Me007gold

WB is no longer going to license Dukes of Hazzard merchandise with that flag on it

http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/...ry?id=31993341

Ky-Fi

I think the only reasonable next step is to put the surviving cast on televised trials where they publicly admit their guilt, express their remorse, and condemn the creators of the show.

CaptainMarvel

That would be funny if it was far-fetched.

creekdipper

And those older items will instantly go up in price.

Interesting that eBay has announced that it will no longer allow CSA flag merchandise. http://www.mediaite.com/online/ebay-...federate-flag/

I just now looked and saw that several Nazi flags had been sold on the site this month.

Me007gold

Selective outrage.

JasonF

Really? You think the idea of putting Tom Wopat on trial isn't far-fetched?

Look, I get that for some people, America is all about never, ever, ever admitting we were ever anything less than perfect, andwhen somebody suggests that maybe we don't want to fly the racist treason flag, the perfect response is to sarcastically take it to the extreme and suggest that anybody who ever watched an episode of Dukes of Hazard is worse than the Klan crossed with Hitler to the power of a lynch mob, but really. It's entirely possible to acknowledge, for example, that Mickey Rooney's character in Breakfast at Tiffany's was kind of racist without wanting to dig up his bones and piss all over them.

Me007gold

Removing it from the capital building, and completely removing it from sale are two very different things. That's the beauty of America, if you want to make your self look like you fool, you have that ability. You do not have the right to not be offended.

CaptainMarvel

You flog that great big old hyperbolic strawman to death if it makes you feel like you have a point. Go for it.

No, I doubt he would be put on an actual civil trial. We're not quite at that point yet. But I can absolutely see him get put on trial in the court of public opinion, especially if he has the temerity to point out the usage of the flag in DoH had nothing at all to do with racism or slavery.

Ky-Fi

The fact that WB has stopped licensing Dukes of Hazzard toys over this is not an example of ME taking things to ridiculous extremes.

http://www.rollingstone.com/tv/news/...-flag-20150624

But don't let me stand in the way of the great Cultural Revolution.

JasonF

I'm not sure I follow your point.

If I were a legislator in South Carolina, I wouldn't want the treason flag to be what people think of when they think of my state.

If I were a retailer, I wouldn't want to offend a large proportion of my customer base by making money off of something that so many of them -- quite reasonably, in my opnion -- find offensive.

I'm not either of those things, though. I'm just a guy who is reasonably certain that nobody is looking to put Catherine Bach in jail any time soon.

(Cue the James Best death conspiracy theories ...)

General Zod

Agreed.

Do you think there will be a push to make the flag illegal to fly even on private property?

Me007gold

Removing it form the capital is reasonable, removing it from sale isnt. Out of all these retailers that sold flag related items, how many of them lost sales because they sold Confederate flag items? Did people even know they sold those items? Do they even really care? The image of the flag did not make that kid kill. Hate did. He would have done it even if there was no flag.

hdnmickey

This.

The amount of this kind of reaction to finally removing a symbol of racism is getting creepy IMO. It wasn't right for the Dukes TV show to have it out there that long ago, people even then were saying so. Does it really matter if it took around 30 years to finally get it right?

hdnmickey

They appear to be decisions made on their own. We see the same kind of thing happen when sports stars get in trouble and everything related to them is dumped quickly by people that used to their merchandise. Do you really think they shouldn't make that call? Seems a bad business practice to carry Ray Rice's stuff just after he got caught clocking his wife in a hotel.

CaptainMarvel

Only by people who don't understand the Constitution. That would get struck down readily on First Amendment grounds.

Me007gold

I think that is an over reaction too. Like I said before. You do not have the right to not be offended. If you don't like something, don't support it. If someone wants to wear an OJ Simpson jersey why shouldn't they be able to? It just makes them look foolish. If people could just learn to mind their own damn business, this country would be so much better. If you can't control it, why worry about it?

Ky-Fi

The Dukes of Hazzard was a politically offensive show that shouldn't have been on the air as it was?

Can it still be aired if we have appropriate "trigger warnings"?

JasonF

Um ... OK.

JasonF

So you think WB should be compelled to keep selling something that's become unpopular? And that's just the same as televised show trials?

News flash -- WB has a lot of stuff in their catalog that they no longer license because they're considered offensive in light of current mores and cultural norms. The Censored Eleven, for example. And yet Friz Freeling, Tex Avery, and Bob Clampett are still very much celebrated. Go figure.

CaptainMarvel

Maybe I'm just imagining what happened to Tim Hunt, or Matt Taylor, or any of the many other people who've recently been on the receiving end of a social justice lynch mob for their perceived offenses.

JasonF

Would you force WalMart to sell OJ Simpson gear on the off chance someone wants to buy it?

Me007gold

Force? Absolutely not, But if they sold it prior to his murder trail, and only removed it because of the trail. They SHOULD still sell it. Removing at item because it is no longer selling is completely different then stopping selling something because of manufactured outrage. I heard on the radio this morning, that on amazon sales of Confederate flag stuff was up somewhere around 500% before they removed it from the site. If something is selling, why stop? Other then to make it look like you care.

Sean O'Hara

What a horrible thought. Where do people get off thinking they have a right to disapprove of what somebody says and even express that opinion in public? Don't they realize that the First Amendment protects us from harsh criticism?

Using the symbol of a government that existed for no other reason than to perpetuate slavery has nothing to do with slavery? I'm glad we have you here to explain these things to us poor simpletons.

Tracer Bullet

I like what Marc Maron has to say about this (paraphrased). Basically, he's said on multiple occasions that for whatever new thing that has been decided to be offensive, no one is telling you that you can't say it, or wear it, or fly it. But, just know that all the polite people that go "okay, I get that it's offensive, and I won't say/wear/fly that anymore" will be over here, and you can be over there with all the people that insist on saying/wearing/flying it.

CaptainMarvel

If you could descend off your high horse for a moment, would you please point out where you see me calling for a government prohibition on the social justice nitwits expressing those opinions? Because otherwise the First Amendment is fucking irrelevant. (Nevermind that Hunt's incident was in the UK, so the First Amendment is doubly irrelevant).

I'm merely expressing my distaste for their antics.

Congratulations, you've discovered the true, hidden subtext behind the Dukes of Hazard.