MEDIA-MANUFACTURED OUTRAGE MADE THE DEBATE A “NET LOSS” FOR SOUTH CAROLINA
|| By MANDE WILKES || Well, after much ado, the Confederate flag will fly no longer on the grounds of the South Carolina State House. At precisely the same time that legislators were making that decision, ISIS was halfway across the globe destroying historical artifacts of its own.
The parallels cannot be denied: Governments are getting rid of stuff that offends them, even though that stuff has a firm place in history.
Now, to be clear, I’m hardly a defender of the Confederacy. To my mind it’s just another redneck relic, much like sweet tea or tattoos or monster trucks. In fact I don’t care much for flags at all — they’re merely fabric, no matter how much we try to imbue them with symbolism.
That’s why I find this whole “conversation” silly and pointless. So a tragic and senseless massacre occurs, and then we let some crazed killer dictate what crosses the line? I wonder what would’ve happened if Dylann Roof, the Charleston church shooter, had been photographed with a can of Coke instead of a Confederate flag. Would we ban the consumption of soft drinks at the State House?
Ludicrous, right? (By the way, researchers recently found that soft drinks cause 25,000 deaths annually in the U.S. — many more deaths than occur at the hands of flag-waving Confederate wannabes. Just some perspective for your Sunday morning.)
Anyway, my primary objection is that legislators called in a special session specifically to argue about the flag. Between paying staffers, attorneys, and per-diem fees for the lawmakers themselves, this has cost South Carolina taxpayers dearly.
Prudence and financial restraint would dictate that the issue be tabled until January, when the legislature is scheduled to reconvene. Again, though, supposedly conservative officials decided that making a statement was more important than stewardship of public funds.
This is a common theme in American politics generally, and local politics specifically. Leaders prefer to deal with the abstract rather than the actual, and the result is that we maintain the failed status quo.
Consider this: The flag debate hasn’t fed any hungry kid, hasn’t pulled the state’s education system out of the sewer, hasn’t decreased the tax burden, hasn’t resulted in a single job, hasn’t done a thing to solve energy dependence, hasn’t assisted the thousands of mentally-ill homeless in our state, and hasn’t addressed illegal immigration.
The other thing the flag debate hasn’t accomplished? It hasn’t managed to eradicate racism, and in fact the whole thing seems to have ramped up racial division.
By my calculations, then, the flag debate is a net loss for our state — in strict financial terms and also in the more abstract terms of opportunity cost and cultural inflammation.
For this, the media is to blame. That we’re debating a piece of cloth makes no sense, except insofar as the flag serves as a way for the media to cash in on controversy. It says plenty that my article — an opinion column — states more in the way of actual reporting on this subject than anything that has come out of CNN or FOX News or The New York Times.
Has any member of the mainstream media even considered the hefty financial cost of the flag debate? Has any member of the mainstream media wondered aloud about all of the problems we could be solving instead?
People often worry that America no longer manufactures anything. That’s not true. America manufactures outrage, in spades — and it’s the media that is the greatest exporter of made-up issues.
In a functioning democracy, media is crucial to informing the citizenry. What we have instead, these days, is a media more interested in fanning flames than in demanding accountability from our leaders.
Regardless of what happens with the Confederate flag, one flag seems to remain almighty — the white flag, as we continue to surrender our sensibilities to the media.
Mande Wilkes is a wife, mother, businesswoman, author, etc. residing on the South Carolina coast with her family. This piece – reprinted with permission – originally appeared in The (Myrtle Beach, S.C.) Sun News. Email her at m@mandewilkes.com.
109 comments
good thoughts from ya’, Mande
Well written and sensible.
Mande, if ya hate the media so much you should stop using it to promote your agenda.
One day your lapping at her cunt, the next you hate her guts. What gives? Has Buzz been hijacked?
In fairness to Buzz,he don’t like cunt.
You’re twice as obnoxious when you talk to yourself, pogo. Still trying to convince people I’m gay, too, I see. Hey, if I were, I wouldn’t try to hide it. I’d have been out years ago, and proud of it. But go ahead, obsess away about total bullshit. It’s what you do best.
He was filmed with an American Flag.
SHHHHH..they after that next.
And yet, S.C. sucks in more taxpayer cash from the Federal overlords than a porn star on a good day.
Nice job. Nikki Haley surrendered to the NAACP and the race hustlers named FaraCON, Sharpton and Jackson. She used that ‘white flag’ to enhance her national political ambitions (alleged affairs keep her from any REAL consideration nationally).
