasp on any subject.If we can't read it in 10 seconds on our "smart phones" we just scroll over the long paragraphs. We try to discredit the facts before us with our one line philosophy.

Denying the facts and attempting to de-legitimize them becomes a type of cognitive dissonance. When the facts make us uncomfortable or clash with our preconceived bumper sticker beliefs we scramble for more bumper sticker information or others who think like us to refute the facts in front of our lying eyes.We often hang on to our own opinions no matter what the facts left in context tells us.

At other times confronted with facts we try to delegitimize them or the source in some way. We refuse to acknowledge the truths we find that conflict with those one-line bumper stickers our viewpoint can at times be built upon. Quoting our one line opinion while we are denying the very demonstration of proof and information on the paper trail of facts or the time line of evidence right before our very eyes.

We use a single example plucked from our world of one-line bumper stickers to defy and refute the mountain of evidence standing in front of us.

There will be plenty of grammatical errors for those who will choose to use that thinking fallacy to discredit the facts I am sharing. Pointing at my spelling skills to distract them from my greater point.Have at it. It only proves my point. Some of the mistakes are left that the original writers or speakers used.

Again I repeat being honest and objective about this process is the first step in educating ourselves on any subject.It is in that spirit I share this following information, words and pictures. Oh yes, there are lots of pictures.

Fire Truck and Confederate Flag

I came across this story several weeks ago in the Star Tribune. The article is about the picture below concerning the Confederate Flag being flown on a fire truck during a 4th of July celebration.While I chuckle at the ignorance displayed by the person, Mr. Brian Nielsen, who placed the flag on the truck it was his view of that flag I found even more flabbergasting.

In Mr. Nielsen's response when questioned about his motive in flying the Confederate flag he reveals a common flaw we often see in those who try to use their twisted logic in defending or stating their opinion on various subject.

I also found a strange dichotomy when seeing the two flags together on this fire truck during the 4th of July parade.How could anyone conflate these two symbols of cloth as somehow representing the same thing? Displaying the two flags in this way was as disgusting as I found Mr. Nielsens response on the subject of the Confederate flag on the fire truck.

Mr. Nielsen's response is laughable yet sad.In his blind ignorance and insensitivity Mr. Nielsen spoke about "PC" or political correctness concerning the flag and slavery. He states this confidently as if there was an ounce of truth or fact filled evidence in his warped opinion and response about the flag.

History is very plain that the Confederate states and flag had everything to do with the issue of slavery, making the designation of skin color a proof of inequality. History speaks loudly about this flag and the denying of equal rights to American citizens.

However in one giant leap Mr. Nielson throws all the facts to one side and replaces it with his opinion as he tells the reporter, It had nothing to do with slavery.

Here is Mr. Nielson's response to flying the flag in the parade on the fire truck.My view is that PC is going too far taking things out of history, Nielsen said. It has nothing to do with slavery. I dont see color, black or white. Were all equal.

Cognitive Dissonance

Mr. Nielson's simplistic view of the Confederate flag is a glaring example of the application of cognitive dissonance. To relieve any discomfort that the flag is connected to slavery or the denial of civil rights in any way he just says it isnt.Somehow he thinks just stating something and believing it doesnt exist makes it so.

This is part of the problem in viewing what the symbol the Confederate flag represents in our country's history. Pretending or not knowing this history of that flag does not change the reality of what the flag is and has been connected to. Even more disturbing is the lack of knowing even the basics about the events surrounding that same flag Nielson claims, has nothing to do with slavery.

Let me offer just a tiny bit of history saturated with contextual evidence and facts for Mr. Nielsen and anyone else who think this flag has nothing to do with slavery.I do this since Mr. Nielsen so blatantly thinks something is being "taken out of history" for the sake of political correctness.

What is comforting for me is I dont have to debate Mr. Nielsens claims or use my own personal opinions to argue with his position.I dont have to throw a bunch of one-line bumper stickers at him or anyone else who holds this opinion about the Confederate flag.Mr. Nielsen or anyone else that believes that the flag has nothing to do with slavery, white supremacy or the denial of civil rights get to debate with some other folks. Their argument isnt with me but with the very Confederate leaders whose words and ideology are left for all of us to read and learn from. There is no doubt what the creators of these flags choose the flag to symbolize. They told us in their own words.We can pretend those words from the Confederate leaders dont exist by using cognitive dissonance.We can create our own illusion about the flag but this does not erase the historical facts and words of those people who created the Confederate government, flag, and Confederate constitution after seceding from the United States of America.

Let me emphasize no one is advocating the North was not racist nor do they have an unblemished record on civil rights. I am not in favor of erasing or banning the Confederate flag from the history of America. How absurd. Its history is well established and long.

It should be studied in depth on why and how the Confederacy and the Confederate flag came to be. It does belong in a museum and our history books where it can be seen in its full historical context and display. Seeing the Confederate flag in full historical context would make any liberty and justice believer in Americas constitution and democracy blush with anger and shame whenever this flag was being displayed as a banner of freedom. It is an insult to our intelligence and history that somehow they are pretending these two flags support the same values we hold dear for all citizens in our democracy.

For those who are not willing for a moment to partake in a little empathy for the tens of millions of Americans that find offense in this flag I hope you pause and open your mind.

For those who choose their beliefs over history because they want to deny what this flag was connected toI hope you can open your mind to the facts from our own history and the words of the very people who designed and fought under that banner.

Denying this flag is not directly connected to slavery, white supremacy, Jim Crow, segregation, terror, hate and the denial of civil rights to fellow Americans is offensive to say the least.

The long history and the events surrounding this flag should be studied always because it is a very different history than the one Mr. Nielsen believes is true and embarrassingly uttered his beliefs openly in the newspaper article below after displaying the flag in a parade.

http://www.startribune.com/aside-stars-and-stripes-firetruck-flies-confederate-flag-in-albert-lea-holiday-parade/311675081/

I stress again just because someone claims they dont see a symbol in the way it has been used in the past does not nullify those past connections of the symbol to those negative or evil actions.

Anyone not Jewish or from Germany may not understand why the swastika is so offensive but it does not change the history and legacy of Hitler, the swastika, the Holocaust survivors and WWII.

For those who think just stating, like Mr. Nielsen does, that this flag has nothing to do with slavery I offer a very light history lesson which is connected to another picture of the same Confederate flag below.

I am not a historian or claim to be one.Hopefully folks will take the time to read my simple effort in sharing these facts.Then they don't have to embarrass themselves on Facebook or in parades by making such asinine statements similar too what Mr. Brian Nielsen has made concerning the Confederate flag, slavery, segregation and the denial of basic civil rights to our fellow citizens.

Dylan Roof and Self-Radicalization

Dylan Roof is shown below with his Confederate flag and gun.He is just one more example of these self-radicalized attackers drunk on their ideology and blinded by their warped sense of reality. As they become more radical in their beliefs it can morph into violent action as they live out their radicalized fantasies.

No matter if it is Timothy McVeigh, Glenn Miller, Dylan Roof or some fanatical religious zealot, Muslim or Christian, they all become radicalized in similar ways. They shut off any logic and common sense and fill their minds with the poison of their cause.These guys will continue to pop up in our society from various groups as they become radicalized by their ideology. They are far more similar than they can imagine.

Roof plainly displays the symbols of his ideology in many pictures taken with them.He wrote about his ideology rather extensively on the Internet. The symbols, ideology and doctrines no matter how different with individual groups are always tied to the same process of radicalization.Individuals or groups step over a line in the consumption of these ideas causing them to act on them in violent ways.Justifying Hate Approximately a little over a year ago before the latest hate-filled rampage and ignorance of Dylan Roof holding the Confederate flag in the picture above there was another violent actor on the stage of racial hatred who appeared, Glenn Miller.

Glenn Miller the former Green Beret who served two tours in Vietnam was one of the more visible patriots of that era who could claim he served in the military.I would remind anyone reading there were plenty of Confederate flags raised in the military on the deaths of Martin Luther King and President John Kennedy.Being in the military does not cure one of the baggage ingrained in the psyche or the ability to become radicalized when the lens of logic and common sense are removed.

The service of Glenn Miller or Timothy McVeigh produced no miracle in stopping them from becoming radicalized killers.

Just as various voices tried to turn this latest hate crime of Dylan Roof into an "attack on Christianity" a year ago these same voices were trying to deflect Millers actions. They tried to turn the vicious racist attack on a Jewish Center by Glenn Miller as resulting from the influence of "liberal" journalist Max Blumenthal trying to deflect the obvious reason for the shootings.

