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TexasTowelie

(112,323 posts) Mon Mar 23, 2015, 05:43 PM Mar 2015

Cooter from ‘Dukes of Hazzard:’ Confederate flag not hate speech

WASHINGTON–The Confederate flag has come to be a painful symbol for some Americans, but that shouldn’t keep it off Texas license plates, said former Rep. Ben Jones of Georgia.

Speaking just after the Supreme Court heard arguments in the Texas case testing whether the state’s rejection of a proposed specialty license plate containing the battle flag of the Confederacy violated the First Amendment rights of people who want to honor ancestors who fought against the USA in the Civil War.

Best known for his role as Cooter in the long-running Dukes of Hazzard television show, Jones is a national spokesman for Sons of Confederate Veterans. The Texas division of the group applied for the specialty license plates, and was denied on grounds that the flag is offensive to some Texans.

African-Americans and others say the flag is a hateful reminder not just of slavery, but also of generations of violence and discrimination endured at the hands of southern whites well into the 20th Century.

Read more: http://trailblazersblog.dallasnews.com/2015/03/cooter-from-dukes-of-hazzard-confederate-flag-not-hate-speech.html/

18 replies

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Cooter from ‘Dukes of Hazzard:’ Confederate flag not hate speech (Original Post) TexasTowelie Mar 2015 OP

Cloudbase from 'DU:' Yes it is. n/t cloudbase Mar 2015 #1

Don't you mean 'DUkes of Hazzard'? KamaAina Mar 2015 #2

As a Southerner, I grew up seeing the Confederate Flag as defined below: In_The_Wind Mar 2015 #3

Is that the same Nathan Bedford Forrest who was the first Grand Wizard of the KKK? NightWatcher Mar 2015 #5

I'm sorry, I didn't know that about Forrest. In_The_Wind Mar 2015 #9

No worries. Here in Jacksonville they just did get a high school named after him renamed last year NightWatcher Mar 2015 #10

I imagine there are Germans who insist that the swastika geek tragedy Mar 2015 #7

As I said above, I will never display that flag ever again. But I'm not ashamed of In_The_Wind Mar 2015 #11

no one should be ashamed of the circumstances of their birth nt geek tragedy Mar 2015 #13

Cooter from Dukes of Hazard is a topic i wouldn't have ever thought would come up here on DU. Calista241 Mar 2015 #4

Still the best response I've ever read to the "heritage not hate" argument gratuitous Mar 2015 #6

Who THE FUCK CARES what this liberalhistorian Mar 2015 #8

young white males putting it on their vehicle across the nation, no ties to the south, clearly state seabeyond Mar 2015 #12

LMAO. Ben Jones was elected by the racists he attracted. It's the American Swastika. Hoyt Mar 2015 #14

You do realize that he is a Democrat, don't you? TexasTowelie Mar 2015 #15

Yep, back when right wingers pretended to be Democrats in South. He's still a racist. Hoyt Mar 2015 #18

Hate speech or not SickOfTheOnePct Mar 2015 #16

That flag lets me know XemaSab Mar 2015 #17

cloudbase

(5,524 posts)

1. Cloudbase from 'DU:' Yes it is. n/t

Reply to TexasTowelie (Original post)

Mon Mar 23, 2015, 05:56 PM

Mar 2015

KamaAina

(78,249 posts)

2. Don't you mean 'DUkes of Hazzard'?

Reply to cloudbase (Reply #1)

Mon Mar 23, 2015, 05:58 PM

Mar 2015

In_The_Wind

(72,300 posts)

3. As a Southerner, I grew up seeing the Confederate Flag as defined below:

Reply to TexasTowelie (Original post)

Mon Mar 23, 2015, 05:59 PM

Mar 2015

I have always spoken out against slavery.

NightWatcher

(39,343 posts)

5. Is that the same Nathan Bedford Forrest who was the first Grand Wizard of the KKK?

Reply to In_The_Wind (Reply #3)

Mon Mar 23, 2015, 06:20 PM

Mar 2015

I'm a Southern Boy, born and raised in South Georgia, but I've never aspired to "ride with" these "southern heroes". I did watch the Dukes of Hazzard and used to also get in trouble for climbing in the window of my mom's car instead of using the door. I think the flag is a symbol that people love to stand behind because they cannot stand behind the hate of the time. I'm not a fan of the flag, nor do I care to really engage in talk about it most of the time. It's a picture or a fabric that makes a lot of people and angry and serves no real positive end.

In_The_Wind

(72,300 posts)

9. I'm sorry, I didn't know that about Forrest.

Reply to NightWatcher (Reply #5)

Mon Mar 23, 2015, 06:26 PM

Mar 2015

To avoid offending anyone ... I would never display the Confederate Flag again as I did many years ago in the distant past.

NightWatcher

(39,343 posts)

10. No worries. Here in Jacksonville they just did get a high school named after him renamed last year

Reply to In_The_Wind (Reply #9)

Mon Mar 23, 2015, 06:29 PM

Mar 2015

You can be a good Southerner without the flag or the hate it represents (to some, or all, or whatever, I don't care). I don't concern myself with it too much.

geek tragedy

(68,868 posts)

7. I imagine there are Germans who insist that the swastika

Reply to In_The_Wind (Reply #3)

Mon Mar 23, 2015, 06:23 PM

Mar 2015

merely symbolizes national pride, not racism or genocide.

In_The_Wind

(72,300 posts)

11. As I said above, I will never display that flag ever again. But I'm not ashamed of

Reply to geek tragedy (Reply #7)

Mon Mar 23, 2015, 06:29 PM

Mar 2015

being born in the South.

geek tragedy

(68,868 posts)

13. no one should be ashamed of the circumstances of their birth nt

Reply to In_The_Wind (Reply #11)

Mon Mar 23, 2015, 06:41 PM

Mar 2015

Calista241

(5,586 posts)

4. Cooter from Dukes of Hazard is a topic i wouldn't have ever thought would come up here on DU.

Reply to TexasTowelie (Original post)

Mon Mar 23, 2015, 06:12 PM

Mar 2015

I must admit, this show fascinated me as a 7 year old. Ever feel ashamed of stuff you looked up to as a kid when you later find out was super inappropriate?

gratuitous

(82,849 posts)

6. Still the best response I've ever read to the "heritage not hate" argument

Reply to TexasTowelie (Original post)

Mon Mar 23, 2015, 06:20 PM

Mar 2015

I believe it was on DU2, and shame on me, I've forgotten who posted it. But the gist of the response was, "Heritage, huh? Well, my great grandfather* was a member of the 133rd Indiana Irregulars, and it's my family's heritage to shoot any rebel sumbitch fighting under that traitorous rag."

The fatuous first statement, that the flag "has come to be a painful symbol," is just flat-out nonsense. Unless you're seriously arguing that it "has come to be" meaning some time in the last 150 years. It's been a painful symbol for Americans for more than a century and a half, and needs to join other symbols of hatred and inhumanity on the dust-bin of history. It has no place in our society today.

*Probably need a couple of more "greats" for family tree accuracy.
**Or some such outfit; I don't recall the exact designation.

liberalhistorian

(20,819 posts)

8. Who THE FUCK CARES what this

Reply to TexasTowelie (Original post)

Mon Mar 23, 2015, 06:23 PM

Mar 2015

no-talent long-ago-washed-up hack thinks, let alone says? Why the fuck does he think anyone would give a nano pellet of rat shit what he thinks and says? Let him go ride off in the General Lee and crash into a fucking pole or something.