Thursday, March 20, 2003

Dean and Dixie

Over at the Howard Dean blog, there's been a little discussion of the concern about Dean's use of the Confederate flag symbology that I raised earlier.

The otherwise amiable Aziz Poonawalla disputes my concern that Dean is signaling the wrong segment of rural society:
Personally, I have to disagree. I live in Texas and I see a lot of Confederate flags myself -- and I think that the perception of anyone who has a C flag on their truck is a closet racist (implied in Orcinus' argument) is blatant Yankee stereotyping. I despise the Confederate Flag and what it stands for but the truth is that it has become a social rallying point for conservatives, not because of racial overtones, but rather in response to the "liberal onslaught" of progressive ideology such as welfare, multilingual education, immigration, secularism, political correctness, affirmative action, etc. When you hear a Southerner speak fondly of Dixie and Southern Culture, they aren't talking about returning to the cotton plantations as massah and boy. They are literally too far removed from that era to really be tied to it.

It's true that many of these people will never vote for Dean anyway. But the point is not to try and appeal to those confederate flag wavin' pickup drivin' gun tootin' whoever they are -- it's to appeal to the moderate conservatives, the ordinary people, who may be attracted by Dean's message of affordable health care but still have closer cultural ties to the more "redneck" (to use the gross stereotype) types. You can't attract Southerners to your platform without demonstrating respect for their concerns -- and Dean's soundbite is (I believe) an honest recognition of this.

FWIW, I see a lot of Confederate flags up here in the Pacific Northwest too. And they are all too frequently a sign of extremist, if not outright racist, beliefs. When you come across them in Montana, they're often a sign of trouble. Not always, of course, but often enough to make one wary after awhile.

Let's put it this way: Back when it gathered at Hayden Lake, nearly every car in the parking lot at the annual Aryan Nations Congress sported one.

And then, of course, there was the case of the manslaughter in Ocean Shores sparked by a hate crime a couple of years ago in which the Confederate flag played a prominent role. (The lead actor in this case was knocking on the window of a convenience store, pointing at the Asian men inside, waving his Dixie flag at them, then running his finger under his throat. At this point one of the men stole a paring knife in shrink-wrap, which would prove the turning point in the case. Later the young white man blocked their exit by standing in front of their car and holding up the flag with both hands. This is what ultimately led to the fatal fight.)

Obviously I'm not going to assume that everyone who festoons their rig with a Dixie flag is a racist; and obviously the symbol will probably have broader meaning in the South. But there are going to be some strong cross-currents as well, which is to say that the flag is obviously claimed by some strong extremist elements in the South as well.

This is something that perhaps Southerners don't quite understand: Their symbol has gained quite a bit of currency outside the South as well, and not among ex-Southerners.

Remember that an extremist is not necessarily a racist. The Dixie flag, as it happens, has become a banner for a broad stripe of right-wing extremists. It also has gained some currency, as one poster suggests, with the hate-PC "Freeper" crowd, though I would argue that this only further indicates their own, vehemently denied but often transparent, inclinations regarding race.

Clearly many supporters of the Dixie flag are part of genuine Southern heritage groups which are explicitly non-racist. On the other hand, I think it's unquestionable that the leading political component of the battle over the Confederate flag, and the most pugnacious promoters of its use, are the leaders of the neo-Confederate movement, whose racist inclinations are largely beyond serious dispute.

Look, I made clear in the same post that I fully understood the thrust of the remark and moreover that I strongly agree with it. I'm just sending up a red flag. The way he is couching this meme strikes a wrong chord with me and many others. It doesn't mean my view of Dean as the clearly superior candidate in the Democratic field has changed an iota.

At least one other poster agrees with me:
Dump it, dump it, dump it. Not only do I find it personally offensive, but in a couple videos I've seen him stumble over the phrase. It's awkward and it makes him look unprofessional and uncomfortable. At the very least, please get him to skip the word "decals."

Another chimes in:
Yeah, decals is lame. go with 'stickers' at least. can anyone think of a better phrase to identify the demographic he means, though? Without using the words poor, redneck, NASCAR, or mullet?

How about just plain old pickup?

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