To the Guy Flying a Confederate Flag in Exeter, New Hampshire

[KamaAina]

http://emilycheath.com/2015/07/03/to-the-guy-flying-a-confederate-flag-in-exeter-new-hampshire/

I saw your truck parked in front of the Rite-Aid, right by the Dunkin Donuts. Two large Confederate flags were attached to the back of it, waving in the wind. The American flag was, incongruously (and in violation of the flag code), in the center. And, I have to confess, I don’t get it.

Part of me wanted to ask obvious questions: You know you are in New Hampshire, right? And, you know New Hampshire was not a part of the Confederacy?

I ask this because I’m not so sure you do. Here we are in a northern town, a place that gave her sons up to the Union Army and lost them on the battlefields of the Civil War. A place where locals organized early against slavery and led the charge against it across the country. A place where 150 years ago that flag would have been seen as a symbol of treason.

I grew up in the South where I saw plenty of Confederate flags. My college campus had a small Confederate cemetery on it and every Confederate Memorial Day (do you know when that is, by the way?) they’d be decorated with those flags. And I lived in a state where that Confederate emblem was on the flag for far too long.

Must be southern New Hampshire. And I sincerely hope that Exeter is nowhere near Marlborough, or Pitt will make this loser wish he'd never been born.

[4Q2u2]

1. Central NH

Exeter is Central NH but lots of Mass folks driving by and through getting to lakes region.

[bunnies]

11. Exeter is about 20 minutes from the coast, actually.

If youre going through Exeter to get to the lakes region, youre lost.

[4Q2u2]

14. Correct

I was thinking of Epson.

But taking 95 to 16 is a good backdoor approach.

[bunnies]

15. I wish. Nothing "backdoor" about it.

I work in Hampton and have to take 95 to 16 home. This time of year there are more MA plates than NH any day of the week. Luckily there are still some really back roads that only the locals know about. No way to avoid the General Sullivan Bridge though. And thats the real killer.

[4Q2u2]

16. It has been awhile for me

My parents have a place up in the lakes region for the last 50 years. I have not been there in a while.
With GPS and all the other tech there are very few hidden roads anymore. I am near the Cape so this time of year is not my ideal commute either.

[bunnies]

18. Oh, boy.

Just mentioning The Cape makes my jaw clench. You get all of us clogging your roads and we get all of you. Its such a beautiful area though. Heres to our mutual summer traffic misery...

[world wide wally]

2. If he wants to be a traitor, why not just fly and ISIS flag?

[Bonhomme Richard]

3. Tea Party - Copperheads

The same thing. They were in the north during the Civil War and they are there now.

[Warpy]

4. He wants you to know he's a red-blooded American asshole

so you can avoid him like the plague he and his kind are.

[B Calm]

5. We have an idiot here in north Indiana doing the same thing. I think it is white

racist hate mongers doing this.

[noa]

6. and mean while on Amazon - Mississippi flag is trending

Apparently the demand for the only state's flag with the confederate battle symbol on is more popular than ever on Amazon... that's a shame...

http://www.vocativ.com/news/208307/sales-of-the-mississippi-flag-are-soaring-on-amazon/

"According to Amazon.com, the Mississippi state flag is now one of the top-selling pennants on the website. Only the American flag, the state of California flag, and the Gadsden flag, which is a potent symbol among Libertarians, are more popular. The upper left corner of the Mississippi flag contains the Confederate battle emblem."

[LanternWaste]

8. The marketplace caters to the lowest common demonstrator

The marketplace caters to the lowest common demonstrator-- one of the reasons it's so effective.

[ileus]

7. Maybe a Sig employee.

[aikoaiko]

9. I lived in NH and plenty of life-long NHfolks would embrace the battle flag as an FU.

But more likely, a southerner crossed the Mason-Dixon line.

[Mnemosyne]

10. Wanna' be pirate poser! nt

[bunnies]

12. I know a Georgia transplant (to NH) who flies one proudly, in front of his gun store.

Damn things always made me cringe. He'll never understand why.

[Uncle Joe]

13. Newton's Laws of Motion, Third Law

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newton%27s_laws_of_motion

Third law: When one body exerts a force on a second body, the second body simultaneously exerts a force equal in magnitude and opposite in direction on the first body.

As to why he's flying both flags, he and many like him have emotional, and intellectual ties to both.

It would be convenient if there were simple answers to everything but life is full of contradictions.

Thanks for the thread, KamaAina.

[hamsterjill]

17. There's a fool driving Loop 1604 in San Antonio with one waving in the back of his truck.

Probably some idiot with a chip on his shoulder who is DARING someone to knock it off. And someone will eventually. Pains me to no end that his stupidity will take up valuable police presence in a city with homicide, drugs and burglaries and not enough police officers to handle everything.

Of course it is NOT illegal for this idiot to fly that flag in the back of his truck. But like most things, one has to question whether or not it's a very wise thing to do at this moment in history.

[FSogol]

19. Get a good magnifying glass, go across the street and focus the glass on the flag....