The Mosque, The Confederate Flag ... And "Offense"

A reader writes:

When there was a debate in South Carolina over whether its statehouse should fly the Confederate battle flag, African-Americans said they were offended by the state’s honoring a flag that stood for the enslavement of their ancestors.  Many white southerners responded by saying that they should not be held responsible for the misdeeds of their predecessors, that not all southerners were racist, and that they had a right to honor their heritage, even if some chose to be offended.  In this case, as with the case of the NYC mosque, the right-wing of the GOP stood with … white Christians.

And that appears to be the sole remaining principle of today's Dixie Republicanism: the rationalization of white evangelical paranoia.

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