[Ads-l] n-word update (UNCLASSIFIED)

Tue Jun 23 19:08:47 UTC 2015

I just checked with a white lawyer friend of mine - a lifelong Tennessean
of rural background, a Democrat, a supporter of liberal clauses, and a
former history major.

I asked if he'd ever thought the Tennessee state flag "resembled" the CSA
flag.

He said, "I never thought about it before. I just remember thinking it was
an attractive design. ...Now that I do think of it...There's no
resemblance."

But maybe he was in deep, deep denial. The more I stare fixedly, with my
mind blank, the more it starts to remind me of the *Nazi* flag...red
background, charged disk in the middle with white, same shape...Strange....

Jeez!  Alert the media!

JL

On Tue, Jun 23, 2015 at 2:33 PM, Mullins, Bill CIV (US) <
william.d.mullins18.civ at mail.mil> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Mullins, Bill CIV (US)" <william.d.mullins18.civ at MAIL.MIL>
> Subject:      Re: n-word update (UNCLASSIFIED)
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
> Caveats: NONE
>
> The North Carolina Flag evokes the Texas Flag, not the Confederacy.
>
> All of the "connections" between the Tennessee flag and the Confederacy
> com=
> e from an article by Steven Knowlton, who is an Asst Professor at the Univ
> =
> of Memphis.  His BA (History) and MLIS (Lib Sciences) are from Michigan
> uni=
> versities, so he must be a Yankee and and his arguments and conclusions
> are=
>   therefore SUSPECT. =20
>
> His argument boils down to "People in the South pined for the Confederacy.
> =
>  Therefore similarities between the Tn flag and the Confederate Battle
> Flag=
>  (white stars on a blue charge, red and blue design elements) evoke the
> Con=
> federate flag.  QED."
>
> Never mind that the elements in the TN flag which are common to the
> Confede=
> rate flag are also common to the U.S. Flag, and are in general good
> patriot=
> ic design elements which are common to many flags which have nothing to do
> =
> with, and predate, the Confederacy (see Betsy Ross designs, or French or
> Br=
> itish flags).
>
> Never mind that the guy who designed the TN flag wrote openly about what
> th=
> e design elements symbolized, and none of them had anything to do with the
> =
> Late Unpleasantness.  Never mind that he lived in East Tn, a pro-Union
> part=
>  of the state.  Never mind that contemporary news coverage of the new flag
> =
> never mentioned any connection to the Confederacy.
>
> Plus, Godwin's law applies to his article.  Nazi flags evoked elements of
> e=
> arlier German flags, therefore TN flag evokes CSA.
> =20
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On
> > Behalf Of Jonathan Lighter
> > Sent: Tuesday, June 23, 2015 11:31 AM
> > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> > Subject: Re: n-word update (UNCLASSIFIED)
> >=20
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header ---------------
> > --------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> > Subject:      Re: n-word update (UNCLASSIFIED)
> > -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> > --------
> >=20
> > If you think that's a reach, try North Carolina....
> >=20
> > Much of this argument strikes me as offensively patronizing. The case
> > of South Carolina was egregious: the battle flag went up over the State
> > House in 1961 as a protest against the Civil Rights Movement. That was
> > back when Strom "Dixiecrat" Thurmond was a U.S. Senator. Some years ago
> > an attempt was made to remove the flag, which ended in the compromise
> > that it would not be flown over the House, but must continue to be
> > flown in the grounds.
> >=20
> > Wikipedia doesn't seem to cover these events, so I'm relying in CNN.
> >=20
> > That's an actual Confederate flag, not a design perhaps suggested by it
> > (or vaguely suggesting it). And regardless of the Civil War, it was
> > placed there as an intentional affront to black people and the federal
> > government.
> > Within living memory.
> >=20
> >=20
> > JL
> >=20
> > On Tue, Jun 23, 2015 at 11:01 AM, Mullins, Bill CIV (US) <
> > william.d.mullins18.civ at mail.mil> wrote:
> >=20
> > > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > > -----------------------
> > > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > > Poster:       "Mullins, Bill CIV (US)"
> > <william.d.mullins18.civ at MAIL.MIL>
> > > Subject:      Re: n-word update (UNCLASSIFIED)
> > >
> > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> > -
> > > ---------
> > >
> > > Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
> > > Caveats: NONE
> > >
> > > >=3D20
> > > > Another topic of growing controversy is whether the flags of seven
> > > >Southern states should be replaced because of some historical
> > > >connection or visual resemblance to one or another Confederate flag.
> > > > (The Mississippi flag actually includes the rebel flag in its
> > > >canton.)
> > > >=3D20
> > >
> > > I'm surprised that some of the flags have any connection to the
> > > Confederacy=3D .  I grew up in TN, and have always thought that the TN
> > > flag is well design=3D ed and attractive.  The arguments that is
> > > connected to the Confederacy coul=3D d be just as easily applied to say
> > > it is connected to the Republic.  I thin=3D k they are reaching.
> > >
> > > Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
> > > Caveats: NONE
> > >
> > > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> > >
> >=20
> >=20
> >=20
> > --
> > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> > truth."
> >=20
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
> Caveats: NONE
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

-- 
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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