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Page 7 • Thursday, March 4, 1999
second,*
lissour< ■
I. The' I
ill bee'K
^ill reteP
into itifl
A questio
n of pride
lag stands as affront to African-American
ride, reminder of slavery, racial inequality
vay in
i said,
work
my
dgned
he Klu
Klux
Klan,
lie Power
merica and
le Neo-Nazi
■me. What
Hll of these
Bother hate
Bps have in
Dilmon?
Christian
ROBBINS
of them proudly display the
^ ‘ olfederate flag as a symbol of
“pride” and their firm belief
jjjSBie “Old South.” Hate groups do
ot promote the Confederate flag
ftT^Muse it is trendy or has pretty
_jj!llBrs; they promote this flag be-
^ikse it epitomizes the purpose of
^"""lei; organizations, it epitomizes
l bflCrp| ,rance an d hatred.
T^^Bhe Confederate Hag for many
/efS/tifican-Americans represents all of
would be” doctors, lawyers,
dttOI rtists, scientists, writers and lead-
rs ;hat could have positively im-
nation, but who were
Up AM eac * on this land
d irover 400 years.
|Bb some it represents the
^Bcan-Americans v/ho were
■Bhed, beaten and frightened
idyiod Ho submission for attempting to
acksJ their right to vote, for insisting
miquality and for trivial infrac-
^ors such as looking at a white
Aon in the eye. These are the re-
llounIf Aes of the “Old South”,
the t0 many, the Confederate
■ represents Southern pride. The
< P ur P : Ath has many things to be proud
!? ue f, but the legacy of ignorance and
T u* 6 ' s exem Phficd by the Con
nie M a '«erate flag should not be a boast-
,s[ . v ' ej: |g point. Simply because the Con-
• ^ ow Aerate flag is a part of the South’s
1 t0 a 'ast does not make it a symbol of
i [ 1 fde. Germans do not proudly dis-
their swastikas. Why? Because
. ly are ashamed of this part of
lirpast. Southerners should be
▼ /plicated about all of the connota-
| |y|is associated with tire Confeder-
Iflag and the reasons it evokes
ral laWBnany different feelings. They
foreignl»uld not take pride in this bigot-
BAymbol.
miitteeAccording to the Heritage
10 setflservation Society, the Confeder-
a letter 1 flag is not a symbol of slavery
e an irRause the Civil War was fought
eansinMr states rights and economic
bal crisi : lblems, not slavery. Historian
scandift Epand points out the major
more At the states wanted was the
to buAt to own slaves and the fact
in tht fai the economy was based on the
Aaid labor of slaves. Regardless
■heir misunderstanding of histo-
■t does not matter why the Civil
fir was originally fought, today
1 Confederate flag is a symbol of
W Aery and of a system of inequah-
* At disrespects the contribution
accomplishments of all
can-Americans.
Awidence that the Confederate
is a symbol of inequality and
gotry was demonstrated when
■■B I flag was flown over the capital
« Idings during the Civil Rights
■ Ivement as a sign of protest to
Is concerning desegregation,
ecrc's Confederate flag proponents
kVc<1 NlJl fe e ly conferid that since no one
‘JpmT 1 iently living was alive during
;e Civil War, then no one should
B | whether the Confederate flag
is promoted or not. No reasonable
adult can truthfully say the impact
of slavery and inequality for people
of color has not had a profound ef
fect on society even today. Ameri
cans deal with the issue of race
and inequality daily.
Others insist the average Con
federate soldier’s fighting had noth
ing to do with slavery, so the Con
federate flag should be revered in
the South and flown over war
memorials. In comparison, the
swastika was the symbol German
symbol of pride during World
War II. The average Nazi
soldier’s fighting had
nothing to do with
the Jews, so
should Germans
revere the
Nazi swasti
ka and dis
play it
proudly
over
war
human beings, until race relations
improve in this country the mean
ing will never change.”
There are people who support
the use of the Confederate flag
without any racial maliciousness;
they honestly see the Confederate
flag as a symbol of honor and tradi
tion, but these people must realize
the Confederate flag
causes deep
feel
Confederate flag represents Southern pride,
\way of life for many Southerners, Americans
A ggies
across this
campus
would probably
think that it was
outrageous if the
Corps of Cadets
marched into the
MSC this week
and
which houses Medals of Honor
given by Congress to men who
showed great bravery and killed
the enemy during war, it would
be stupid. These actions would
be seen as ridiculous because the
events happened so long ago that
the painful memories and old
prejudices have long since faded.
