Should The Conferdate Flag Be Banned Entirely?

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After the shooting in Charleston SC, calls for the Confederate flag to be taken down have been increasing, so what is your opinion on this?

It shouldn't appear on any government building or grounds but we all know what happens when stuff gets banned from everywhere, so a complete ban would be fruitless. Keep the flag off government property unless it's some kind of museum or historical thing but don't ban it or there will be a backlash of folks obsessing on it just because someone had the gall to ban something.

All history should be banned.

Nothing can be done about the past, and it leads to disagreements.

Although my knowledge of the flag's history is quite limited, I do not think the government should not fly it, except perhaps in historical exhibits dedicated to the Civil War.

The chances of it happening are very limited and since the removal from the literal statehouse dome the closest it is to the statehouse is at the monument to confederate soldiers on the statehouse grounds. While I hold several personal and more importantly historical reasons for my own reasoning of why it shouldn't come down those are opinionated. I will however cite the major obstacle in the way of those hoping for the flags removal. The South Carolina Heritage Act which stipulates that "streets, parks and other public areas named for historical figures may not be renamed without a two-thirds vote from the state General Assembly". Regardless of any opinions on the matter it is unlikely the flag will be going anywhere soon.

I didn't find any of the three options acceptable. The second option says that it should be kept as a symbol of southern pride, but the reason it shouldn't be banned is because people have a right to free speech, to demonstrate however they please, and to use whatever symbolism they please.

If it cannot be proven that it directly causes sedition, some form of violence, etc. then it is plainly a fundamental disagreement with constitutional American values to suggest that it be banned simply because we don't like it. There is no reasonable correlation that it significantly contributes in any way to hate crimes, so banning it would purely be a concession to sophomoric sensitivities. There is a cost to such rights, and that cost is that we must tolerate all manner of less palatable images and ideas. This is because those rights are a bastion between us and barbarism.

If the confederate flag is a symbol of southern pride, what is the symbol of northern pride?

Best way to cause the confederate flag (or anything else) to proliferate across the U.S. of A is to give it too much press. Even more so if there is legislation to ban it.

*Sigh*
Please tell me this idea wasn't brought up in the media... pointless divisive emotional drivel.
Well I guess the point is the divisiveness...
Of course it shouldn't be banned.

Of course not.

Like John Oliver pointed out, we need it to be able to identify the racists and poopheads.

I just think that a government building probably shouldn't be flying it, let alone flying it at full mast while the state and national flags are at half mast after 9 black people got killed for being black.

After the US Civil War ended, Lincoln and Grant were nice enough to restore US stability. They didn't make waving the confederate flag illegal/consider it treason.
I look at is as a bunch of idiots waving the flag of the defeated. It makes them all look like looser to me.

I agree with this writer:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volo ... rate-flag/

I used to have one from a middle school history project where the class re-fought the civil war by being split up proportionately to the two sides and competing in debates and projects and such; I almost managed to win it for the south, a fact of which I was very proud, since we were outnumbered and at a disadvantage. Probably still kicking around a closet somewhere, all the fuss kind of makes me want to bust it out.

Banned for personal use? Certainly not. But I don't think it should be flown on the flagpoles of government buildings. American flags signal inclusion in the United States and the state flags for each state signal sub-categories within the U.S.

But what does the Confederate flag signal? It isn't a subcategory of the U.S. That was it's whole point. I think it signifies lingering secessionism which is not appropriate for a government building. It says "in the U.S. but not of the U.S." It has historical significance and as such I think it is appropriate in historical displays inside the buildings. But a flagpole outside the building is not a personal expression the way a custom license plate (which is technically government) or store display is. What flies outside a government building (rather than in a historical display case inside) says, "this is who we are". Government buildings in South Carolina (or anywhere in the U.S.) are not part of a confederacy and should not even imply that they are.

It should not be banned at all. I don't consider it to be a symbol of southern pride at all, but as a matter of freedom of speech as others have pointed out.

Secondly, I've always thought that it would be best if some black street gang adopted it as their colors, which would truly subvert the people who claim it as a symbol of 'southern pride' or 'southern heritage' to cover up their real agenda of maintaining the southern status quo.