The other night I was channel flipping when I came
across a nice Christmas program, it may have been from Rockefeller Center. Trace Adkins was singing and so I stopped to
listen and watch. I’m a sucker for
Christmas programs.
But Trace chose the low road and appeared with an
earpiece that had the Confederate flag emblazoned across it. The camera came in for a close up and Trace
turned his head at just the right moment. He was called out on it but, of
course, claimed it was not meant as an offense to anyone, just his way of
celebrating his Southern heritage.
Really? So the camera just happened to zoom in and he
just happened to turn his head so that he could send his message of bigotry and
racism across the country, thus politicizing what should have been a joyous
celebration for all.
A vulgar public display such as that inflicted on
unsuspecting viewers should never have made it to the airwaves. I blame the network as much as Adkins for
this inappropriate display. How much did Trace pay the cameraman to be in
collusion with him? Why did the network
let him go on with that revolting piece of filth in his ear?
To those complaining, “they are taking the Christ out of
Christmas” I suggest you look no further than your own back yard in order to
identify “they”. They are Trace Adkins singing about a holy night while
promoting unholy prejudice and hatred. They are your friends and neighbors
choosing to spend Thanksgiving Day lined up to buy piles of stuff to stick
under that tree in celebration of the life of their Savior who was born on a
bed of hay and died with only the clothes on his back.
The Christmases of my youth were spent in, yes,
anticipation, because children love presents and it was always a magical moment
to come into the living room and see the empty space beneath the tree from the
night before now filled with colorfully wrapped boxes. But we also spent
Christmas making gifts for others, visiting the sick and elderly and attending
church on Christmas Eve to once again hear the message of peace and love. The
time between Thanksgiving and Christmas was filled with busy preparation for
the celebrations of the season. But it was also a time of family devotions and
private reflection.
So, if you are wondering where the “Christ” is in
Christmas anymore perhaps you should first look within yourself.
Well said rockyny. Very well said indeed.
ReplyDeleteNot that I need reasons to dislike hacks like Trace Adkins but that's one more.
ReplyDeleteOh, but it's just a "reminder" of our southern heritage; a reminder of a time when women, blacks and liberals knew their place.
So this entertainer wore a symbol of treason and repression to celebrate the birth of the Prince of Peace?
ReplyDeleteGo figure.
I was shocked by his behavior. I always thought of Adkins as a stand up guy but this really was off the charts. His behavior is just reprehensible. I was looking to enjoy seeing the tree and listening to a little Christmas music and then this whole bizarre zoom in on his ear and the head turn. I was stunned that first he would do such a thing and second that the network allowed such shameful behavior.
ReplyDeleteI have sent NBC an email expressing my displeasure and I hope others will do the same.
It might have been okay to have a confederate flag in your bedroom circa 1975. But in the information age, it's a kick in the teeth.
ReplyDeleteHere is some beautiful news both about Southern rock and Oklahoma. Not every redneck is evil.
I live in the South and you're right, not every Southern redneck is an evil, ignorant git.
DeleteBut to have a son of the South who has had so much success and is so well known stand up for racism and hatred is a real kick in the teeth for sure.
I agree with Rocky. The trouble with some people is -- perhaps in spite of decent intentions in some cases -- that they think they can radically reconfigure or desaturate a symbol that bears a long history.
ReplyDeleteAs far as I'm concerned, whitewashing the Confederate flag is offensive: it can't easily or entirely be divorced from its C19 status as a badge for slavemasters and secessionists and turned into a happy-face symbol.
Language is a public construct, and symbols, though perhaps a special instance of language, don't belong to individuals any more than ordinary words do. The condition of linguistic meaning is that a word must be able to function in the absence of the individual who speaks it or writes it down.
With that in mind, it's wrong to assert that a Confederate flag doesn't stand for a whole bunch of painful things and past events but instead just means the nice things one wants it to mean.
A contemporary literary theorist once defined history as "the pain of our ancestors" (Fredric Jameson, if memory serves), and I think that kind of insight places an interpretive burden on people when they come to any prominent symbol.
"it's wrong to assert that a Confederate flag doesn't stand for a whole bunch of painful things and past events but instead just means the nice things one wants it to mean"
ReplyDeleteNor any other symbol I'm afraid, and that includes the Stars and Stripes. I won't expatiate in deference to the season other than to paraphrase the Big N and say that every symbol conceals another symbol.
