Jim Webb: The Worst.

Posted by Melissa McEwan at Wednesday, June 24, 2015
[Content Note: White supremacy; slavery.]

Former Republican and current Democrat Jim Webb, who has been rumored to be considering a run for the presidency, weighed in on the Confederate flag issue today on Facebook, and it's quite a doozy:

screen cap of Jim Webb's Facebook post, with text reading: 'This is an emotional time and we all need to think through these issues with a care that recognizes the need for change but also respects the complicated history of the Civil War. The Confederate Battle Flag has wrongly been used for racist and other purposes in recent decades. It should not be used in any way as a political symbol that divides us. But we should also remember that honorable Americans fought on both sides in the Civil War, including slave holders in the Union Army from states such as Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland and Delaware, and that many non-slave holders fought for the South. It was in recognition of the character of soldiers on both sides that the federal government authorized the construction of the Confederate Memorial 100 years ago, on the grounds of Arlington National Cemetery. This is a time for us to come together, and to recognize once more that our complex multicultural society is founded on the principle of mutual respect.'

Just to be clear: This dude just said that the Confederate flag, a symbol of the pro-slavery side of a Civil War that quite literally divided the country, should not be used as a "symbol that divides us."

All the mirthless laughter that the multiverse can fucking hold.

He also says that the Confederate flag has "been used for racist and other purposes in recent decades," as if there is any other purpose or ever has been in 150 years. Just because someone claims it's about "rebellion" or "heritage" or "pride" doesn't erase its profoundly racist origins, of which it continues to be a symbol today.

(And let us not pretend that every white person's claim of "rebellion" or "heritage" or "pride" isn't itself deeply embedded with white supremacy.)

He further urges us to "remember that honorable Americans fought on both sides in the Civil War, including slave holders in the Union Army." I'm sorry WHUT? Northern slave-holders were honorable?

Webb got lost deep in the weeds of his concern trolling on behalf of Southern White Men, which is one of his favorite pastimes.

And then he wraps this pile of garbage in a trash bow with a call for unity and the absurd claim that the US was "founded on the principle of mutual respect." SAYS WHO, white man?

There ain't enough shut up in the world for this guy.
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