Have we arrived at the point where the "average American" is just too damn

[calimary]

38. Welcome to DU, TurnTNBlue!

The hard-wired part - could be. After the massacre of those nine people at Mother Emanuel Church, there grew an outcry to take down the "Stars 'n' Bars," long on formal display at the Capitol. There was a lot of coverage of the history and tradition of the Civil War, slavery, Emancipation, and what was repeatedly referred to as "our heritage." Many in the South spoke of pride in their heritage, and many others confessed to embarrassment over their heritage. That came up a lot. You saw the young shooter in an earlier photo, at home, with that flag shown hanging on the wall behind him, for example. I'm in California and for the life of me I can't figure out why anybody'd be proud of that flag. It's a no-brainer to me. But then again, I've never lived in or grown up in that environment - where a flag like that is such a powerful, and in many cases personally evocative symbol. I've never walked in their shoes. So of course I won't be able to "get" how people there feel about it.