No different than the Boy Scouts surrendering to the radical LGBT and its goal to pervert and destroy or moral/cultural foundation:
DALLAS, July 13 (Reuters) – The Boy Scouts of America Executive Committee unanimously approved allowing gay adults to serve as leaders, officials said on Monday, in a major step toward dismantling a policy that has caused deep rifts in the 105-year-old organization.
Media aside (and you made some excellent points on that subject),Haley showed herself to be just as corrupt of heart and soul as those she has now empowered on the left.
Damn liberals STOMPED YOUR ASS!!
Let’s hear you stomp your widdle tootsies some more.
After tolerating a symbol of treason and banner of lawnessness in support of segregation flown on the seat of political power for more than fifty years, you now want to whine about the media distorting its meaning so you can gripe about neglecting your own priorities?
Unless you can understand how the presence of that flag had hurt and held back progress in South Carolina, you are part of the problem.
Good point about the flag’s effect and its holding up progress. However, I also think credence must be given to my usual gripe (to which Mande shares on this)–i.e. the media (chief whore in the room) loves every bit of the controversy and will do all it can to fan the flames.
It’s hardly prudent to ignore the media’s play in this–to a large extent. Sure, Mande falls of the track utilizing the whole, “[t]he flag debate hasn’t fed any hungry kid” straw man BS. However, the media made sure it catered to its usual viewership ratings and advertising dollars.
Of note, the whole “media being the whore” thing wouldn’t be so bad if the majority of Americans actually understood that. Unfortunately, that is not the case.
Seriously, what “progress” was it really holding up? Really?
“Really?” All “Hate v. Heritage” aside…the mere fact that so many people are devoting vast amounts of their time to discussing/arguing/fighting over a single square of woven fabric is beyond silly. Don’t put words in my mouth or assume an association on my behalf.
Progress held up? Oh, how about pass an effin budget that takes care of everything we need instead of debating whether or not a historical emblem belongs in a museum or atop a flag pole?
Yep, because only elitists like yourself know what is best for the great unwashed masses……….
Clearly the point I was trying to make (sarcasm)
Extrapolate much?
Mande says women are to blame when they get beaten by men…
You say you love pedophilia…
Says you….NAMBLA president.
Ha! You liberals and your damn lies! I’m not the NAMBLA president. That’s GrandTango! I’m just the vice president! LMAO!!! LMAO!!!
Does that mean you preside over the vice?
No, she says they’re to blame if they don’t leave immediately. Not quite as bad, but still completely lacking in understanding and empathy for victims.
Tantamount to blaming the victim. Same as same.
So much better to blame everyone else in your liberal world. Blaming “the victim” is never acceptable, even when they insist in touching the pretty red burner on the stove top multiple times after times. It is obviousl the fault of the stove, or perhaps the other people in the neighborhood who pay their electric bills and therefore keep electricity going to the stove; or maybe the lineman’s fault…
Is your life that sad that you really believe that flag was the reason 7 of 10 black children don’t have daddy’s at home?
You seem to be forgetting the Bristol Palins too…
You seem to be forgetting the Bristol Palins too…
“If you like your non sequitur, you can keep your non sequitur.”
What non sequitur? Poster was indicating only black babies don’t have fathers. I had to remind him white babies don’t have father’s either.
No, poster was not indicating that they “only” are the ones affected, but that the epidemic exists amongst the black population, ruining their community in the process and creating the stigma attached to them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXH1ebWFV7M
I’m such a moron! LMAO!!! LMAO!!!
Good assessment of the issue.
Good to see some intelligence coming from Fits editorial staff on this topic for a change! I shoulda know it was coming from Mande.
Will got sucked into just what you describe and it is a real shame and a disappointment.
Good to see you back, Mande. Hoping for many more returns.
Yes indeed…like when she said domestic violence victims were to blame for their beatings. Awesome stuff.
In quite a few cases, some do bear a degree of responsibility by their failure to act responsibly and take responsibility for their own safety. Truth sucks sometimes, I guess.
Classic conservatism….blame the victim and “your own your own”.
This shite from the same woman who said that female domestic violence victims are to blame for their own beatings….nuff said.
In fact, Liz had to write a follow up the next day to bail her out as Mande was getting pummeled by commenters on this site.
Mande, go ahead and fly a Swastika or an ISIS flag around and see what happens…if flags have no meaning.