Confirmation Bias

Events like this as sad as they are present an opportunity to let history and the facts speak. The evidence will plainly present to us contextually and historically facts that speak loudly from the vaults of days gone by.

When we let objectivity over rule the confirmation bias we use to cherry pick small bits of information to confirm our opinions or what we want to believe, a much clearer perspective is created when all facts are seen in context.A perspective based on these facts left in context presents a much broader view and balanced perspective than the narrow viewpoint of a lens constantly filtering out all the facts with confirmation bias.

Glenn Miller was the hate filled racist, lunatic who shot and killed several people at a Jewish Center in May of 2014.

Miller methodically planned his attack for weeks before picking the Jewish Center and did a walk through unarmed to see how the landscape lay. He had been trained well and was now using his training again to take action about what he believed. His ideology was driving him to act as he had been doing since he left the military and had followed his beliefs and ideology.

While various voices in the media tried to blame this violent act of Miller as a response to a so-called "liberal" Jewish journalist the history and past of Glenn Miller spoke much louder than their disinformation.

However if you don't know that history of Glenn Miller then you are willing to swallow what these voices behind their TV cameras and microphones want you to believe. Using their confirmation bias we will fail to look at the broader picture and mountains of facts scattered on the landscape and timeline of Glenn Millers life and journey to that Jewish Center on that sad day.A brief timeline shatters the ingenuous claims these voices made about Miller being somehow influenced by the Jewish journalist on the rocks of truth and history.

http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/crime/article3955528.html

Glenn Frazier Miller

Long before his senseless killings in Kansas Glenn Miller was associated with hate, violence and death for decades.His book, marches and activities are documented in many places.The symbols of his ideology are always present wherever he went.

Decades before Glenn Miller was this 73-year-old man belowbeing arrested for shooting innocent people at a Jewish Center his path was strewn with hate, murder and ignorance.This was not a random act of violence and it didnt happen in a vacuum.

Miller had founded his North Carolina chapter of the KKK in 1980.

By 1985 he changed the name of his group to "The White Patriots Party" and marched in Raleigh, North Carolina. His symbols always displayed surround him.

His efforts to recruit and bully were continual. His record was full of hate filled rhetoric, violence and death.

A year later in 1986 Miller was marching in Raleigh, North Carolina again to abolish the MLK holiday.Marching with their minds were full of their conspiracy theories and disinformation about the world and people around them. Facts twisted and distorted by their bias to fit into their jigsaw puzzle and perception of life.

This former Green Beret did all of this in the name of "Southern Heritage," white supremacy and under the banner of the Confederate flag.We have voices saying these groups with their ideology of white supremacy; hate and segregation have hijacked the Confederate flag.

Once again we have cognitive dissonance used by some to make their mind believe something that is not based in fact.Like Mr. Nielsen, just stating something and wanting to believe it is so doesnt make it true factually. No one hijacked what that flag stood for.

Ideology

This set of beliefs held by Dylan Roof and Glenn Miller is an ideology. It is an ideology born out of and based on white supremacy, slavery, Jim Crow and the need to control and dominate a group of people seen as inferior because of skin color.It comes right out of the slavery era with all its propaganda to justify slavery.This ideology has various banners or symbols it uses to stand under as most groups do. One of those symbols used is a constant and it is the Confederate flag.Lets move forward in our limited time and efforts to let the facts left in context speak for their self.Mr. Nielsen I hope you can open your mind and take notes! Remaining blind to your own cognitive dissonance will only leave you ignorant to the history you claim didnt happen.

William T. Thompson versus "Southern Heritage"

This brings me to the picture of the flag below as people try to come to grips with a picture of another racist lunatic waving a Confederate flag or an ignorant fireman stating this flag had nothing to do with slavery or the subjugation of a group of American citizens.While the creator of the flag below is long gone his words are recorded in the annals of history on what his design for this flag stood for and symbolized.Again these are the designer of the flags words. If you want to argue and debate then here is one of the guys you need to debate with the creator of the flag. If you cant accept the basic fact the designer of the flag left us in his statements then one is using cognitive dissonance to delegitimize what the designer of the flag states plainly as if this history doesnt exist.We have historical records about William T. Thompson who created one of the original flags and what the flag symbolized.His words are below taken from a book written about the history of various flags.I also offer a link to clips from three newspaper articles from that period as this flag evolved.

http://asagordon.byethost10.com/XNEOCONFEDS/WHITE%20MAN'S%20FLAG.html#wmf3

The unique thing about William T. Thompson was he just wasnt your average Joe back in the 1863. Thompson was the co-founder of the Savannah Morning News.Yes his words are left to us right from his own newspaper. Thompsons own printed words directly from his mind and ideology to print in his newspaper.

I present to you Mr. William T. Thompson of Savannah, Georgia offering his words in describing the battle flag.

Read again the yellow highlighed words.These are the words of Mr. William Thompson creator of this specific flag above one of several flags used by the Confederacy.

https://books.google.com/books?id=R3MUAAAAYAAJ&dq=%22maintain%20the%20Heaven-ordained%20supremacy%20of%20the%20white%20man%20over%20the%20inferior%20or%20colored%20race%22&pg=PA526#v=onepage&q=%22maintain%20the%20Heaven-ordained%20supremacy%20of%20the%20white%20man%20over%20the%20inferior%20or%20colored%20race%22&f=falseSo what does the creator of the flag, Mr. Thompson, claim this flag was a symbol of? Hmmm? Well, well imagine that.... another voice telling us the flag and the people fighting under this flag did so because of the "heaven-ordained supremacy of the white man" in their efforts to justify slavery and the war.

Here is link to your choice of three different newspaper accounts of the same design. They all basically refer to the same thing "white supremacy" validated by heaven and the Bible to maintain and expand the institution of slavery.

http://asagordon.byethost10.com/XNEOCONFEDS/WHITE%20MAN'S%20FLAG.html

What does the creator of the stainless banner of the Confederacy say about the flag he created? What does the co-founder of the Savannah Morning News say about why they are fighting the war?It is left for everyone to read right there in his own newspaper. Thompson is not some fringe guy who hijacked a symbol but a pillar in the community of one of the Souths most prominent cities in 1863.

Again these are the words of Mr. Thompson telling us why they were fighting the Civil War and what the flag he created represents.

As a people, we are fighting to maintain the Heaven-ordained supremacy of the white man over the inferior or colored race; a white flag would thus be emblematical of our cause.

Such a flagwould soon take rank among the proudest ensigns of the nations, and be hailed by the civilized world as the white mans flag .

As a national emblem, it is significant of our higher cause, the cause of a superior race, and a higher civilization contending against ignorance, infidelity, and barbarism.

Another merit in the new flag is, that it bears no resemblance to the now infamous banner of the Yankee vandals.

Heaven-ordained White Supremacy

Mr. Nielsen flies a flag on the back of his fire truck that rose up in rebellion because of an election outcome they didnt like. They seceded from Union and US flag. They created their own constitution validating slavery, created their own flag based on "white supremacy" and fought a war to destroy the United States of America while hoping to expand slavery. Hmmm?It couldnt be any plainer but of course people dont want to be confused by the facts. They just cant believe their lying eyes. So they use confirmation bias and cognitive dissonance to cherry pick various facts and surround themselves with people who believe what they believe all while delegitimizing the mountain of evidence in front of them. The co-founder of that newspaper tells us plainly why the war and what the flag symbolized.

Southern Secession

Mr. Thompsons belief in white supremacy and his symbol of the flag is no surprise to anyone who has read about the secession of Confederate states after Lincoln's election. The flag above created by Mr. Thompson is one of the battle flags of the Confederacy that sought to destroy the United States and to preserve and advance slavery.The reason for secession of these states from the Union was stated plainly in their individual secession statements.Were there a bunch of young soldiers who couldn't read or write who fought for the South not knowing what the leaders fully stood for? No doubt, but the political class and planter elite, often the same people, knew from the very start why they gathered those young soldiers under these various flags of the Confederacy. It was to protect slavery.

PC vs HC(Historical Correctness)

Let me offer Mr. Nielsen a little "HC," historical correctness, that is in direct contradiction to his claims about PC and that the flag he says doesnt represent slavery or inequality.

I will allow the leaders of the Confederacy and those who stood by the flag of the Confederacy state their case if that flag represents slavery or not. I offer the words of those who lead the Confederacy. After all whom am I going to believe Mr. Nielsen and his cognitive dissonance and perspective of the Confederacy and the flag or the people who created the Confederacy and the flag? Hmmm? Let me see whom should I place my money on? Decisions, decisions!

