And appearently plenty have and a few more intend to express their opinion based upon the man's actions. But everybody has assumed that they know what the mans intentions and purpose were in displaying that flag.
That is my problem and my point. This runaway judgemental attitude that the man has to be displaying the CBF for racist purpose. AND the very reason that everyone runs to defend the Battle flag is because they have assumed it is displayed for racist reasons. That was the jest of your very first comments was that you were surprise that radicals had not lambasted the man and that the responce had been reasonable defences of the CBF.
Well! Can you say without a doubt that he is displaying the CBF for racist reasons and not for Anti Big Government/Big Brother reason?
Maybe, I am giving the man more discresion that he deserves, maybe even the benifit of the doubt. But in my past lifetime as a law enforcemnet officer I saw many things that I did not like, nor approved of. But because what I saw was not against any laws, I could do nothing about. Because as a law enforcement officer it was against the law to enforce my personal opinion under the color of law.
So in a way what you call "a Challenge by those who disagree with his display" to me is a form of lawlessness. A failure to respect the right of the man to display the flag of his choice whatever his reason. No one seems to complain when the "Black Panthers" of the '60's who displayed the African flag as an anti american and racist symbol. But they did complain about the CBF.
The same type of lawlessness that was practised by radical abolishionist who did not agree with the lawful practises of 1860. And that espression of disagreeing opinion grew into a Civil War without respect for the laws of the times.
It is only respect for the laws that keeps us together as a multi-curtural country. Not unbridled free expression of our opinions.
You know I drive on average 1,800 miles a week in my present job and I see a lot of Battle flags flying. I also see a lot of 1st National "Stars and Bars" flags flying. What is that all about?
Are those of us who are historians afraid to fly the battle flag because we are going to be attacked by both friend and foe? How do you determine why people flying the Battleflag? Are they all automatically assumed to be racist?
I also see Irish flags. I see African flags, Mexican and you name it. What is their intent? Why doesn't someone write those people about the fact that this is the United States of America and not Africa, or Ireland, or Mexico, or for that matter of fact even the Confederacy. No, we have selected one man in North Arkansas because the Newspaper and T.V. Stations have made an issue of his flying a Confederate Battle Flag. His remarks as to why he is flying that flag are irreliment.
What is going on here, in my opinion, is no different that a rabble rouser (the Arkansas Dem-Gaz) incition a mob (the public) to riot (express their opinions) because they (the Dem-Gaz) didn't approve of that man actions (displaying the CBF) and at the worst the man's political protest (which could be contorted into racism). It smack of a "reeducation" effort directed against the man, (and in fact at US) so that he (and WE) will think the proper thoughts. And that is what worries me about educated historians becoming involved in that effort by condeaming the man on his usage of the CBF and "reeducating" him as to how we think he should "honor" that flag.
If I am wrong in my attitude so be it. To me there are bigger principals involved here than whether or not the man is a racist and is displaying the Confederate battleflag.