Anyone you see parading around a Confederate flag is an idiot. There are no two ways about it.

I grew up in the South and have spent all of my 34 years here. You almost never see the flag or any mention of it in cities, even the smaller ones. It's always rural or out-of-the-way areas. I've never seen a respectable or well-adjusted person display one. It's always the stereotypical redneck. Always.

You have to consider the fact that Confederate flag supporters are people who have only left the 30-50 mile radius of where they live a handful of times in their lives. "Southern pride" is all some of these people have. All of their culture comes from their confined surroundings and from TV. That doesn't excuse it, of course. There is no argument that it anything but a racist symbol. None. I was discussing this with someone recently and they told me, "you don't get to decide how some people interpret the flag." Yes I do. It was born as and continues to be a symbol of racism and slavery. It would be like me saying "that's not a Tennessee flag, that's a California flag!" Just because that's "how I see it" doesn't matter. If it's your "heritage," then I feel sorry for you because that "heritage" is pretty freaking embarrassing. Hell, most of my family are redneck as hell and I've never seen any of them have any part of this stupid flag porn.

When I was in middle/high school, I didn't know much about the history of the flag. I only knew that the kids who had Confederate flag t-shirts, patches, etc. were the kids you wanted to avoid. They huffed gasoline in the parking lot, failed the easiest classes (how the fuck do you flunk Forestry & Wildlife?), could not speak anything resembling proper English, and typically had a lot of police involvement in their families. Their biggest mission was to get someone who was 18 to go buy Skoal for them at the local market. They were the worst of the worst. They were kids who had no hope for any kind of future outside their small town. They always had that fixed look of confusion on their faces. Mouths open and eyes adrift. You can't mistake that look.

I know that's generalizing, but it's 100% true. If you see someone associating themselves with the flag (t-shirt, stickers, etc.) then do yourself a favor and stay the fuck away from them. They possess stupidity so strong that it may be contagious. You don't want any of that.