Jefferson Davis President of the Confederate States

In January 1861, soon-to-be Confederate President Jefferson Davissaid that his state had seceded because "She has heard proclaimed the theory that all men are created free and equal, and this made the basis of an attack upon her(the South's)social institutions; and the sacred Declaration of Independence has been invoked to maintain the position of the equality of the races."

Davis was referring to well-known speeches by Lincoln and other so called Black Republicans. Lincoln and others were seen as pro-slavery opponents, for using the Declaration of Independence in criticism of the institution of slavery.

It is clear Jefferson Davis wants to protect the institution of slavery because after all, all men being created equal dont apply to anyone who doesn't have white skin.This is a major plank in the white supremacy ideology.Slaves could never be equal and it was against Gods own word to declare it so.Their (the Souths) claim was that the Constitution being applied to people of color was warring against the very principles of God and the Creator who had made white people superior and people of color inferior. This white supremacy was ordained by heaven and the Creator.Vice President Alexander Stephens lays this claim out in even more plain terms.I offer his words to you Mr. Nielsen since you claim none of this has to do with slavery or inequality. Lets read what Alexander Stephens, Vice President of the Confederate States had to say on the subject.Alexander Stephens Vice President of Confederate States

Here is just a glimpse of what the Vice President of the Confederacy had to say about their new constitution, their new flag and their new confederacy of states. This is just part of the speech and you can read the rest at the link below. In that speech Stephens is talking about the US Constitution, its errors and its flaws.The 50th governor of Georgia and the Vice-President of the Confederate states tells us very plainly how he sees the new government gathered under various Confederate flags.

Of course stating Southern secession was about slavery today is called "liberal propaganda" by the Neo-confederates. Lets just let those traitors to the Union, our Constitution and the US Flag explain in their own words why they seceded. Let's see how much liberal propaganda the leaders of the Confederacy try to sell us. Lets see how "politically correct" they come off in their own words.

Take it away Mr. Alexander Stephens explain to us how you saw the US Constitution and your new Confederacy.

For you Mr. Nielsen I present Mr. Alexander Stephens:

"Those ideas, however, were fundamentally wrong. They rested upon the assumption of the equality of races. This was an error. It was a sandy foundation, and the government built upon it fell when the storm came and the wind blew.Our new government is founded upon exactly the opposite idea; its foundations are laid, its corner-stone rests, upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to the white man; that slavery subordination to the superior race is his natural and normal condition. This, our new government, is the first, in the history of the world, based upon this great physical, philosophical, and moral truth. This truth has been slow in the process of its development, like all other truths in the various departments of science. It has been so even amongst us. Many who hear me, perhaps, can recollect well, that this truth was not generally admitted, even within their day. The errors of the past generation still clung to many as late as twenty years ago. Those at the North, who still cling to these errors, with a zeal above knowledge, we justly denominate fanatics. All fanaticism springs from an aberration of the mind from a defect in reasoning. It is a species of insanity. One of the most striking characteristics of insanity, in many instances, is forming correct conclusions from fancied or erroneous premises; so with the anti-slavery fanatics. Their conclusions are right if their premises were.

They assume that the Negro is equal, and hence conclude that he is entitled to equal privileges and rights with the white man. If their premises were correct, their conclusions would be logical and just but their premise being wrong, their whole argument fails. I recollect once of having heard a gentleman from one of the northern States, of great power and ability, announce in the House of Representatives, with imposing effect, that we of the South would be compelled, ultimately, to yield upon this subject of slavery, that it was as impossible to war successfully against a principle in politics, as it was in physics or mechanics. That the principle would ultimately prevail. That we, in maintaining slavery as it exists with us, were warring against a principle, a principle founded in nature, the principle of the equality of men. The reply I made to him was, that upon his own grounds, we should, ultimately, succeed, and that he and his associates, in this crusade against our institutions, would ultimately fail. The truth announced, that it was as impossible to war successfully against a principle in politics as it was in physics and mechanics, I admitted; but told him that it was he, and those acting with him, who were warring against a principle. They were attempting to make things equal which the Creator had made unequal."http://web.archive.org/web/20130822142313/http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/document/cornerstone-speech/

Several Flags

The Confederate battle flag was one of several flags used during the War Between the States.Interestingly enough the first Confederate flag was thrown away because it looked too much like the Yankee flag the Confederate states had broken away from.The third flag was discarded because the white background got dirty and could easily be thought to be a flag of surrender.The southern-cross remained a central part of the design of the flag and was an astronomy symbol of a group of stars by the same name.Various southern leaders saw the southern-cross as the idea they could expand slavery into Latin America. Their words not mine.

Like the many words left by so many they wrote and spoke freely about the design of the flag and the cause of white supremacy.A direct quote below from a Southern editor in the Literary Messenger in 1863;"the destiny of the Southern master and his African slave" the Confederacy's hoped-for expansion of slavery into Latin America.The flags of the Confederacy with their stars and bars or Southern Cross were all connected directly to one thing and that was to the preservation and expansion of the institution of slavery.

The Southern Cross was a guiding way to navigate forward in their expansion of slavery.

The creator of the early flag, Mr. Thompson and the President and Vice President of the Confederacy stated what the Confederacy was about and what their flag symbolized.Now what was that that the Confederate States and flag stood for? Hmmm? Let me see? Oh that's right, they, their constitution and flags represented the slave-holding states. They did not represent equality or liberty and justice for all. The Confederate leaders stated loudly and clearly what they seceded and stood for.

Those same states who were willing to fight a Civil War for maintaining and expanding the institution of slavery.

No matter what flag it was it represented a separate nation being created and the breaking away from the Stars and Stripes of America. They even discarded a flag because it looked too much like the US Yankee flag. It has been documented over in several places. They wanted nothing to do with what the Yankee flag represented.

The Confederacy and their flag represented breaking our country apart because they (the South) lost an election and going to war over what they feared that election meant... that slavery would not be expanded. I repeat Mr. Nielsen that is what the war was about from the perspective of the South no matter who tries to sanitize it.

These states and their flag was all about "white supremacy" and their God given right to maintain and expand the institution of slavery in the name of their constitution and Bible.

Falling on the Wrong Side of HistoryAs time moved forward it became apparent these slave holding states fell on the wrong side of history. As the abhorrent stain of slavery was being realized by most nations and the rest of the western world the South had to create this "states right" and Lost Cause narrative to soften their documented words left for all to read why they seceded.It is almost laughable because in their secession statements they (the South) are complaining about states like Iowa, Michigan and New York who were using their "states rights" to outlaw slavery. It's all recorded in historical documents. Then suddenly out of the blue they (the South) come up with their own states rights theory to validate and justify slavery.

I won't bore you with all the secession statements of each state but they are very plain in why they broke with the Union and everyone stated it loudly and clearly it was to preserve and expand slavery.It is there words not mine.

Slavery was booming in the South and its expansion was all-important to maintain the Southern economy.All the social institutions from churches to their government officials supported slavery as a divine station, heaven ordained and given them by God.

You can read sermons and books by prominent preachers in the South justifying the very same ideas the whole culture was identified with.

Dividing a Nation

It is always interesting to me when people observe divisions concerning various subjects and the rhetoric around those debates. Gathering all the facts with an objective of an open mind becomes a mute point for many. When one side cant garner facts they begin to de-legitimize the facts they dont agree with. Then the name-calling begins. The pro-slavery voices took every opportunity to tie Lincoln and his party to the chained souls bound in slavery.Lincoln and his party were called the black-Republicans.Anyone against slavery was a heretic standing against the word of God.The idea of abolishing slavery was seen as fanatical and a mental illness.

Our very Constitution and Declaration of Independence was seen as flawed trying to use these documents to apply equality to all men.

Conspiracy theories and hoaxes were created that slaves would take over the Southern plantations and make whites slaves.Miscegenation (race-mixing) was used as a tool of fear that these slaves would rape every white woman they found before and after Lincolns election and re-election.All of these claims were based in fear and disinformation dividing the country regionally.What divided the country was holding onto disinformation (lies) as facts or truth, conspiracy theories and hoaxes.The effort to validate those warped perceptions with the Bible while standing on Gods word to protect their position now looks ridiculous. It resulted in secession.Part of the South Carolina secession statement:A geographical line has been drawn across the Union, and all the States north of that line have united in the election of a man to the high office of President of the United States whose opinions and purposes are hostile to slavery. He is to be entrusted with the administration of the Common Government, because he has declared that that Government cannot endure permanently half slave, half free, and that the public mind must rest in the belief that Slavery is in the course of ultimate extinction.