We agree. Flags have meaning. YOUR Rainbow Flag means pedophilia,polygamy,beastilatity and cultural perversion.
It offends me cocksucker…take it down
Meet me round back of the rest stop like last time…only this time you’re the bottom and I’m the top.
No chance.Why you are running truck stops looking for cock-I am watching the MLB Home Run Derby.
Todd Frazier just took Prince Fielder ‘deep’.
You and grandtangosuglydog have a nice night swapping ‘diesel’.
Freak.
How did you manage to spit all that out to the screen with a mouthful of hot jizz….
It’s ok to be gay…go on, come out. No need to hide anymore.
Todd Frazier in the HOUSE!!!
Wanna do a DP on him?
Lol…he loves that.
Morning, Flip.
Great article!
Except for the diss on sweet tea.
WTF?
Ed Zachary
“People often worry that America no longer manufactures anything. ”
If you want to see something manufactured, you can go on a BMW plant tour and see the assembly line.
https://www.bmwusfactory.com/zentrum/tours/guided-factory-tour/
Symbols, what symbol will be next? Political Correctness breeds intolerance.
Progressive liberals and the media (one in the same) are like a band of locusts. They swarm over a crisis of their own creation, devour everything in their path and then move on to the next manufactured crisis. As you asked – what’s next?
The Minnesota legislature wants to change the name of a fish. It seems they find the name “Asian Carp” offensive and it must changed to “Invasive Carp”, now isn’t that some “Crap”.
Working part time@oids8
3.
http://www.WorldCareersProvidersClub/dream/maker...
So you’re happy with a flag that represents treasonous slavers?
So, did I say that? You must have missed some of my other comments on the subject?
Like I said intolerance, if the shoe fits wear it.
You’re equating the removal of a flag that represents treason and slavery as a PC stunt are you not?
Ergo, you support treason and slavery. There is no other conclusion one can make.
I equated nothing of the kind but if that is what your intolerant mind believes, not much I can do about it. I said PC breeds intolerance and intolerance is not exclusive to just one side.
Intolerance? I only speak of facts…inconvenient for you as they may be.
Read the secession documents of both SC and the Confed. constitution where they enshrined slavery as a right.
They fired on Fort Sumter to begin the war…an act of treason.
Facts speak for themselves. If a person supports the rebel flag….they support treason and slavery.
The fact is I said *symbols* not *symbol* and never mentioned the word flag. There are many symbols under attack these days by both the left and right, sorry you missed that. Maybe a little tolerance in you life might be a good thing.
So you’d have no problem with the swastika and ISIS flag then?
You sure have an obsession with flags but nice try at deflection.
Ok, let’s sort this once and for all. Do you, or do you not support the Confederate flag?
My ancestors are from Ohio and moved to Iowa. My Great, great, great grandmother, a full blooded Cherokee, what raped and damn near beat to death because she was part of the underground railroad. After her two half breed (considered worse than blacks) sons got revenge on the bounty hunters they moved to Iowa. Her decedents served with an Iowa Regiment that was part of Sherman’s march across the south to include Columbia SC. It’s really none of your business if I support the Confederate flag or not.
My comment still stands,”Political Correctness breeds intolerance”.
Very political answer. One can only deduce in the absence of a strong statement by yourself that you DON’T support the flag….you actually do support it.
Hence, you support slavery and treason.
I moved to SC twelve years ago because of work and decided to stay. I liked the people the diversity of the people and landscape plus the mild winters, it’s like a long fall in Iowa. I’m just glad I didn’t meet you first, you would have given me the wrong impression of SC.
Deduce all you want, most ass hole do.
Can’t believe you’d want to stay here. SC is literally one of the worst states in the US to live in. Choose your poison…crime, unemployment, environment, corruption, police state, backwards laws, racism, education, wages, domestic violence, infant mortality….but if living in shit is your thing…welcome aboard :-)
SC is a great state,and it’s the good people(blue sky,and weather,too) here who make it great.No matter where you live,it is what you make it.
I suppose the same could be said for ISIS controlled Syria and Somalia. It is what you make it.
Except in S.C.’s case…just factually speaking…it’s one of the worst of the 50 states to live in.
I take exception with the weather lately and the politicians but otherwise I agree.
Then why do you stay here? Is “living in shit” your thing?
it’s like a long fall in Iowa
Not really, we don’t have anywhere near that much corn.
What the flag means to YOU, vice what the flag means to US, are two entirely different things. Guess what? YOU don’t get to define ME.
