Keller @ Large: Remove Confederate Flag As Show Of Respect
BOSTON (CBS) - As you know, we live in the Golden Age of Grievance, an era when it seems everyone is hypersensitive about everything, virtually anything can be perceived as an insult by someone, and grievance controversies reverberate around the echo chamber endlessly.
This is, at best, an extremely annoying aspect of popular culture, and at worst, a toxic phenomenon.
But that doesn't mean all grievances are created equal.
It seems to me one valid grievance that's in our faces right now is the uproar over the display of the Confederate flag outside the South Carolina State House, always offensive but especially so in the wake of the Charleston church massacre.
Mitt Romney, reviled as a principle-free flip-flopper during his run for president, proved the opposite over the weekend when he repeated his longstanding view that the flag is "a symbol of racial hatred. Remove it now to honor the Charleston victims."
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush says that when he was in office, they removed the flag "from the state grounds to a museum where it belonged."
But Bush and several other presidential candidates stopped short of calling for its immediate removal in South Carolina, claiming that debate should wait until after a period of mourning for the victims.
They're wrong, and Romney's right.
Revulsion at the sight of that flag being displayed by the government rather than as an historical artifact is fully justified, just as we abhor the sight of a swastika.
Taking it down immediately isn't a cave-in to political correctness. It would be a show of respect and dignity at a moment when those qualities are in need of public display.
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