This sectional combination for the subversion of the Constitution has been aided in some of the States by elevating to citizenship, persons, who, by the Supreme Law of the land, are incapable of becoming citizens; and their votes have been used to inaugurate a new policy, hostile to the South, and destructive of its peace and safety.http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/document/south-carolina-declaration-of-causes-of-secession/

Part of the Mississippi secession statement:I offer the Mississippi secession statement because the President of the Confederacy was Jefferson Davis from Mississippi.Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery-- the greatest material interest of the world.Its labor supplies the product, which constitutes by far the largest and most important portions of commerce of the earth. These productsare peculiar to the climate verging on the tropical regions, and by imperious law of nature, none but the black race can bear exposure tothe tropical sun.These products have become necessities of the world, and a blow at slavery is a blow at commerce and civilization.http://www.civilwar.org/education/history/primarysources/declarationofcauses.htmlReconstruction

After the Civil War and the failed attempts of reconstruction "Southern Pride and Heritage" rained down on anyone connected to the party of Lincoln black or white. Lynchings, murder, the creation of the KKK and various vigilante groups played their role. Jim Crow became the law of the land. Slavery just took on another name.No one with an ounce of objectivity and even a slight historical knowledge of the Jim Crow era can deny the inhumane and violent treatment of racial minorities in the South.

As the rest of the country had started to evolve on its perception of slavery and was evolving on the issues of race and civil rights the South dug in deeper to maintain a racist and segregated society. The violence against American citizens by various groups are everywhere in the history of the South and our country at this time.All though the Confederacy was defeated and slavery abolished in America the reign of terror was just beginning in the South. This terror was connected to the white supremacy ideology interwoven into the culture.

Political Terrorism

The political terrorism of these various vigilante groups dominated the landscape of the South.George Ashburn below in 1868 was the first recorded assassination of the KKK for his helping ex-slaves create schools and assimilate into the greater society.There were several eyewitnesses who saw and recognized several of the participants. Two Confederate segregationists defended those who were charged in the shooting of Ashburn. Their names are very familiar and I share them below.

These two Confederate segregationists defending the KKK shooters were General Henry Benning and Alexander Stevens the former Vice President of the Confederacy. That's right the same Alexander Stevens who was VP of the Confederacy.What could possibly go wrong?

General Benning and Alexander Stephens triumphed in defending the assassins.All charges were dismissed against the KKK killers of Mr. Ashburn. This type of "Southern justice" continued on for over a hundredyears.The history book and legal records of similar cases are scattered across the landscape of the South.Time and time again the very system of laws that were suppose to be fair and equal in the justice system were used against victims of violence and their families.Law enforcement officials from judges to the police conspired together to make sure equality and justice for all remained only for a certain part of society.

General Henry L. Benning

Mr. Nielsen lets see if a major leader who fought under various Confederate flags thought the flag or war had anything to do with slavery.

General Benning stated plainly why Georgia seceded from the Union. I will let Benning's own words state his position.Mr. Nielsen you can argue and debate this Confederate General about his view of the Confederacy, the flag, equality and slavery.They are his words not mine.

Take it away General Benning..... "What was the reason that induced Georgia to take the step of secession? This reason may be summed up in one single proposition. It was a conviction, a deep conviction on the part of Georgia, that a separation from the North-was the only thing that could prevent the abolition of her slavery."

Boy that old General Benning, a staunch believer in slavery, segregation and white supremacy, sure had been brainwashed by those"liberal" historians.Benning claimed secession was the only thing that could prevent the abolition of slavery. Hmmm?

Imagine that Mr. Nielsen? I guess General Benningdidn't read the same history books or listen to the same talking heads you do about your revised history of the Civil War.I guess, as General Benning was living and making history in Civil War he was some how brain washed with some liberal propaganda because Benning states plainly why the South seceded. I guess the PC police shackled Benning because he certainly is not giving the same response you gave Mr. Nielsen about the Confederacy that flag represented.

Mr. Nielsen has informed us in his response in the newspaper that the Confederacy and the flag hadnothing to do with slavery.Fort Benning

Yes.... Fort Benning in Columbus, Georgia is named after a man who wanted to maintain slavery and expand it while he detested the ideaof black equality.

His disgust with the idea that a man like Frederick Douglas, who frequently consulted Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War, would beingon equal ground as a "white-man." This is documented in his own words left to us. Benning must still be spinning in his grave that anyone otherthan white-men make up the US Armed Forces today at Fort Benning.

I wonder how many German military bases are named after Hitler and his crew in Germany? Hmmm? I wonder if the US suggested toGermany to name a significant number of bases after those "honorable" Nazi leaders who fought so nobly for their Nazi cause? Hmmm? After all those Nazi patriots who gave their all to protect their right to exterminate human beings in the name of Aryan supremacy as these Nazis fought for their cause too.Pretending there is honor just because one fights for and dies falling on the wrong side of history does not validate a persons position as just. One can have a twisted and warped view of life and hold an ideology that is radical and die very easily when weapons of mass destruction are being used.Your death still does not bring honor to a ideology that stood on the wrong side of history.We dont see a lot of honor given to British soldiers or their leaders from the American Revolution.

Control of Social Behavior

Klan and vigilante violence born out of the mind of Confederate leaders was used to control people's social behavior.

Now who were the founders of the KKK and other vigilante groups? Hmmm?

Oh yes it was those secular, atheist, liberal, politically correct, ...... oh wait it was Confederate Generals and leaders including Lieutenant General Nathan Bedford Forrest.

Schools and monuments are named or created for him in the South.Think about that.Should we erect a school to honor other traitors or domestic terrorist?Hmmm?

Lieutenant General Nathan Bedford ForrestThe same man who was leader of the Fort Pillow massacre where over 300 black Union soldiers and 200 Southern white Union soldiers were killed immediately after surrender because blacks and whites fought together against the Confederate cause. It was a message being sent by the Confederacy.

An artists painting of the Fort Pillow massacre of 1864 is seen above.

http://www.history.com/topics/american-civil-war/fort-pillow-massacre

Vigilante JusticeThese vigilante groups including Nathan Bedford Forests KKK raised havoc all over the South after the end of the Civil War.In Louisiana in 1868 alone over 2000 people were lynched, shot or burned. No arrests or convictions. Open season on anyone they chose to attack or who did not fall in line with their white supremacist ideology of those former Confederate leaders. The same ideology that justified slavery in the first place now justified more murder and submission.

In fact there was an effort by the US government decades after the Civil War to water down the animosities that took placeand to mend fences.

Can you imagine putting Hitler's henchmen back in charge of anything after WWII? Can you imagine Germany putting up statues to honor those infamous names of the Nazis? But that is what happened here in America. Highways, schools, and military bases all honoring the men who did far worse than anything Benedict Arnold ever did. How many schools do you see named Benedict Arnold High? Hmmm? Where in Germany is there a "Hitler Highway?"It wasn't so horrific it would laughable.All this Civil War history may be a little boring Mr. Nielsen so I am going to jump over decades of injustice and land in the 20th century. Lets observe how that new century used the Confederate flag to push equality, liberty and justice for all citizens.Fast Forward to 1948

Now for Mr. Nielsen's sake lets jump over 80 years of Jim Crow apartheid, inequality and terror all committed in the name of Southern heritage. Lets land in the year 1948 once again looking at the flag Mr. Nielsen thinks is being so dominated by "PC" and has nothing to do with slavery, oppression or racism.

For the most part the Confederate flag was put on mothballs after the Civil War. After all, the South lost the war. The flag was seen in cemeteries or museums. It was the flag of treason, secession and one that embarrassingly fought for the enslavement of human beings and the expansion of that same institution of slavery. They always seem to forget all this history and heritage as they still celebrate their "Secession Balls" here in the South.They promote this "Lost Cause" myth as if all of this was some romantic fictional movie like 'Gone With The Wind.'

As we fast-forward to 1948 the desegregation of the US Military by President Truman sent large portion of the folks in the South into a segregationist tizzy.This brought out the Confederate flags and protestors carrying signs about communism and the anti-Christ.The very same states that had seceded from the Union in 1861 again were breaking awayfrom their own political party.The solid South once again divided itself from the country and the President of the United States over this issue of segregation.

Solid South or Southern Bloc breaks away again.For the most part the "solid south" desertedthe Democratic Party andPresident Truman. Their break with the party of Truman who had just led our country to a victory a few years earlier over Hitler and the Nazi's put Truman's re-election in jeopardy.This famous picture of Truman holding up the paper predicting his defeat was in large part because of the "Solid South" breaking away from Truman because his integration efforts with the military.

The Southern states and politicians that broke away from Truman formed the Dixiecrat Party.Just as the South had broken away from the Union before the Civil War the South again broke away politically from Truman and his efforts on civil rights and the integration of the military.

