The Student Room Group
No

But I would never employ someone who had that piece of **** on any of their clothing items of anything


absolutely vile
Original post by Ambitious1999
The Confederate states flag is considered racist in the USA as it supports slavery. It's also used by white supremacist groups like Arran Brotherhood. In some states the flag is illegal.

Should the flag also be banned or made illegal in Britain for being racist ?


The confederate flag is not illegal in any U.S. state. Some people do consider it to be a symbol of racism however. For this reason some states have elected to remove it from certain government properties. If a private citizen wishes to fly the confederate flag on private property they are completely within their rights to do so.
Original post by Ambitious1999
The Confederate states flag is considered racist in the USA as it supports slavery. It's also used by white supremacist groups like Arran Brotherhood. In some states the flag is illegal.

Should the flag also be banned or made illegal in Britain for being racist ?


No because we don't ban the Battle flag of the Whermact the state flag of nazi germany the SS flag and so on.
I don't think it's in any way moral to ban images, no matter how offensive.

I can't see a truly justifiable reason for any flag to be banned. And it'd certainly be strange to ban the Confederate flag in Britain when we don't even ban the Nazi flag, which is a far more relevant symbol of racism in Britain.

But, no, I would consider it to be a gross violation of freedom of speech and freedom of belief. The state shouldn't encroach upon matters where direct harm is not caused upon a non-consenting individual. For the same reason I strongly object to the worryingly regular occurence of the police getting involved whenever someone tweets or posts on Facebook about something interpreted as "racist". It's not right to criminalise belief, and no matter how morally reprehensible we believe it to be, I don't think there is anything legally wrong with someone privately or even publicly harbouring racist views that do not infringe upon the rights of others.
Original post by King Robbie
I don't think it's in any way moral to ban images, no matter how offensive.

I can't see a truly justifiable reason for any flag to be banned. And it'd certainly be strange to ban the Confederate flag in Britain when we don't even ban the Nazi flag, which is a far more relevant symbol of racism in Britain.

But, no, I would consider it to be a gross violation of freedom of speech and freedom of belief. The state shouldn't encroach upon matters where direct harm is not caused upon a non-consenting individual. For the same reason I strongly object to the worryingly regular occurence of the police getting involved whenever someone tweets or posts on Facebook about something interpreted as "racist". It's not right to criminalise belief, and no matter how morally reprehensible we believe it to be, I don't think there is anything legally wrong with someone privately or even publicly harbouring racist views that do not infringe upon the rights of others.



I totally agree with you on the facebook and twitter matter. Social media should be a place where people can feel free to speak as they like within reason. However people are almost scared to comment on some posts for fear of having their account terminated by FB . That's not freedom of speech, it's like living in a dictatorship! Youtube seems the only social media that is more tolerant.
Original post by Ambitious1999
I totally agree with you on the facebook and twitter matter. Social media should be a place where people can feel free to speak as they like within reason. However people are almost scared to comment on some posts for fear of having their account terminated by FB . That's not freedom of speech, it's like living in a dictatorship! Youtube seems the only social media that is more tolerant.


Generally, I think it's the right of Facebook/Twitter/Youtube if they want to take down a post, video, or image. However I don't think it's right for the police to get involved. Recently the police in Britain have investigated everyone from Katie Hopkins to that girl from Birkbeck university who tweeted the hashtag "kill all white men". It just seems ridiculous. Like a journalist or a student making a stupid remark is going to cause genuine harm to any group of people.

There is a definite culture among some people in the UK who want to regulate, control, and censor information. It's very disturbing. Some of it comes from the left (Those Labour/Green nutjobs who fantasise about banning the Sun) and some from the right (David Cameron/Theresa May seeking to curb encrypted messaging services). I don't think any of it is correct or proper for a free society.
Reply 7
Original post by Ambitious1999
The Confederate states flag is considered racist in the USA as it supports slavery. It's also used by white supremacist groups like Arran Brotherhood. In some states the flag is illegal.

Should the flag also be banned or made illegal in Britain for being racist ?


The Confederate flag isn't illegal anywhere in the USA; though very few states now fly it from public buildings. It's true that it's been hijacked by right wing extremists but it would be wrong to say that the Confederate flag stands only and exclusively for racism.

And no, it shouldn't be banned in the UK especially since far more potent symbols of racism are legal - ie a swastika flag.
(edited 8 years ago)
Well as I support the values the Confederacy stood for, and as it's my avatar, I say no it shouldn't be banned.
Say what you will about the flag itself but is there really much need to ban something that is so infrequently used? :tongue:
Reply 10
Original post by Ambitious1999
The Confederate states flag is considered racist in the USA as it supports slavery.


Does it? The American Civil War was about rather more than slavery.
Original post by ckingalt
The confederate flag is not illegal in any U.S. state. Some people do consider it to be a symbol of racism however. For this reason some states have elected to remove it from certain government properties. If a private citizen wishes to fly the confederate flag on private property they are completely within their rights to do so.


Original post by Howard
The Confederate flag isn't illegal anywhere in the USA; though very few states now fly it from public buildings. It's true that it's been hijacked by right wing extremists but it would be wrong to say that the Confederate flag stands only and exclusively for racism.

And no, it shouldn't be banned in the UK especially since far more potent symbols of racism are legal - ie a swastika flag.


Both of these things.

All of the new world posters on here seem so sensible and well-adjusted.
No.
Reply 13
No.
You want to do some real research. The confederate flag and civil war had nothing to do with slavery. The flag was created becase the original flag looked to similar to the north's flag and they wanted to stop people mistakenly shooting there own soldiers.. And the war wich was started by the north was because abraham Lincoln didnt want the first democratic country being split in two. There were people on both sides that wanted slavery and people in both sides that didnt. Atleast with the Confederate army black people were given equal rights and equal pay unlike the north. What you might not know Is the Confederate army had thousands of black and Mexican soilders willingly fight for them including native americans. The confederate army even had a native american general. The north didnt though did they! The north believed they were above black people and refused equal pay to black troops. Abraham Lincoln said black people should consider themselves lucky they were even aloud to wear the north's uniform. All fact and if you bothered to look it up instead of listening to the people who treat black people as second class citizens you might have a different opinion.

Edit. Yes there are scumbags who use the flag for there campaign of hate unfortunately but that doesnt mean it's a rasist flag! Are you going to ban the english flag for all the people enslaved under that flag or how about the the american flag seen as they have killed thousands of innocent people in illegal wars to gain oil,money and power. Maybe we should ban the African flag for what the African leaders have done to there own people and then theres the Israeli and Palestinian flags should we ban those too?
(edited 2 years ago)

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