Saw a car slathered with anti-choice and pro-confederacy bumperstickers this past weekend

[LynneSin]

I was up in PA at a Farmers Market and parked beside a car that had all these anti-choice stickers and a few confederate flags plastered on their bumper.

It just baffles my mind. So allowing a woman to make her own choice with her body is evil but celebrating an American Heritage that used the slavery of African Americans as the backbone of their economy is good?

Crazy people out there!

[PADemD]

1. Just curious

What part of PA were you in?

[LynneSin]

2. Right by the Delaware border - Boothwyn PA

Nice farmers market but they need a bigger parking lot. And the car did have PA plates so that's even worse - a car in a Yankee state celebrating southern hate.

[PADemD]

4. Not at all surprised

What James Carville said about Pennsylvania is true:

"Pennsylvania is Philadelphia and Pittsburgh with Alabama in between."
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/James_Carville

[3catwoman3]

9. I have heard the term...

..."Pennsyltucky" for certain parts of the Keystone state

[cindge]

3. Yeah, the Rebel flag thing

I had to run a work errand that required a strong back, so I took with me one of the high school kids who works at our store. He had been talking about maybe joining the Army. Good for you, kid, that's not a bad plan given your apparent lack of money (and I deeply respect the Army, having done several joint tours with them). We got to talking about tattoos (as in, if you've got a bunch of gang shit, the Army won't take you), and he said he had a confederate flag on his arm, and was getting one that said "Rebel" across his shoulders.

We talked about that, and we talked about "Are you a racist?" Because, he should realize, that's what a lot of people think when they see the flag. I told him an Army recruiter might ask him the same thing. I didn't feel bad a bit. If you are going to have a tattoo that implies an ideology (which I think the confederate flag does), better be prepared to explain how you do or don't subscribe to it. For the rest of your life. He honestly couldn't answer that he wasn't a racist (at least he was honest), so I pretty much told him he was a lousy candidate for the Army. Like the military needs any more of that shit. He said he grew up in Washington State around a lot of thug culture, so that's what turned him into this. (???) Anyway, he's about as redneck as it gets. Weird. I wonder how his life will turn out. The military has given a LOT of disadvantaged kids a chance, but dang, you've got to at keep that negative shit under wraps.

As an American, it is his free choice to get any tattoo he wants. It's also my prerogative to make some judgments about said tattoo. He's not a bad kid, as far as I can tell (which isn't very far, admittedly). Is there a sliding scale of tattoo offensiveness? What if it had been a KKK? A swastika?

I tried to glean from him whether he believed in the ideology, or was just trying to fit in, some "Hey, we've got our own gang" inclusion thing. Alas, that level was way over his 17 yr old brain.

Is the flag racist? Debate.org says 50/50 yes/no. http://www.debate.org/opinions/is-the-confederate-flag-racist. Maybe I overthought the whole thing? Maybe it's way over MY head?

If so, he missed a chance to enlighten ME.

[theHandpuppet]

5. One of the worst bumper stickers I've ever seen was...

I was in traffic and the car ahead of me sported a bumper sticker with a portrait of MLK against a backdrop of the Capital building and the words, "I HAVE A DREAM". I thought that was cool until I pulled closer and saw that above the Capital was flying the stars and bars.

[JJChambers]

6. The flag is only as racist as the person displaying it:

It does not automatically confer racism on behalf of those who display it, but it's a pretty big clue.

[GeorgeGist]

7. It's anti-American ...

so I expect the US military would not want him.

[CTyankee]

12. thank you! I like that argument but even here at DU you hear the old "oh, it's more of

a culture thing."

No, it is not and it should not be tolerated and challenged on every occasion. The Confederacy was conspiring against the legitimate government of the United States of America. While I agree that we had to grant amnesty to Confederate soldiers I cannot see modern supporters of the Confederacy as anything but anti-American.

[3catwoman3]

10. Kudos for your efforts to engage...

... this young man in what you hoped would be an enlightening conversation.

When considering the old aphorism that says, "You can't judge a book by its cover," I have long thought that there are some definite limitations to it. If I see a book cover with a long-haired handsome hunk leaning over the bountiful bosom of a woman in in a low cut gown, I am reasonably certain it is not a math or physics book without opening it.

[Baitball Blogger]

8. My neighbors must be on vacation.

Tell them I miss them. Not.

[Mariana]

11. It makes perfect sense to me.

This person clearly believes that women (of all races) and African Americans (of both sexes) are inferior beings who need to be controlled - for their own good, of course.

[PasadenaTrudy]

13. That's one thing

you never see in Los Angeles! Thank goodness.