After breaking away from Truman the Dixiecrats of the South nominated Strom Thurmond for president. Thurmonds ugly speeches on segregation brought those Confederate flags out in droves.

The Confederate flag suddenly again became the symbol of segregation, hate and denial of civil rights to over one third of the Souths population that was African American.Once again "Southern Heritage" rose up against the basic concepts of fairness, civil rights, democracy and justice for American citizens.Once more the Confederate flag was siding with those thumbing their nose at equality, justice, progress and the democracy our Constitution promises to every citizen.

A large portion of the South was standing against the basic civil rights, voting rights and citizenship for fellow Americans in our common democracy. The South wanted to retain their Jim Crow laws that were based completely on white supremacy and racial discrimination.Who couldn't be proud about that heritage?

Southern Bloc not the Fringe

As a sitting President, Harry Truman was not even put on the ballot in Alabama for his re-election bid. This was not done by a fringe group but by a whole state and political party that rallied around their common symbol. Confederate flag.

No one hijacked the concept of Jim Crow from the South. This was what the South believed in. Jim Crow was not put into place by a fringe group it was state law in every state in the South. It was all done in the name of white supremacy and segregation.

Strom Thurmonds America was a racist, segregated America based on the ideology of white supremacy.

As the Confederate flags were pulled out once again this symbol stated plainly what the South and the flag stood for.The issue of civil rights and segregation separated the "solid south" into a political party based on segregation, racism and they were anti-civil rights for all Americans.They didnt hijack the Confederate flag for this cause it represented what their cause had always been about white supremacy.

Strom Thurmond was the1948 Dixiecrat nominee for President, who said, Theres not enough troops in the Army to force the Southern people to break down segregation and admit the "n.... race" into our theaters, into our swimming pools, into our homes, and into our churches."Again I would point out this was not the political fringe of the South but the mainstream thinking of the vast majority of Southerners hanging onto their "heritage" of hate. It is why they called it the "solid south." The election results showed Thurmond carried four states in the South and would have carried more if the progressive whites and blacks of the South had not nudged out the Thurmond supporters in other Southern states.In the states he carried Thurmond garnered almost 65% of the votes. He carried four Southern states and nearly carried more.This was not a fringe group or movement.

Watch this 30-second clip and you will get the drift.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgH7WgtIU2k

Earl Warren, Impeachment and Educational Integration

After "the traitor" President Truman left office Chief Justice Earl Warren became the new target and scapegoat of the Confederate flag waving segregationist.

By 1958 Earl Warren Supreme Court Justice was seen as a traitor and calls of impeachment rose from the leaders of groups like the John Birch Society, the KKK, White Nationalists and of course all those segregationist full of Southern pride like Strom Thurmond, George Wallace and others across the South.Why did they want to impeach Warren and curb the Supreme Court? Hmmm? What was that big fuss all about? What was the evil Warren had committed?

What was the treasonous act they wanted to impeach Earl Warren for? Hmmm?What despicable act had he committed?Was he calling for secession?Was he calling for the return of slavery?Did he want to create a new flag and country?

They wanted Earl Warren impeached so that in an institution of higher learning we didn't have to see ignorance being displayed like this picture of George McLaurin below separated from a class of white students.

All of his life McLaurin wanted to continue his education as a lawyer and get a doctorate degree.Those flags were coming out in protest of George McLaurin. That flag supported the humiliation and blatant discrimination against an American citizen.

In 1948 George McLaurin finally got to apply for his doctorate degree at age 61 at the University of Oklahoma but he couldn't sit in the same classroom, cafeteria, library or bathroom as the other students. In 1950 the Supreme Court started breaking those walls down.What brought on all this flag waving outrage and hostilityand talks of impeachment?Oh that's right it was the integration of public schools so little black kids could go to public schools with little white kids.

Ruby Bridges below in 1954 going to a public school escorted by Federal Marshals is why all these groups wanted Earl Warren impeached.

The Norman Rockwell painting may be his most powerful depicting the scene above.

The Confederate flags were coming out in droves to protest these actions.Once again just as the Confederate flag was waved to detest the desegregation of the US Military it was waving in protest of integrating public schools in America.It was waved in the face of Federal Marshalls and a little girl named Ruby Bridges. Ask Ruby Bridges if what that flag represents to her?

This in part was what the Confederate flag stood against as calls to impeach Earl Warren came from the same voices that stood up against Truman and the integration of the Armed Forces. It was now standing against George McLaurin and Ruby Bridges

Mr. Nielsen if you wonder why people somehow tie the Confederate flags to racism; hate, segregation and fear just turn the pages of any good history books dealing with the civil rights era.Why would anyone draw that conclusion whenfrom the late 1940s through the late 1960s the Confederate flag was a constant symbol of whiteresistance to integration of the military, public and elementary schools as well as Colleges and Universities.

Mr. Nielsen do you think these people below in 1961 are honoring the Confederate dead or that they see no color or are waving the Confederate flag for the ideals ofequality, or liberty and justice for all?

No Mr. Nielsen those werepeople protesting public school integration with the Confederate flag. They were the racist segregationists who saw color and whodidn't believe in equality. They used the very same flag you claim does not represent any of that. Hmmm?

Mr. Nielsen should I believe YOUR twisted,misinformed view of slavery, civil rights history or the actual history that took place right before the eyes of America?

Mr. Nielsen do you think these folks are praising equality and justice honoring the ideals of our constitution and civil rights with their Confederateflag? Hmmm?

A mother pictured below with her daughters and their flag of choice. They are waving this at people marching for integrated schools in Bogalusa, Louisiana in 1965.

Mr. Nielsen do you think this man below is showing this flag to promote the rights of all American citizens? Hmmm?

In this Sept. 3, 1957, Paul Davis Taylor displays a Confederate flag in front of Little Rock Central High School in Little Rock, Ark. Taylor was among some 500 people who gathered across the street from the school, which had been scheduled to integrate showing some of that "Southern Pride"as they protested. They were protesting 15-year-old Elizabeth Eckford and eight others being admitted to the school.Mr. Nielsen can't you see the love on the faces of those who were supporting Elizabeth Eckford as she walked from the school? Cant you just see and feel they support that equality you think that Confederate flag represents.

In the picture below Elizabeth Eckford, is followed and taunted by an angry crowd after she was denied entrance to Little Rock Central High School, September 4, 1957.

Just like the man holding the Confederate flag above can't you see how these people aresupporting the ideals of justice, equality and democracy? What a nice welcoming committee!

Integration efforts in the early 50s and 60s according to many in the South were a sign of communism and the anti-Christ.They used their religious beliefs and political ideology to somehow convince themselves these were American values.These were the values of white supremacy the South had always held so close to their hearts.

After all according to those who hold this ideology they believe that brown-skinned Palestinian guy wanted the South segregated and heaven too.Yes they believed it in the past and still believe heaven will be segregated. Just ask Finis Dake author of the Dake Bible who believed it would be too quoting scripture to validate this belief.Check out Acts 17:26 in the Dake Bible.Dakes commentary reads like KKK rally.

Think of the irony of this? Every Bible character they know from the pages of their own Bible with their dark skin wouldnt be allowed on their side of their segregated heaven.I know.... doesn't it make you chuckle?

This photograph below shows University of Alabama students burning desegregation literature during a demonstration in Tuscaloosa, Ala., Feb. 6 1956.

Now Mr. Nielsen why would anyone connect that flag you put on your fire truck with these protestors against the integration of the University of Alabama? Hmmm?How could anyone possibly get the idea that waving a Confederate flag and the burning of integration literature could be the slightest bit offensive to anyone who believed in equality and liberty and justice for all?

Mr. Nielsen your cognitive dissonance may think this picture below is just some people having fun. You may claim it is some type of liberal propaganda but history tells us it is an image repeated over and over in the South from the late 1940s to the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s.These Confederate flag wavers wanted Jim Crow laws to remain as it had been since after the Civil War. The same laws of white supremacy and inequality you say that flag doesnt represent. Guess they didnt get your memo. This is the same perspective of those who have rallied under this flag for over 100 years.

Mr. Nielsen as you put that Confederate flag on the fire truck trying to convince yourself and others around you that it has nothing to do with slavery, segregation or the denial of the civil rights of fellow American citizens is not based on reality or historical facts.

Just because you or someone you know was never enslaved, lynched, beaten or intimidated by that flag and its ideology does not change in anyway the history and truth about what that flag has always represented.

Similarly the fact one never had a relative die in a Nazi gas chamber does not change the pain and carnage of the history and events connected to Nazi symbols.