I am shocked (no, I am not shocked) that a program producer did not catch this "wardrobe malfunction" prior to broadcast. It is the same complaint I have with broadcast news: Errors in judgement and sheer stupidity have allowed bigoted messages - no matter how coded, subliminal or specious in content - to be legitimized before mass audiences. Of the so-called Christian holiday message, what Christian message? There have always been people abusing Christianity to justify themselves, folks who don't know the difference between carp and crap and attribute their darkest motives to the Word of the Almighty Cod. Somewhere between outright bigotry and sheer incompetence, no wonder why there are no more objective standards for common decency in our public life.
ReplyDeleteIs there a difference between carp and crap? You are what you eat, after all, and carp are bottom feeders.
ReplyDeleteI don't think most displays of the Confederate flag have a lot of thought behind them. It's just a tribal emblem and we are a tribal country.
Abuse of religion by power and the use of it, no matter how beneficent it might be, to justify one's sins, is so universal I'd be tempted to go out on some thin ice here. God, after all really doesn't have much to say about slavery and reading, even the new testament, it seems to have a "ho hum, that's just the way of things" attitude.
That's not actually an attack on religion -- more of an opinion that no religion is better than its adherents.
Capt, just a question and please read nothing into it. Aren't most (if not all( politicians bottom feeders? Accept my apology for being the quintessential cynic. American politics has helped me develop the malady. Of course I take full responsibility for ALLOWING it to happen.
ReplyDeleteI'm as cynical as anyone, but it's too easy to find fault with politicians. I was really only making fun of fish here though.
DeleteWhere my cynicism comes in here would be to remember who elects this rif-raf and why. Maybe the buck should stop with us - greedy, selfish, short sighted and in love with blaming others for our faults and failures. Easier to invent an invisible black panther party than to admit you've backed a bad candidate who pandered to your own prejudices.
I don't know much about Adkins except that he's a country singer of some popularity and does a public service blurb for a group trying to help returning war veterans. I do happen to know some other Southerners in a more than passing way.
ReplyDeleteI agree it would've been better if Adkins had not worn the stars and bars, better if he had realized the potential for offense to others. Maybe he does now.
To some from the South the stars-and bars-flag does represent regional pride, and their showing of it isn't intended as an affront. Even so, I think they would be wise to forgo that particular display of regional pride, out of sensitivity and from realizing it is used as a show of defiance by some of their fellow Southerners.
On the other side of things, I wish those who find the Confederate flag offensive wouldn't conclude everyone who shows it is a racist and means offense. This wish arises from my understanding of the core belief of bigots that is always, always wrong. That bogus belief is, "They're all alike." Adopting and perpetuating that wrong belief is never helpful to the cause of brotherhood and good will.
Well said SW. I ascribe much of it to innocence and ignorance and sometimes an attempt to remember Southern history without its uglier aspects. As much as I hate racism, I have a picture of my great grandfather in his Confederate Uniform and I don't feel guilty about it.
DeleteLike the swastika, the identity of the Confederate flag is now so entwined in the history of racism and violence that it is impossible to not take offense at its display at a televised Christmas program. Had I known he was wearing it, I would not have even started watching.
ReplyDeleteTrace Adkins can wear his earpiece wherever he wants, he does plenty of concerts and I'm sure his fans don't mind but in a venue intended for a broader group this was inappropriate and insensitive.
The swatika's origins are in Indian religious culture and means "to be good". Is there anyone who looks at a swatika in this day and age and sees it as a symbol of goodness?
I don't have a problem with Trace Adkins or anyone else taking pride in their heritage, I take pride in mine but there is a time and place for everything and Trace's choice to use a national stage was a poor one.
I certainly don't dispute that it was a bad choice! That's where the ignorance factor comes in, I think. I see people who are loudly patriotic, who all but worship the US flag and yet fly the Confederate one without feeling any conflict, which can only be proof of ignorance or stupidity or both.
ReplyDeleteThen there are those who refuse to see the Confederacy or the old south before it as having been an evil society that rode on the backs of oppressed people and insist it was all about their freedom. I have special feelings about those folks with or without flags.