I only speak of facts…inconvenient for you as they may be.
Read the secession documents of both SC and the Confed. constitution where they enshrined slavery as a right.
They fired on Fort Sumter to begin the war…an act of treason.
Facts speak for themselves. If a person supports the rebel flag….they support treason and slavery.
Multiple fouls on Limbaughsaphatkhunt.
http://imgur.com/a/QDbyt#13
http://imgur.com/a/QDbyt#3
http://imgur.com/a/QDbyt#18
http://imgur.com/a/QDbyt#10
http://imgur.com/a/QDbyt#23
http://imgur.com/a/QDbyt#29
http://imgur.com/a/QDbyt#0
75 post penalty assesed and automatic safety for idcydm. Truthmonger and idcydm retain possession of the argument. Limbaughsaphatkhunt is ejected from the argument, all other posters feel free to ignore.
Funny…now here’s mine:
http://www.theonion.com/article/south-postpones-rising-again-for-yet-another-year-377
Same could be said of the US flag. Do you believe the Founding Fathers committed treason against The Crown by trying to break away from it? I guess they should have continued to eat whatever shit was heaped onto their plate, too? Again, why do you stay here? Maybe Jolly Olde England would be for you. They have laws against guns there so certainly they have no violent crime.
That word, I don’t think it means what you think it means…..
Just remember, the North had slaves too, so that flag also represents slavers- and had the South won, it surely would have also stood for treason.
Oh my God, give it a rest already. If you really think the flag’s removal is the swivels of what ISIL or the Taliban has done you have no sense of history or proportion. The Confederate Memorial is still there, the flag was; a. the wrong flag, b. had only been there15 years, c. was the result of a less than transparent process.
All the rest of the stupidity is typical knee jerk reaction to anything that isn’t PC.
Thank you Ware Churchill? Or Bill Ayers?
‘Ward Churchill’?
I was getting ready to all who Ware was.
That cleared up, what’s your point? Are you implying that my support of moving the flag is somehow in some manner radical liberal?
Uh,yes.Stuff I expect at Cal-Irvine, professor….
UC-Irvine Students Tried to Ban American Flag Because …
reason.com/blog/2015/…/uc-irvine-students-tried-to-ban-america…
ReasonMar 9, 2015 – “UC Irvine Student: US Flag Banned to Avoid ‘Triggering’ Hurt Feelings …to the flag can take on creepy or quasi-religious religious overtones.
Yeah – you’ve obviously got me confused with somebody else.
When you aren’t saying stupid, unsupportable shit about legalizing weed, you make all kinds of sense, The Colonel.
LOL
Very well stated.
Often people think they are smart by expressing “non-conventional” opinions. They think “I’m not a sheeple. See. I disagree with the MSM.” But if you closely examine it the comments about ISIS, Coke etc… it’s silly.
The next time you write about your fantasy reading of “Fifty Shades of Gray” I’ll remind you that ISIS is still half way arround the world.
You are not so stupid that you don’t realize that racism or hate can’t be expressed with a flag or Swastika.
Their are very smart people at Amazon and Wallmart. They are trained at what they do. They recognized a change in the countries view and made a business decision. If you don’t believe flags make a difference, then of course Wallmart selling Swastikas shouldn’t hurt business at all. Mande, you’re not that stupid.
Just like Amazon and Wallmart, South Carolina has a public image and it’s worth millions and it can costs a state millions.
South Carolina has been hit with two tragedies with Walter Scott and the Emanuel nine. Similar events have done structural damage to Ferguson and Baltimore. They also suffered damage to their public image. That’s jobs, racial division, poverty. Everything you say the flag has nothing to do with. I’m not even mentioning the boycott.
The Emanuel nine, their families, an alert citizen with a camera phone, Governor Haley and most of our other leaders on both sides of the flag issue have done so much for South Carolina’s public image that Coke, Amazon or Wallmart would pay hundreds of millions of dollars for.
Nikki Haley is a disgrace.One day she says the time is not now to discuss the flag. Disrespectful to the families.
Next day the flag is coming down.
The flag won’t sink her national political ambitions,however. Her alleged numerous affairs will.She can’t be trusted.
Sandi, everybody at Fits knows my grammar and spelling are terrible, but anyone comparing what I write to your repeating of the same rant over and over. Well, I think most of the people here (agree with me or not) would like to meet me in person, but they would want to avoid you like gonorrhea.