Mr. Nielsen because you assume that Confederate flag has nothing to do with the ideas of white supremacy and racism I guess the folks below never got your memo about "political correctness. They state proudly they want to save the segregation vote and the segregated society of white supremacy that flag stood for.They bombed churches, killed voter registration workers and assassinated African-American civil rights workers to intimidate anyone trying to honor the ideals of liberty and justice for all.They wanted to hang onto their white supremacy and those good ole days.

They didnt hang their head in shame they proudly waved their flags and signs in the faces of the US government and the poor souls seeking just a small piece of what liberty and justice meant for other citizens living in America.

Mr. Nielsen when you erase these facts from your cognitive memory trying to somehow make the ugliness of all this more appealing for you to believe in it does not change facts. Trying to create some valiant idea about slavery, or segregation as if all of this never happened.

Why would anyone think the Confederate flag is tied to white supremacy and racism? This ideology and the flag they rallied under should repulse any American who honors our constitution and values the ideals of democracy. Hmmm?

According to the creator of the flag all of this white supremacy is heaven ordained and God's plan.

Their ideology was validated by the Bible be it slavery, segregation or any of the other justifications they used for their beliefs.This ideology continues to be on the wrong side of history. But how could anyone tie the Confederate flag to slavery, the denial of civil rights, segregation and hate? Hmmm?

Below is the legendary Reverend Fred Stroud who believed and passed on the same Biblical passages used to validate slavery and segregation with before the Civil War. The new twist now was integration was Communism and Jews had infiltrated the government, churches and schools. Where have we heard this before? Hmmm?

Through it all that same flag keeps appearing as a symbol of what they believe.

https://books.google.com/books?id=-dDQ6ZWRTzYC&pg=PA85&lpg=PA85&dq=Reverend+Fred+Stroud+segregationist&source=bl&ots=glZ_ft7t7U&sig=TY2CvwUloLr9z82CGuWWPUPw398&hl=en&sa=X&ei=T4aYVcGgPIqRyQTnsq3YBw&ved=0CB8Q6AEwAg#v=onepage&q=Reverend%20Fred%20Stroud%20segregationist&f=false

Mr. Nielsen look at these folks above and below offering their acceptance and support for equality and civil rights for fellow citizens. Notice their Southern heritage and that Confederate flag. The one that you claim doesn't represent slavery, segregation or inequality. Antagonizing people who just wanted to vote or let their children go to public schools. Who just want what all Americans enjoy. equal rights.

Using the flag and Bible to make a statement about segregation and equality. Do you think these people didnt see color? Hmmm?Do you think their flag stands for liberty and justice for all? Hmmm?

George Wallace

I am always amazed when people try to tell us some "fringe" group stole the Confederate flag and hijacked it for their own use. History offers a very different picture of this. The fringe did not hijack this flag.During the modern Civil Rights Era George Wallace, Strom Thurmond, J.B. Stoner, Fred Stroud and the entire South were notthe "fringe. It was just the opposite.These were the mainstream leaders of Southern life. They understood what the Confederate flag symbolized. The values they wanted to hang onto stood indirect opposition to the civil rights of other Americans. These were the values that supported the ugly, unequal use of segregation to discriminate against and control a group of people for centuries.

I can still hear the words of George Wallace as I watched TV as a kid.

From this Cradle of the Confederacy, this very Heart of the Great Anglo-Saxon Southland, Wallace declared, I say segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever.

Mr. Nielsen if only you would take 30 seconds to watch the video clip below it is very revealing. In the video clip below notice the Confederate flag folded and on top what looks like a Bible to me.Now how in the world could anyone feel as though the Confederate flag is tied to this injustice, ignorance and hate? Hmmm?This was not some "fringe" group these were the mainstream mindsets and ideology of the South. This is a governor of a state.Watch the crowds reaction to these despicable words uttered by Governor Wallace.Yes Mr. Nielsen I guess George Wallace didn't get the memo about the Confederate flag being just another symbol of American liberty and justice for all.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6C-kBVggFrs

An effigy hung beside a Confederate flag on the University of Mississippi campus in 1962. Why? For the simple fact James Meredith had enrolled. Looks like they are celebrating equality and hanging that flag had nothing to do with the racist attitudes behind the message they were sending by the hanging effigy and flag.

Dishing Out Some Southern PrideBelow a returning US soldier from Europe forgot the rules of segregation and gets some of that Southern pride to remind him where he is and where his place is naturally all under the symbol of the Confederacy.

Mr. Nielsen in the picture below Martin Luther King is called "King Coon" and a communist on the signs they hold as they prepare to march through a black neighborhood showing off some of that "Southern Pride" in Florida in 1964.

That photo above isJ. B. Stoner on the microphone. He was a segregationist from Atlanta, Ga. Stoner holds a Confederate flag as he addresses a large crowd of whites at a historic slave market and then leads them on a long march through African American section of town, on June 13, 1964, in St. Augustine, Fla.

Why would anyone think there is some weird connection between racism and the Confederate flag? These flags and symbols appear over and over as these leaders from Strom Thurmond to George Wallace protest the basic civil rights of all Americans. It is always the same rhetoric and signs repeating their stale claims. None of this happened in a vacuum. This was the ideology of the South. Hmmm? The good ole days they long to return to.

Look at this young man sharing his "Southern Pride" and honoring the Confederate dead below! Oh wait why is he waving it at a line of black protestorswho are marching for the right to vote? Hmmm? Perhaps he is cheering them on and telling them he supported their efforts in seeking equal voting rights.Perhaps he is telling them he sees no color and all are equal in his book.

That flag stood in the way of people having the simple right to vote. It would make any proud American want to haul it out on the 4th of July and line the highways with this great symbol of inequality. HA!I guess he is like you Mr. Nielsen and he doesn't see color and views everyone as equal and that makes holding that Confederate flag to antagonize the marchers OK! Ridiculous!

Imagine anyone who had ancestors that were slaves getting this flag waved in front of them. Being intentionally antagonized by this symbol of Jim Crow.Imagine anyone who had to drink at a separate drinking fountain or who couldnt go in the front door of a restaurant being antagonized by this flag as they marched for those simple rights.Imagine if you were connected to someone who was lynched just because of the color of his or her skin. Imagine watching churches burn or being blown up by people who supported that same flag.

Historical FactsMr. Nielsen the various Confederate flags were created and symbolized "white supremacy." This is stated in the words of their very designers like Mr. Thompson. Those who fought for that flag fought to destroy the US and its constitution. They seceded from the US for the defense and expansion of slavery. The various political leaders who seceded broke away from the Union of the United States in 1861. They tell us plainly why they seceded and why the Confederacy was formed and fought under that flag.

The same Confederate flag was revived in 1948 by a movement that murdered and killed people in the defense of segregation and denial of civil rights to American citizens. This flag was flaunted in the face of federal law as our country tried to move away from the ignorance and hate entrenched in a segregated south and interwoven racism in our culture.

The Confederate Battle Flag was the symbol and emblem of Jim Crow in defiance to the civil rights movement.It was the standard of the Dixiecrat opposition to de-segregation and the integration of American minorities into our culture and political system.

Presidential candidates, governors and leaders of Southern society in the past stated plainly about how they felt about segregation and civil rights waving that same flag claiming segregation forever.That same flag is an emblem of the domestic terrorism of the KKK and White Citizens' Councils that still inspire people to commit these senseless acts of violence based on the twisted propaganda of hate be it Glenn Miller or Dylan Roof.

It was the flag of choice for those who planned and carried out the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, Army veteran and civil rights leader Medgar Evers and Martin Luther King.

It was the flag of choice for the people, state and governor of Alabama who stood in the doorway of the University of Alabama.He stood there as a symbol of resisting the idea that a black student could enroll in the University of Alabama.He stood in that door way as a symbol of the states stand against integration.

Talk about standing on the wrong side of history!

This is what that flag you put on your fire truck is tied to.Again your argument isnt with me it is with the voices and recorded words of the people who used that flag as a symbol of what they stood against. They stood against the very ideals of American democracy.

Robert Kennedy Visits Alabama

When Attorney General Robert Kennedy went to Alabama in April of 1963 he was met with a parade of Confederate flags along his route and as he walked into the Governors mansion. A Confederate flag had been raised above that same mansion.Signs read Koon kissing Kennedy go home.

Kennedy was called a socialist and communist.These men above and below were just a few of the protestors Robert Kennedy saw that day on the road and in front of the Governors mansion.

What is it these people were so afraid of?Why all the fear and name-calling?Oh I forgot these people were for equality and liberty and justice for all. NOT!

