Because he’s a racist, dear.

[Rhea]

(Maybe this belongs in morals, instead?)

Dear Daughter: Mama, what is the red flag with the blue X and the stars?
Me: That’s the confederate flag. Aka the battle flag of the Army of Northern Virgnia. Aka the flag of the KKK. Aka the “Southern Cross”
DD: why does our neighbor have one?
M: Because he’s a racist, dear.
Dear Husband: well, the more charitable explanation is that he sees it as a symbol of not wantiing to be coerced by a government.
M: The anti-oppression one would be the Gadsden flag, “Don’t tread on me.”
DH: Good point. Which is the flag the NEXT neighbor (#2) has. Along with his “III” sticker on his truck.
M: and that one is not racist. The only reason a Northerner flies the confederate flag is racism.
DH: I would argue that the NEXT next neighbor (#3) is the more blatant racist, he still has his Trump/Pence signs up.
M: And he polishes them - dusts them off when they get dirty. Though I would argue those signs are not as racist as a Northerner flying the Confederate flag.
DD: Do we know neighbor #1 is a northerner?
M: Oh, yeah. When he first moved in, I took him a plate of brownies to welcome him. He said he didn’t need my stinkin’ brownines, his family has lived in this town for 150 years, he is not a newcomer.
DH: the other two have been here for generations, too.
DD: Nice neighborhood, mom.

 

[southernhybrid]

Even here in the south, it's usually only what we commonly refer to as "rednecks" that fly confederate flags. Not rednecks in the traditional sense, but rednecks as the word is now commonly used to describe ignorant, racist white folks. My neighborhood used to be delightfully quiet and peaceful until the rednecks moved in across the street. They used to drive around with a confederate flag flying off of the back of their pick up truck, but I haven't seen that flag since the presidential election. They are still very noisy as we can hear the truck inside of our home, even with the windows closed, but I haven't seen any flags or political signs in the yard for a long time. I'm thankful for that. Those flags are usually seen in rural areas, not in the city limits of our little city.

I'm not going to claim that every person who loves the confederacy is a terrible racist. A lot of the love of the confederacy is due to ignorance and/or tradition, or a desire to identify with something traditional. But, I do agree with you Rhea. It's very suspicious when northerners fly confederate flags. What exactly are they trying to say?

It's often been said that people like my neighbors do things like that just to piss off liberals. I believe it. I believe that's why so many of them support Trump. It's not that they like or even know much about the man. They just know that liberals hate him, and that's enough for them. It's sad.

 

[bilby]

Doing things intended to piss off other people is one way to get noticed.

Everyone is the lead character in the story of their life; And when you are the most important person in the world, but people ignore you (for no reason other than that you are completely unimportant to them), all you can do to redress the balance is to annoy them until they pay attention.

Tribalism - particularly where it allows you to declare yourself to be persecuted - is a great way to get noticed. As part of a smaller group than the unmanagably large 'society', you can be a big fish in your small pond; and by annoying the occupants of other nearby ponds, you can make your pond get the attention due an ocean.

There's only one thing worse than being talked about.