Why did you make this about me? Haley is a political/ethical whore. Get over it.
I am not going to personally attack you because you support this lying RINO. Have at it. I love my country,we are at at critical point in our country and in my opinion, Haley is poison.
Walker was fabulous today. Haley would destroy him on that ticket.
Your attack against Haley is not arguments on the Issues, it’s person. You would not be attacking her personally if she was for keeping the battle flag. Besides, you’re repetitive.
Repetitive? I ain’t even started. Character IS an issue.
Nikki and Michael showed their good character by the way they handled the lies and rumors.
And by the way why don’t you get your own original disqus name?
Yeah, that’s not the original Sandi, who was pogo/flip/farley/f.c.
BT you often have some very interesting information, but you are all over the board. Hard to take serious even when you have valid points.
Stopped reading at sweet tea being a “redneck relic”.
Excellent,Mande!
The original video w/a rebel flag behind them is gone…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8E_LlwlCIiw
“Surrender our sensibilities to the media”?????
May I remind you Ms. Wilks, (per your bio above and credit to “Myrtle Beach Sun News” and reprinting on this blog) that you are part of “the media” yourself………….
A point I made in my initial comment on this thread.
Mande makes some salient points, many of which I agree with, but the part about jobs not being affected is absolutely false. The flag did have an adverse effect on the states image, and that can’t help but impact economic development. Most of the time you won’t even know what you lost, because the state wouldn’t even make the ‘long list’ in the first place, for an entity that simply buys into the image without further investigation. .
The Republicans had no choice but to move quickly to minimize any damage by letting the Democrats create a fury over a non-issue. The 2016 Presidential election along with a planned increase in their Senate majority is at stake. The Republicans are being bankrolled by Sheldon Adelson and his ilk. Six Jewish billionaires now contribute more than 40% of the Republicans total campaign funds as of 2014. Lindsey Graham had to go hat in hand to Sheldon begging for money to kill off a primary challenge. During a 2014 call with the RNC national leadership, Adelson was clear that he was tired of throwing money away on “losers” who seemed hell-bent on alienating large blocks of voters and handing elections to Democrats. 1. He wanted to see Jeb Bush run and gain the nomination. 2. Increase the Senate majority to pass “tax reform” enabling his repatriation of profits from his Chinese casino operations and dodge a $3Billion tax bill. 3. War with Iran and sooner than later. Iran is the only nation remaining in the Middle East strong enough to oppose Israel’s planned land grabs from Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Egypt. The Republicans even wild-eyed Southern ones know the stakes and stayed in-line doing whatever was necessary to keep their financial benefactors happy and sending checks. After all, their jobs are on the line.
Mande has hit on the perfect formula for getting the neo-cornfed goobs on here to heap accolades on her. And OH such an original formula it is: Blame the media for racism.
Yet – she participates in the very media she wants to blame (of course the same could be said about me, but I am fairly consistent). She play the Jewish card at every given opportunity (i.e. you get a free nose job or boobs at age 18, she chose the boobs).
She seems to despise everything that makes America great, yet piggy backs on the hair dye, boob jobs and I’m not sure if bedroom eyes are a heritage thing or an American thing?
I’ve yet to read a single thing where she articulates care or concern for another human being. Aside from her disdain for a military in general.
Yet….she wrote a book (I did note the authorship was taken out of credits) about how she couldn’t win office. I am sure she has some great qualities, but she comes across as a narcissist who cares only about Mande.
Mande…sweet lady…If Dylaan had been holding a can of Coke in his pictures, first off There are no monuments to Coke on the state grounds. Second, Coke is just a product of a private entity. It’s not a flag indicative of treason and a fight to preserve slavery.
“it’s just another redneck relic, much like sweet tea or tattoos”
Well, aren’t you snide. Ponyboy Curtis called, he needs his bottle of peroxide back.
Republicans are the real villain.
Still putting the suck in Typewriter i see Man-d
Mande, this is weak, weak, weak. In fact, there was another symbol in almost all the photos Dylann Roof took of himself. It was a Gold Gym logo on his shirt. And, nobody cared (expect Gold Gym marketing folks). Why? because a Gold Gym is not a racist symbol. The flag is. And, while you are thinking about the “hefty financial cost” of the flag debate, how about consider the financial cost of SC losing out on hosting event after event. Try harder next time… this is about as well thought out as a middle school term paper.
For Mande: Replace he with she – you get the gist. Paperback Writer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9G6H2tQCaOA