They were drunk on their conspiracy theories about Jews infiltrating our government. Drunk on the hate of the ideology they clung too and wanted to maintain. They stood against civil rights for all Americans with a religious fervor.

Other signs waved in Kennedys face read, They would resist.What was it they were trying to resist?Why did George Wallace stand in front of the door to the University of Alabama?What evil was Wallace trying to stop with all those Confederate flags waving in the hands of protestors?Oh yes I remember now!Just simply letting a black student go to the University of Alabama!Thats right Mr. Nielsen the flag you claim isnt suppose to stand against equality was waved all along the highway of Robert Kennedys route to see Governor George Wallace.

Were all those people waving those flags to thank Robert Kennedy for standing up for the civil rights of an American citizen to be allowed into the University of Alabama to further their education? Hmmmm?

Mr. Nielsen that flag you hung on the fire truck came out in droves to maintain a system that created this picture below of separate but equal.

Just because you or your past relatives never had to face the humiliation or face the terror of being seen as inferior does not take away from the fact it all happened for over a hundred years to fellow human beings and Americans.

The flag you put on your truck was the flag of choice for the South in their efforts to maintain Segregation today, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever.

It was the flag of choice when Strom Thurmond proclaimed to thunderous applause, Theres not enough troops in the Army to force the Southern people to break down segregation and admit the "n.... race" into our theaters, into our swimming pools, into our homes, and into our churches."

This same flag is held in high esteem by people like white supremacist William Pierce (Andrew Macdonald) author of 'The Turner Diaries' with the premise of this fantasy race war where Jews and people of color are exterminated. The same "race war" that both Tim McVeigh and Dylan Roof wrote about or spoke of before their cowardice acts of terror and murder.

The flag is the emblem of choice of white supremacist lawyer Kirk Lyon below who has ties to various Christian Identity groups that believe that Jews are "biologically descended from Satan" and minorities have no souls but were created as "beasts of the fields. Some of them believe they are decedents of the lost tribes of Israel. Anglo-Aryans. Oh sweet Jesus!And people wonder why the Civil War and all its propaganda are still alive today. It is the same stuff Southern leaders and preachers were touting decades before the Civil War.

Mr. Nielsen the Confederate flag was hung proudly above Maurice Bessingers famous restaurant in the picture below.If you remember Bessinger passed away in 2014 you may have read about his passing back then.

Bessinger was famous in South Carolina for taking down the American Flag and putting up the Confederate flag.

Why did he put up a Confederate flag? Was it to honor equality and liberty and justice for all? Hmmm?Hardly, Bessinger was an avowed racist and segregationist.He sold racist tracts in his restaurant on how the Bible supported slavery and segregation.

After theCivil Rights Act was passed in 1964Bessinger proudly displayed a sign in his restaurant windows.It read: The law makes us serve niggers, but any money we get from them goes to the Ku Klux Klan.He tried to shove his racism down the throat of society in the name of his "religious freedom."His flag of choice Mr. Nielsen that you claim has nothing to do with slavery or the ideology of hate and inequality was the Confederate flag.

I guess Mr. Bessinger didn't go to your school of brainwashing that the Confederate flag had nothing to do with slavery or that it stood for white superiority and the Jim Crow laws of the solid South.

http://www.charlestoncitypaper.com/HaireoftheDog/archives/2014/02/24/maurice-bessinger-bbq-baron-and-unrepentant-racist-dies

These people like Dylan Roof do not wave the Confederate Flag to commemorate the Confederate dead.They are waving it for what it represents... slavery; treason, rebellion, segregation and white supremacy just like Mr. Bessinger.Their ideology is seen in the words of those Southern leaders who seceded from the Union.

Their ideology is seen in the actions of the Dixiecrats who seceded from their political party because of President Trumans integration efforts in the military. It was the exact same thing they did when Lincoln was elected. They secede from those who do not hang onto the past with its Jim Crow, segregation and denial of civil rights. That is the past they want.These political leaders like George Wallace and Strom Thurmond parrot the same ideology that the designers of the Confederate flag used.

Loy Mauch

Perhaps you remember this Arkansas state representative who praised John Wilkes Booth and tried to have a statue of Abraham Lincoln removed from his state.Notice those two flags behind Loy Mauch in the picture above.Now where have we seen those before?Let me see where was that?Hmmm?

Mauch compares Abraham Lincoln to the Hitler and the Nazi's. Doesnt that sound familiar?He defends the institution of slavery because Paul and Jesus didn't think it was wrong.It is laughable!

I guess Loy Mauch didn't get your memo either Mr. Nielsen because Mauch thinks that same flag has everything to do with slavery, segregation and God's ordination of "white supremacy."

This is their view of equality, liberty and justice for all. It is their ideology. It is why they left the Union and fought a war over slavery. It is why they created Jim Crow law and murdered tens of thousands of people.It is why the entire south created a new political party and presidential candidate when President Truman stood for integration of the military.

How does Loy Mauch see the Confederate Flag? Hmmm?Loy Mauch words echo exactly the words and attitudes of Confederate VP Alexander Stephens to Maurice Bessenger with their Biblical slavery claims. You can't make this stuff up!

Loy Mauch states this about the flag; " It's a symbol of Jesus Christ above all else. It's a symbol of Biblical government."

http://www.arktimes.com/ArkansasBlog/archives/2012/10/06/loy-mauch-update-the-republican-rep-is-on-record-on-slavery-too

http://www.arktimes.com/arkansas/the-south-shall-rise-again/Content?oid=1380685

Moving along as we look at symbols of hate lets look at a Hindu drawing of Ganesha below. Ganesha is the remover of obstacles. You can see why the Hindu's would use a powerful elephant to symbolize the power of removing obstacles before their path.The elephant comes out of their culture as one of the most powerful forces they knew in the animal world. The power of this great beast could push trees over or move huge obstacles out of its path with its head and powerful trunk.

The symbol below had become the symbol of "good being" or "good luck."Symbols like this are nearly 5000 years old give or take a measly few hundred years.

The strange thing is the Nazi's took that symbol and with a little twist they designed the swastika from this symbol.The historical meaning of the swastika was changed forever.

Any family that had relatives in WWII or that are Jewish or are old enough to be connected to Europe before or during WWII do not seethat swastika as a Hindu symbol of good luck. In fact anyone who is connected to those memories find this symbol offensive to say the least. The ideals that Nazi symbol stood for were in direct opposition to democracy and freedom of our Constitution. That symbol wanted to destroy the United States of America andthe Nazis fought a war in an effort to do so. That symbol stood for enslaving anyone who was not "Aryan" or German.It stood for white supremacy.That symbol enslaved people in work camps and had many millions exterminated for belonging to unions, being educated, being a certain religion,race or color.

It should be offensive in what it represents and the evil it committed to tens of millions of people. History has recorded the evil done in the name of the people who saluted that symbol. Germany is so embarrassed by that symbol that it bans its use on governmental property. It bans it use as an instrument of hate.

Symbols of White SupremacyBelow a white supremacist wearing his swastika and Confederate Flag in South Carolina. All are symbols of white supremacy. No distinction is made.

All of these are symbols of a radical mindset known for their love of Hitlers doctrines, apartheid and hate. Mr. Nielsen would you mount any of those other disgusting symbols on your fire true?A Michigan resident in the photo below displays his colors. Amazing isnt it?Now why would anyone ever think just for a moment the white supremacy of these two symbols are connected in anyway.

Flag of Choice for Neo-NazisIn Germany the public display of the swastika is outlawed. So what is the flag of choice for the neo-Nazis and skinheads of Germany?What symbol could they display that represents the same values of white supremacy Hitler spread across Germany?In Deutschland the white supremacists go with the flag below because they cant display the swastika.

The German government after WWII put the swastika and Hitler's flag in museums. It is a history lesson for the German people to always be reminded on the subject of hateand white supremacy. In Germany most of the Germans find the swastika disgusting and embarrassing. After all what German wants to brag about the honor his relatives had infighting for the Hitler regime or being a guard at one of the concentration camps.That is some heritage!

Just as we are offended by that Nazi swastika and what it represents we should also be appalled and offended that the ideas of white supremacy that were and are promoted by the Confederacy and the Confederate flag should bring equal disgust.The ideology is nearly the same.

You can't romanticize away the history and facts connected to the swastika without not believing the atrocities committed by the people who wore it and had it on their flag.

Mr. Nielsen you can pretend that the swastika had nothing to do with Hitler or the concentration camps but that does not make it so.

Mr. Nielsen you can try and convince yourself that the Confederate flag had nothing to do with slavery, murder, segregation, terror and the denial ofthe basic civil rights of Americans but that does not negate the historical facts.

