Different people have different interpretations of the Tennessee Battle Flag ... why, after 152 years, are folks reacting to the flag as if it's now worse than the Nazi State Flag ?

That flag was not the actual state flag of the 'Confederate States Of America' ... THIS was . By the end of the civil war, THIS was the official battle flag.

Though the flag has changed the intent hasn't. The current Confederate flag is still a representation of the old Confederate ways: secession, slavery, segregation. That's my interpretation of the events anyway.

Pretty much what Alpha ProgDes said, except now it has been combined with someone being shown draped in it who also went on to shoot and kill 9 black people in a Church - maybe that event on its own wouldn't have caused all this but coming on the back of all the other events of late, well you can see why people might be a bit upset (he says, understating) about the continued use of it and the flying of it in various locations.

That flag was not the actual state flag of the 'Confederate States Of America' ... THIS was .

That was the national flag in the early years of the war, before the white flag was adopted. (The Stars And Bars looked too much like the US flag when no wind was blowing, and could lead to deadly confusion on the battlefield.)

By the end of the civil war, THIS was the official battle flag.[/quote]
No, that was the final national flag. The crossed bars at upper left was still the battle flag. The red bar was added across the end because the white flag looked too much like a flag of surrender, and could lead to deadly confusion on the battlefield.

The current Confederate flag is still a representation of the old Confederate ways: secession, slavery

Absolutely. The Confederacy was founded upon the southern states' "right" to continue the use of slavery.

[snip]
That was the national flag in the early years of the war, before the white flag was adopted. (The Stars And Bars looked too much like the US flag when no wind was blowing, and could lead to deadly confusion on the battlefield.)

[snip]
No, that was the final national flag. The crossed bars at upper left was still the battle flag. The red bar was added across the end because the white flag looked too much like a flag of surrender, and could lead to deadly confusion on the battlefield.

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From my understanding of Confederate history...

This was the first state flag

This was the second state flag

This was the third state flag

....

This was the first battle flag

This was the second battle flag

This is what I find absurd, personally: http://www.businessinsider.com/civil-war-games-return-to-app-store-without-confederate-flag-2015-6

It feels very close to altering history to me.

This is what I find absurd, personally: http://www.businessinsider.com/civil-war-games-return-to-app-store-without-confederate-flag-2015-6

It feels very close to altering history to me.

Context doesn't matter, only peoples moral outrage.

Note: I'm not from the south, I don't live in the south, I don't approve of slavery, etc... etc...

Absolutely. The Confederacy was founded upon the southern states' "right" to continue the use of slavery.

Somewhat, but that's a bit of an oversimplification. While slavery was a major part of it, State vs Federal control was a major part and outlawing of slavery was more of a final straw for the South.

Many people who fought for the North held slaves, and many people who were anti-slavery went and fought for the South. On its own, slavery was a big issue (partly because a major part of the South's economy depended on slavery), but only led to war because of the southern states were already feeling marginalized by the Northern states' control of the federal government. It became a war of holding together the union of the states as one nation (modern USA) vs having a bunch of more independant states tied together economically (kinda like what I imagine the European Union might be like - but I don't know how the EU operates).

Slavery became the major issue of the civil war - but it wasn't the sole cause, and on its own very likely wouldn't have led to war.

If people rally around the confederate flag as a cultural symbol, I've no problem with that.

But when that culture includes racism, and people rally around the flag as a symbol of that racism, that's a problem - but still within their freedom of speech (removing the symbol won't remove the racism). I'm pro-Israel, but Americans still have the right of getting a swastika tattooed on them. If a swastika was added to a government building, however, I'd have a huge problem with that.

And that's my biggest issue with the confederate flag: when the state governments fly them on government ground. While they may or may not be making a cultural statement, it can easily be perceived as, and probably often is, a racial statement as well. It practically gives government approval of racism - a smile and a wink at racism.

This is what I find absurd, personally: http://www.businessinsider.com/civil-war-games-return-to-app-store-without-confederate-flag-2015-6

It feels very close to altering history to me.

Frankly, that's just stupid. A US civil war game is supposed to have the confederate flag.

And mind you, I have no real love or care for the confederate flag. But that's taking PC too far.

A US civil war game is supposed to have the confederate flag.

And mind you, I have no real love or care for the confederate flag. But that's taking PC too far.

Yes. Apple ticked off Taylor Swift 6 days ago, and ticked Tom Sloper off 2 days ago. What have they got against people whose initials are TS???