FLOBOTS

^ 21 Comments...

1. Snap_Dragon
   June 16th, 2008 at 1:12 pm

   Isn’t Pennsylvania a bit far north to be flying a confederate flag? Real red neck country Pennsylvania, it’s practically Alabama ;p

2. Hunter-Gatherere
   June 16th, 2008 at 1:44 pm

   I live in Western Pennsylvania and you might be surprised just how many idiots are here waving he rebel flag. Closeted racists.

3. Loran
   June 16th, 2008 at 6:18 pm

   Dude, you have no idea….I heard on the news during the PA primary that the area between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh is called “Big Alabama”….and it’s sooo true. I’ve seen this kind of thing (rebel flags and intolerance) right here in Pittsburgh. There are some really nutty people here.
   -L.

4. Jorge Vega
   June 17th, 2008 at 3:53 am

   Isn’t Pennsylvania a bit far north to be flying a confederate flag?
   We drove up to Maine this past weekend… MAINE… and found ourselves driving behind THREE different trucks with confederate flags or bumper stickers.

   Idiocy defies geography.

5. Calypso
   June 17th, 2008 at 6:48 am

   You’d be surprised! (Well, maybe not) There are 2 HUGE Dodge trucks that drive around town here (in SW PA) with flag poles welded onto both sides of the bed of the trucks that have not one, but TWO confederate flags flying off them. It makes me sick! Every time I see them I yell “Last time I checked, this was the UNITED States of America NOT the Confederate States of America!” I HATE racists!!!

6. Jim North
   June 21st, 2008 at 9:01 am

   If I may offer a slightly opposing viewpoint? Displaying a Confederate flag does *not* automatically mean that one is a racist by any means. For many folks it’s simply a sign of Southern pride, a cultural ideal that doesn’t actually have to have anything to do with slavery or bigotry or anything of the like. Things certainly aren’t helped by those who *do* pick up the flag as a symbol of their racism - and those types are indeed idiots for using that symbol without fully understanding what it stands for - but neither are they helped by people applying the stereotype that everyone who flies a Confederate flag must be racist.

   Prejudice can be a two-way street, folks. But there’s no need to pull into that opposite lane, right?

7. Karitas
   June 25th, 2008 at 3:45 pm

   I think ironically it speaks to the idea that displaying an American flag does *not* automatically mean that one is a war loving, isolationist.

8. Ace
   June 29th, 2008 at 5:36 pm

   theres people like this just about everywhere in america u

9. Puddleshark
   July 6th, 2008 at 6:40 pm

   Gotta agree with Jim North about the Confederate flag, a big part of the idea of the “Rebel states” was to have a weaker central government and more power in State governments.

10. Travis Seitler
    July 7th, 2008 at 1:06 pm

    I just had someone point me to Handlebars. Good stuff!

    I agree with Jim North and Puddleshark re: what the Confederate flag represents; however, similar things can be said for the Swastika. Despite the rich history behind the symbol, it’s been so marred by recent associations that it’s just not kosher to wrap yourself in it.

    Also, I think it’s interesting that these panels are interpreted by some as stereotyping people who display Confederate flags, but not smokers or pickup truck owners.

    I’m reading Lincoln Unmasked right now. It’s just shocking how the popular accounts of the Civil War era seem to be nothing more than baldfaced nationalistic propaganda. It’s such a shame that what was a principled stance (that States reserve the right to secede from the Union) has been disfigured into a grungy, gun-toting, white supremacist caricature of itself. Truth be told, it was “Honest” Abe who tried to get all blacks shipped out of the country!

    Sorry… I’m starting to ramble now. Good comic.

11. Nathan Stewart
    July 7th, 2008 at 6:13 pm

    I find it quite hard to jump to the conclusion that people are racist for flying the confederate flag. I live in New Brunswick Canada and i see it on trucks all the time. I’ve thought about it myself (but instead went with the good ol’ red and white for my truck) for most people it just represents being a rebel. Sure it has a very disturbing history. but for a lot of people it’s just about running rambling and having a good time, no matter what anyone says.

12. Flobot 13
    July 7th, 2008 at 6:25 pm

    What I find most fascinating about this conversation, and this comic is, the comic itself isn’t saying anything at all about the confederate flag and racism. It’s fascinating that that’s the conclusion jumped to just by showing it on a truck. And it goes to show that regardless of the other reasons you might fly this flag, the first thing that comes up is “racism”

    These guys might just not want someone in their neighborhood putting up signs?

13. crayZsaaron
    July 12th, 2008 at 7:37 am

    I live in a little town called Quakertown, Pennsylvania, and it’s like Redneck Town, USA. You’d be surprised how many people are flying confederate flags everywhere. I know that for many, it’s not considered racist at all, but i still think it’s wrong to be flying them like that, since so many people could get offended.

14. Casey
    July 18th, 2008 at 11:01 pm

    Might a southern boy from Alabama jump in on this conversation that’s probably ended by now? I see Rebel flags almost everyday. Not everyone flying them is racist, they just have southern pride. But equally there are many that are racist. I have a friend that loves the rebel flag. He’s a big redneck, and slightly racist. He doesn’t hate black people, they just get on his nerves. But if you lived here and went to school with the black kids we go to school with, you’d probably get annoyed by blacks to. They don’t really make a good name for themselves. It’s almost as if they live up to their stereotypes. You know, like acting all “Gangsta” and loving fried chicken and grape kool-aid. I swear to you they’ll all admit that popeye’s and church’s chicken are their favorite places to eat, and their favorite drink is grape kool-aid. A girl once brought grape kool-aid and vodka to school. Never tried it myself, but it’s probably not that great. My Physical Science teacher was talking about mixing cherry kool-aid and sugar together to form a mixture and this black kid said “Can it be grape kool-aid?” I couldn’t help but laugh.