Mr. Nielsen you saying that this flag has nothing to do with slavery or the denial of civil rights may work in the minds of people who have no concept of historical facts or who want to rewrite history.

Mr. Nielsen you can use cognitive dissonance and try to deny these many historical facts.You can try to paint over the facts with fictional accounts of what you think the flag represents.You can try to use other silly examples you find disgusting trying to deflect the pain, horror and misery those this flag spewed on tens of millions of other citizens.

Mr. Nielsen you can turn your mind off to all these facts and still believe that flag does not stand for an ideology that legitimized slavery or that it was used to promote inequality but it does not change history.You can turn a blind eye or filter out the mountain of evidence that prove your claims are in direct contradiction to the truths surrounding that flag.

The fact is that Americans have been discriminated against murdered or denied basic civil rights by people who rallied and continue to rallyaround the very same flag and the ideology it represents.

This ideology of white supremacy may have never touched YOU or YOUR family but it does not take away thereality that the injustice this flag represents has been inflicted upon tens of millions of others over the long history of the Confederacy and the flag.From the Civil War to the Civil Rights movement that flag has been waved in support of everything our constitution and a democracy stands against.

This flag was used in defiance against President Truman as he integrated the military.

It was waved at political rallies as supporters of Jim Crow broke ranks creating a third party supporting segregation.

It was waved in the face Attorney General Robert Kennedy and on the path to the Governors mansion to demand the Governor must comply with the laws of our Constitution.

It was waved as school children as young as 5 and 6 years old tried to go to a school right in their own neighborhood.

It was raised on a flagpole after hearing about the assassination of Martin Luther King and President Kennedy.

The flag belongs in a museum not on the back of a fire truck celebrating the 4th of July.

That flag was created as a result of secession of the Southern states from the Union. It was designed to validate the support of the institution of slavery and white supremacy. It was born out of treason.

That very same Confederateflag wanted to destroy the Union and the America Flag. It was the flag of those whose ideology prompted the assassination of Abraham Lincoln and other leaders from Martin LutherKing to the poor souls in Charleston who lovingly let their killer sit among them before he executed them for one thing ..... the color of their skin.

Empty Chair Fantasy

Mr. Nielsen saying the Confederate flag doesn't represent slavery or these other evils would be like putting an empty chair on a stage and creatinga dialogue with a make believe person in that chair painting your make believe opponent anyway you want. It is a fantasy just like the idea that theConfederate flag had nothing to do with treason, slavery, the KKK, murder, segregation, and the denial of civil rights based on the color of peoples skin.

A radical who stood for and believed in the values and symbolic meaning of that Confederate Flag assassinated Abraham Lincoln, the father of the Republican Party. John Wilkes Booth saw Lincoln as a tyrant because Lincoln had the audacity to want to abolish slavery.

John Wilkes Booth

After listening to a speech by Lincoln after the South had surrendered Booth uttered these words, That means nigger citizenship. Now by God, Ill put him through. That is the last speech he will ever give.

The assassination of Lincoln was an attempt to revive the Confederate cause.Booth is hero to the KKK, Loy Mauch and the long line of segregationist!

Pretending that flag represents some fictional characters from the "Dukes of Hazzard" or some other silly ideas about Rednecks or Southern heritage is denying the facts left to us all.

The very words of thosewho designed the flag, who seceded under its banner, who terrorized people for over a hundred years, did so because of the ideology the flag symbolizes. They blatantly thumbed theirnose at our Constitution and the civil rights of all American citizens.Pretending none of this ever happened and trying to rewrite history proclaiming that this flag represents something it never has is disingenuous to say the least.

To ask any American to see that flag differently who has read about the history of that same flag is offensive. To ask any person who has been subjugated to the violence and humiliation of what that flag represents would be like asking a soldier of WWII or a Jewish survivor of the Holocaust not to see the swastika for what it represented. It is offensive.

Ask any Holocaust survivor or their ancestors if they think the swastika is a good luck symbol.It is a ridiculous claim and who wouldnt be embarrassed to make such a claim about that swastika symbol with the mountain of history left to us about that symbol of the Nazis and their warped ideology.

So too is claiming that the Confederate flag is about pride or heritage.Who can take pride in the institution of slavery and committing treason to fight a war to protect and try to expand it?Who can be proud of a heritage that stood in defiance of integration and civil rights in this country from the late 1940s to the civil rights era? I am embarrassed for them.Mr. Nielsen to try to deny that all of this took place as you place a Confederate flag on the fire truck if offensive and laughable.

Suppressing History for Southern Comfort

Mr. Nielsen you are using cognitive dissonance to comfort yourself closing your mind to the historical documents and facts available to grade school children that proves just the opposite of your claims.

Mr. Nielsen you can try and create some fluffy fantasy and fictional opinion that you want to believe the flag is about. However history and facts reveal to anyone willing to open their mind what that flag and its ideology represented in 1863, in 1963 and what it represents today because it hasnt changed. It was born as a result of the ideology of white supremacy and remains so.Again put it in a museum and not on fire trucks or on public governmental property.

As Americans the Confederate flag has never stood for liberty and justice for all no matter how long you say it does or how hard you want to believe it does Mr. Nielsen.

You dont have to take my word for it nor would I want you to. Read for yourself the words of those who founded the Confederacy, created the flag and believed segregation and the denial of civil rights to fellow Americans was heavenly ordained.

Mr. Nielsen I fear you are a victim of the bumper sticker society.If your are you wont be able to grasp this history by just reading bumper stickers or living in the one-liner bubble.You cant gain a working knowledge of that history by forming opinions using confirmation bias. Nit-picking a fact here or there to build your opinions on while closing your eyes to or denying all the other facts.

Even sadder Mr. Nielsen is you probably dont care what the history is or what the mountain of evidence reveals to you. In the end you will hang onto your warped opinions and beliefs just like those Southern leaders who have fallen on the wrong side of history since the 1860s.

You will be like Alexander Stevens, Vice President of the Confederacy, who told his fellow Confederates that those who didnt believe in the institution of slavery had a species of insanity. Stevens stated their fanaticism springs from an aberration of the mind because of a defect in their reasoning.

Like you Mr. Nielsen all Alexander Stevens was saying was people who didnt agree with him were being controlled by political correctness.

Sadly you will walk away still not believing your lying eyes and all the evidence before you because you want to find comfort in what you believe about that flag, your bumper sticker opinions and the one liner bubble you live in.

Being deaf and blind to the history and facts you will cling to your concept of that flag from a fictional show like The Dukes of Hazzard.

You will rely on the pompous claims of men like Ted Nugent over the President of the Confederacy concerning the meaning of that flag.You will take Kid Rocks opinion over the very designer of the flags stated and recorded reason for the design of that flag.

You will put that empty chair on the stage and create whatever you want about the fictional subject you place in that chair.

This is exactly what you did in the first place Mr. Nielsen. You placed the flag on your fire true like an empty chair on a stage and created your own fictional history about what that flag stands for in your mind.

You created a whole scenario based on your fantasy about political correctness. You created a fictional account to comfort your mind that this Confederate flag had nothing to do with slavery.

You live in a bubble where you have the audacity to fly a Confederate flag and then say you see all people as equal.That is preposterous and offensive Mr. Nielsen to anyone who has an ounce of objectivity and understanding about the history of this country.

Even more disturbing is you convince yourself you are right and cannot hear the facts screaming at you from the outside of your bubble of silence that insulates you from these facts.

In the end you see those outside your bubble like those Southern leaders did. They pointed at the evolving and progressing society outside of their ideological bubble as the mentally ill or into days understanding the PC crowd.

Facts are discarded and replaced with what you choose to believe about that flag on that chair.Your opinion about that flag in your mind rejects all facts or statistics dismissing them as some type of political correct propaganda.

What you feel about that flag erases the very history that is part of the fabric of this nation that you try to deny or refuse to accept in your bubble.

Living in your bumper sticker bubble it then becomes easy to swallow whatever opinion you choose to believe never examining the many complexities of any issue. Never grasping or understanding the history of anything you allow history to be rewritten for you. Then one day you embarrass yourself by putting this flag on a fire truck claiming it doesnt have anything to do with slavery.Division and Secession

However I do want to thank you Mr. Brian Nielsen for giving me an opportunity and perfect example of what divides this country.What divides people is how they choose to view facts and often how they reframe them.What divides people is the opinions created by people in viewing the mountain of evidence before them.

We can choose to be like Mr. Nielsen and create our own beliefs about that flag.We can try and comfort ourselves that the flag doesnt really represent what history reveals it plainly does.

If we do that then we have already created a divisio