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

Tue Jun 23 19:10:26 UTC 2015

Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Caveats: NONE

If only he were a semiotician.  Then it would have been obvious.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On
> Behalf Of Jonathan Lighter
> Sent: Tuesday, June 23, 2015 2:09 PM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
> Subject: Re: n-word update (UNCLASSIFIED)
> 
> 
> 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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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
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