Even for the people who risked
their lives in war those wounds
have healed for the most part
Why is it then if the Aggie
Moms sell Confederate flags or
someone displays the colors
of Dixie, that certain stu
dents get upset? The
Civil War took
Diace over 130
ears ago
Seeing
there is
memo
rials, on
T-shirts
and on the
back of
pick-up
trucks? Most
would say no.
Some people de
fend the Confederate
flag by comparing it to
the pride African-Americans
have been taught to have in
their race. They even created
trendy t-shirts with the nice little
slogan, “You wear your X, I’ll wear
mine.” The exhibitors of these gar
ments should ask themselves the
following question: How many
white men or women were raped,
lynched, enslaved or disenfran
chised because of Malcolm X? No
Malcolm X paraphernalia can com
pare to the violence and intoler
ance the symbol of the Confederate
flag possesses.
The suffering the Confederate
flag signifies is deep and painful.
Leatrice Porcher, civil rights activist,
stated, “The reason they (whites)
wear it is not important because to
blacks all it symbolizes is bigotry
and hatred. Most blacks see it as a
slap in the face of civil rights. It
shows they (whites) would rather
see blacks as slaves than as equal
ings
of disre
spect, hatred,
senseless murder and
bigotry. It is possible to have white
pride without disrespecting and
mocking black pride.
All Southerners should have
pride in the South, in their commu
nity and their culture, but by pro
moting the Confederate flag as the
symbol of Southern pride excludes
and offends a large amount of
Southerners. The Confederate flag
should be abandoned and a new
symbol of peace that respects, if
not encompasses, all should be
adopted.
Christian Robbins is a junior
speech communications major.
MARK MCPHERSON/Tiik Battalion
threw
out the Japanese,
Korean and Vietnamese displays
for international week.
The fact the the Memorial Stu
dent Center is dedicated to the
memory of men who died fighting
against people from these coun
tries would not be justification for
such violence.
Likewise, it would be shocking
if German and Japanese students
protested around the statue of
Colonel Rudder because he is re
membered for leading a surprise
attack on German soldiers. If Ger
man and Japanese students held
a vigil on the grass of the MSC,
who ex
eriehced
war first
pie to get angry
historical relic-
The problem, som e might
argue, concerns what the flag
stands for. To many native South
erners the Confederate fi a g stands
for many things. It stands as a
symbol of pride for the actions
their ancestors took standing up
for what they believed in and
fighting the oppression of the Yan
Others see the flag as a a sym
bol of Southern life. South of the
Mason-Dixon line people act quite
differently than Northern folk. For
example, everyone has heard of
our famous Southern hospitality.
no where else on Earth can you
find it. Down here men hold
doors for ladies and respectfully
address them as m’am, the reason
being Southern mothers raise
Southern gentlemen. Life is slow
er and Southerners take time to
enjoy things rather than rush,
rush, rush. These are the things
that many people believe is the
cornerstone of Southern life and
is represented by the Confederate
flag, the flag of the South.
The notion about the Confed
erate flag being a symbol of slav
ery is a stretch. The only thing
that will stop this warping of his
tory is education. By hiding the
Confederate flag and making it
tabbo does nothing for educating
the masses.
Only when the flag is displayed
and discussed will people realize
that the Civil War was not fought
over the issue of slavery. Accord
ing to the Texas Declaration of
Causes for Secession economic
factors and unequal representa
tion in Congress is what lead to
the secession of the Southern
states- President Lincoln would
have kept the institution of slav
ery if it would have preserved the
union- The southern states were
Ustified in their anger and frus
tration with the system because
of the flagrant disregards of the
Constitution by President Lin
coln. The President only is
sued the Emancipation
proclamation after the war
had been going for three
y^ars. The reason was that
ortherners were willing to
et the south go. Lincoln
leeded a rallying point to
garner Northern support
and slavery was it.
