This whole episode has some elements that seem odd to me but then most issues which blow up into national news share that quality.

In a previous high comment episode of a Confederate flag fight here at Dag I took a position much like PP has in this one. [i am going by memory here, I rarely archive anything I have submitted and I don’t feel like searching for examples] This was based largely on my own experience growing up, mostly in Texas, where it was not uncommon to see a friend or acquaintance who had a Confederate flag on the back window of their car or pickup. I think more often if it was a pickup. Of course there were thousands of cars of strangers passing every day and some of them had the same. The thing is though, there were also many, many, other decals on cars which seemed no more significant one way or the other. There were decals saying what kind of stereo was installed. There were decals for Nascar or for aftermarket hop up parts that the car may or may not have installed. Rock Bands were promoted on many a car as were Radio stations. Plenty of blue stars over the word “Cowboys”. All kinds of crap. I even knew one guy who had a big long Pontiac with the word ‘Pontiac’ in big letters stretching from the front door to the trunk. To me, that symbolized idiot. I do not recall anyone ever being asked if their Confederate flag meant they were a white supremacist or maybe supported slavery. That is because that flag didn’t have any such meaning either to the person displaying it on their car or the person seeing it. Yes, I’m talking about young men mostly, kids, really, and I know there must have been exceptions and I know it wasn’t Selma Alabama where I cruised through the hamburger stand listening to the Beach Boys singing about cruising through the hamburger stand. In that place where I was in those days, I graduated from high school in the class of 65, that flag was just one of many ways of decorating a car. That was all, just decoration. It wasn’t a political or philosophical statement. The only one I recall ever having on my car was a bumper sticker that said “I support the right to arm bears”. If anyone knows anyone remotely related to them who was ever harmed by a bear [ I know it has happened] I offer my profuse apology and hope they can someday forgive the responsible bear. If not, maybe I can do it for them. I considered one that said “When guns are banned, only cops will have guns” but I chickened out, I didn’t need any extra crap with the cops. Believe it or not, white boys got the juice kicked out of them too for no good reason.

 So anyway, I stayed out of the whole damned discussion for quite a while as I had given that view from that perspective before but also because this time it all seemed different. Plus, I have made an issue here of the significance of flags with stylized swastikas being a significant indicator or the political philosophy of the most criminal right wing thugs responsible for so much killing in Ukraine following their significant participation in the coup which ousted the elected leader of that country. A flag certainly can be a potent symbol and I am convinced of what that symbol is intended to represent this very day, not just historically.

So, The other day I read the article in Mondoweiss which I posted, a website the editors call "a news website devoted to covering American foreign policy in the Middle East, chiefly from a progressive Jewish perspective". I think it can be considered to be an anti-Zionist site but not an anti-Israel site even if some cannot comprehend the difference. I read Mondoweiss fairly regularly and  I believe they bring valuable information about a subject of interest to me which is our Middle East policy and our relationship with Israel. What I read there nearly always has the ring of truth. And yes, I know that is a view not universally shared.

The way I saw that the article to be a legitimate thought experiment is in how it juxtaposed the reasons voiced so strongly, so convincingly, for the banishment of the Confederate flag with the existence of those same reasons that the Palestinians might hate the Israeli flag.

Isn’t it a bit ironic that most all of the key statements in that made up story were taken as direct quotes from the S.Carolina Governor’s speech which received rave reviews here and in so many other places where the banishment of the Confederate flag is considered to be a great step forward. Rather than a failure of imagination, It seemed to me a pretty imaginative way for Weiss to criticize things about Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians, criticisms I share, and at the same time point out the two way thinking of so many Democrats or liberals, or progressives or whatever brand a person carries who took up the anti-Confederate flag position but never speak up against our heavy, unwavering, unquestioning support of Israel no matter what. That is even as the situation of justice towards the Palestinians is probably worse than that of black Americans even during the days when lynching was common in America. And, if that treatment is actually wrong, we, as voting Americans, share in the responsibility for it.

 I am having a failure of imagination right now. I cannot guess what your 'real' thought experiment is intended to lead to or to help us understand.           

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