Can I Impose Some Order On The Chaos For A Minute Here?

This flag is certainly a familar sight lately.  My Ohio contacts tell me, for instance, that since the call went up to take this flag down for good, in the wake of the Emanuel AME Church massacre, they're seeing more than twice as many Confederate flags flying around greater Cleveland, with the words "HERITAGE NOT HATE" added.

Can these people be serious?

Item:  If the Confederate flag is part of the American heritage, it's about our heritage OF hate.  It's hard to believe that in a country full of people who like to dress up in Civil War uniforms and re-enact one of our bloodiest wars, known for its disproportionate casualty rate and the historic turning of brother against brother, that anyone here cannot know that.  Are you all stupid or what?

Item:  Ohio was not one of the Confederate States, people.  Did you really not know that?

Item: Anyone who thinks that the Confederate flag is about our American heritage, let me set you straight right now.  It's not.  That flag flew proudly over the people who seriously planned to break away from the Union and start their own country.  Why?  Because they wanted to go on making easy money on the backs of their slaves, many of whom were their own children, sex partners and siblings.  The Confederacy was not American.  It was anti-American.  In more ways than you can shake a stick at.  

Item:  Even if the Confederacy had been a part of the American heritage at one time, which I don't believe for the reasons stated above, it's now dead.  And that's the best thing to happen to this country since the Louisiana Purchase.

Just a reminder.  This is the flag we rally around now:

And that's a good thing.