    But seriously, the rebel flag isn’t necessarily racist, but i wouldn’t fly one because i believe in the USA not the CSA.

15. Havoc
    July 23rd, 2008 at 6:37 am

    Hey from Georgia.

    The highschool I graduated from had a Rebel flying the confederate flag as their mascot. When someone wanted it changed, the community was up in arms against it changing it - Blacks and Whites included. The flag is not about racism, its about heritage and pride and I think that media has blown the racism part out of proportion. If you look at the history of this flag, you’ll find that it was really not part of the civil war. Only one very small part of the confederate army flew it, but it has come to be seen as the this disgusting idea of racism. Unless you live in an area that flies it and talk to and know the people who fly it, you don’t understand what it stands for.

16. J Spade
    August 2nd, 2008 at 5:54 am

    Im from Texas, small town in texas where the Confederate flag is everyday thing. There was a point when I was in High School, where a teacher took a necklace from a student because it was designed as a confederate flag on every bead of it. This particular situation soon turned into an uprise causing students to revolt from the school and push their Souther Heritage even further and really began to become Rebels to everything they were pushing towards them. I was involved in this yes, I stood the side of my Brothers…those who truely stood beside me, and we stood together all of us…did we lose to the school, of course. They choose a vote based upon their feelings and what they think, there was nothing we could do no matter how hard we pressed. The fact that people jump directly to racism over a simple flag that represents my heritage…my pride…my family…it kinda makes me sick. My point is…the rainbow has been around for hundreds of years right? It was just something to view through reflections of the sun and rain, beautiful sight to behold. Not anymore…the people who began this conversation…the ones who saw a flag on the back of a truck and automatically thought racism, do you see a Rainbow and think damn thats gay? is that how far our society has come really? The rainbow is used as a symbol of gay-pride if Im not wrong…but it hasn’t always been that way….just like the Confederate flag never represented racism…but there are people who wear and wave the same flag and show racism of their own accord, they choose the ignorance of saying that the true rebels were racist…which makes no sense….considering that the lead General of the South didnt have slaves (i dont believe, he may have…but I am under the impression that he did not) but the General of the North did….

17. Big B
    August 12th, 2008 at 8:43 pm

    Why is it that the confederate flag can be such a “sign” for “racism” and the American flag isn’t? Are we really forgetting the original racial slaughter of the Native Americans, or does this not fit your story book complaining about inbred racists? In fact, is that not stereotyping, something just as bad as racism?

18. admin
    August 12th, 2008 at 8:51 pm

    Big B. I think alot of us would agree on what you’re saying about the U.S. Flag here.

    Keep in mind, the comic itself, and the story here says nothing about “racism”, it just happens to be on there. Racism and stereotypes were brought up by readers who saw the flag and jumped to that conclusion, which is very interesting. These are simply the characters in this story, and it has nothing to do with race at all. As for stereotyping these guys as “rednecks”– that wasn’t my intention at all. Come to Southwestern Pennsylvania and see these guys pretty much everywhere. It’s not hard to find them, it’s a “slice of life”

    thanks for reading everybody. Keep in mind, this is only the FIRST chapter, you never know when you might see these characters again in some different light.

19. freedom_forever
    October 21st, 2008 at 5:06 pm

    Someone stole a sign where i live. it just really ticks me off how people can be ignorant like that.

20. Whit
    November 12th, 2008 at 3:54 pm

    A flag is a symbol, a symbol is something that stands for or suggests something else by reason of relationship, association, convention, or accidental resemblance. Everyone I have met, and everyone who flies the confederate flag is aware of the stigmatism of it’s relationship with slavery. What I have found though, is that only a few who fly it are racist. This brings up an interesting debate; why do they choose the battle flag of the south? Why not the stars and bars (first confederate flag, though both would have roughly the same symbolism)? The battle flag above all other flags represents the fight for southern freedom, ideals, and culture. I’m fine with that. But the flag is a symbol with meanings and associations. I don’t mind people taking pride in their heritage, but would you be proud of your grandfather if he killed hundreds of innocent people by locking them in a room and filling it with gas? Or burned them to death? Or lined them up to see how many he could kill with a single bullet? Would you fly a Nazi flag and celebrate that? Now, would you be proud of your great-great grandfather for kidnapping women and children, keeping them in starving conditions for months and bonding them in slavery until the day they died? Would you fly a confederate flag? Now don’t get me wrong, open discussion of ideas is the only way to a peaceful future where all battles are fought with words. And after all, the Confderate States arn’t the only ones who kept slaves, and their history is our history too. The only difference between the Confederate flag and the American flag is evolution. The Confederacy no longer exists, and the history associated with the flag is set. The history of the American flag is being written every day. Remember the past, just don’t try to repeat it. To me, flying the Confederate flag represents a desire for the way things were. You can say you fly the confederate flag for southern heritage, but from the dawn of this country, southern, and indeed American heritage depended on slave trade, and slave labor. That easygoing laid back life you love to believe in as your proud cultural background is no better of a background than those of us who came here from Germany, and you’ll never catch me flying a Nazi flag. I’d like to think that in the last 100 years our country has progressed toward becoming a future ideal of coexistence of all people from all backgrounds, until then, I’ll defend your right to say what you want and express what you believe no matter how much I disagree with you; like I said, open discussion of ideas is the only way to a peaceful future where all battles are fought with words.

21. Whit
    November 12th, 2008 at 4:03 pm

    No, in relation to the comic, to me, seeing the confederate flag in this comic is a juxtaposition of past and future, and I actually thought nothing of slavery. My thoughts ran more toward a mentality that is against change, so since this is my first time coming across these comics, it will be interesting to see where the story line leads.