I may have misinterpreted your meaning then. If so I sincerely apologize.
No worries.
I'll admit my bias, that I'm a Northerner and my ancestors fought for the Union. Though Western Pennsylvania is certainly as "redneck" as anywhere in the South. Either way, I find it difficult to extend affection to a secessionist movement explicitly devoted to white supremacy, to the point of explicitly protecting slavery in their Constitution (something notably missing in the US Constitution).
But the Southern flag also means just 'southern' to a lot of people who aren't white supremacists. It doesn't necessarily mean a Klu Klux Klan mindset. My best friend is from the south, loves the flag and isn't racist.
In a way I don't see the south's succession much different to the Colonial's succession from the British in the 1770s. Part of the reason for the Colonial's succession was to be able to take over and conquer/expand into Indian territory west of the Appalachians, which the British blocked them from doing and its not as if the Founding Father's ideology was equal rights for all including blacks and Indians because they didn't get that when then British were gone.
And no, I do not think Lincoln and the Union were saints by any means. But you'd have to do a hell of a lot to convince me they were morally worse than the Confederacy.
I wouldn't say morally worse but the Stars and Stripes was the baton for American westward expansion to the Pacific, taking over Indian lands etc. And let's be fair, the Stars and Stripes ideology hasn't always been against slavery or against taking over other people's lands and subjugating people. There won't be many flags in the world where you can say it's symbolism is completely innocent. The British Union flag isn't. But at the same I don't look at the Stars and Stripes and think "oh dear, that's bad symbolism" in the slightest, even though every star represents 'acquired' territories . I love it coz its a great looking flag that means a lot to a lot of people. Not one of these nondescript wishy washy flags.
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