Jon Stewart schools nostalgic Confederates
Jon Stewart did not pull any punches with those still trying to cling to the Confederacy. He started the skit by pointing out that South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley began the process of getting the Confederate flag removed from the South Carolina Capitol grounds. That was the beginning of the dominoes falling. The Citadel, the military school in Charleston voted to remove the Confederate flag. Alabama’s governor singlehandedly ordered it removed from his state grounds. New calls are out to alter the Mississippi flag which has the Confederate flag embedded within the flag. But of course, Jon Stewart mocked the time it took to do the right thing.
Stewart pointed out that even some whom one would expect to object to the move did not. In fact segregationist Strom Thurmond’s son State Senator Paul Thurmond came out in full support of removing the flag. He called it a symbol of racism and bigotry. Stewart pointed out that even Walmart and many other companies like Amazon, EBay, Target, Sears, Etsy, and others have joined the movement. They’ve stopped selling any memorabilia featuring the Confederacy.
Jon Stewart pointed out that the Confederacy is still trying to cling to their symbols. State Senator Lee Bryce called the removal of the Confederate flag a Stalinist purge. Randy Burbage of the Sons of Confederate Veterans called it a slippery slope. He feared it would move from the flags to renaming buildings and streets. How is that a slippery slope. For all those aggrieved by the Confederacy it is the proper move.
Stewart then showed Fox News doing what it does best, present misinforming hyperbole as Todd Starnes claim the US flag would be next. Jon Stewart reminded folks that it was the Confederacy who attempted to do that to the US Flag. Seemed like a severe case of projection.