According to the National
Archives and Records Ad-
linistration the freeing of
slaves was only applicable in
states that had succeeded not
in loyal slave states. Slavery
as a non-issue at the onset of
the War but because the win
ners of conflict write the history
»ooks Lincoln v/as made out to
be a g r eat humanitarian. Only
when People learn the circum
stances leading to the emancipa
tion will the flag cease to be seen
as an object that stands for slav-
The skewed understanding
about the reasons the war was
fought is keeping this absurd re
sponse to the Confederate Flag
alive. Everyone who has learned
about Texas history has learned
about the six flags over Texas.
Each one of these flags has added
to the cultural diversity and
uniqueness of the Lone Star State.
The Confederate flag represents
one piece of this diversity. The
history books should not have to
be rewritten because uneducated
people get offended over some
thing they do not understand. The
Confederate flag represents a
large part of this state’s history
and culture as well as states
throughout the south. To do away
with the Confederate flag would
be a slap in the face to the south
ern way of life and to the history
and culture that makes the south
what it is.
Russell Page is a senior political
science major.
Society’s double standards unfair to members of both genders
I hu M>' / w
W
Demond
REID
hat is good for the
goose is good for
the gander.” In an
l h )nl ' l 3 a when this country has wit-
Pan 1 ' sec j 5,^ technological ad-
| hul ' 1af |ces as the Flowbee, the Clap-
land Ron Popeil’s spray-on
lir in a can, it is a shame that
fl I progress of sociological equity
B Iween the sexes is stuck in neu-
11
I iThe double standards that exists between men
women may have been necessary when every-
B I thought the world was flat but now, a double
fl lidard between the sexes is about as necessary as
B Ice maker on the Titanic.
llThe full brunt of the double standard bat comes
fl most heavily in the arena of sexual activity.
B Iently, Paschal Sheeran and other psychologists
^A>rted in the Journal of Psychology their findings
■n a survey they conducted on teenagers concern-
social judgments of sexual activity.
IThe respondents were to estimate the number of
tto uc^Aial partners of the average 20-year-old man and
woman and evaluate them on positive and negative
dimensions. The researchers found that women
were expected to have fewer sexual partners than
men, and female sexual activity was judged more
negatively than male sexual activity. This study is a
statement about society as a whole.
Somewhere along society’s evolution it became
acceptable for men to poke anything in a skirt they
could find, while women are expected to sit at home
twiddling their thumbs. That just ain’t right.
It is not being argued that all morality should be
thrown out and this country be turned into Sexa-
palooza ‘99. Nor is it being argued that this entire
country should take a collective vow of celibacy.
But rather a middle point between the two ideas,
because sex is a gift from God that should be given
in a long term, loving, monogamous relationship,
preferably marriage.
This particular double standard has become so in
ternalized that the perpetrators of it do not even real
ize that they are doing it. The majority of men who
subscribe to the “I don’t respect a woman who sleeps
around” doctrine are probably the same promiscuous
males who have plugged more holes than Fix-A-Flat.
Boys and girls, can you say “hypocrite?”
Now before the females begin male bash-o-rama
remember, much like Dennis Rodman, the double
standard pendulum swings both ways.
The double standard of men having to foot the
“The economy is now good
enough for every person to
foot their own bill. This may
not be Holland but couples can
certainly go Dutch”
bill is as outdated as the musket. It is socially ac
ceptable for a man to take a woman out and shower
her with gifts and money, but if the positions were
reversed the man would be viewed as some kind of
lazy gigolo. What kind of Uncle Jed/Lil Abner back
woods-type logic is that? That just ain’t right.
Maybe in the past when women were about as
employable as an one-armed boxer it was okay for
the standard to be the man to always foot the bill.
But it is 1999, and like Virginia Slims say, “You
have come a long way, baby,” so pull out that check
book. The economy is now good enough for every
person to foot their own bill. This is not Holland,
but couples can certainly go Dutch.
To any man not heeding this sage wisdom keep in
mind a bit of knowledge. No matter how much
money a guy spends on a date, it does not entitle
him to sex, that is just silly.
People who accept double standard pretenses sel
dom wish to own up to their personal shortsighted
ness. They tend to blame it on society. “It isn’t me, it
is what society says.” A person should never let so
ciety do their thinking for them. It is society that has
allowed ghastly abominations such as the institution
of slavery, the Salem witch trials and Vanilla Ice’s
second album.
There may be two sexes, but their is only one
race, the human race. Everyone in this race is equal
and should be judged by the same sociological stan
dards and any double standard is wrong.
Demond Reid is a sophomore journalism major.