WB to Stop Licensing "Dukes of Hazzard" Toy Cars Featuring Confederate Flag

[CBR News]

As the tide shifts rapidly in the national debate over the Confederate flag, Warner Bros. has announced it will stop licensing images of the iconic General Lee.


Full article here.

[d.w washburn]

wow.....I am shocked.
shocked-face.jpg

[AndrewCrossett]

Victory at last!

bosshogg.jpg

[d.w washburn]

Victory at last!

bosshogg.jpg

mmmmyeah. I would buy it that a Boss Hogg type person would be behind this.

[Vakanai]

Oh for the love of...
What happened was a tragedy. That shooter was an evil, awful psychotic racist, and we need this discussion about race, and wanting the Confederate flag taken down from state property is totally valid, but come on this is the Dukes of Hazzard, worrying about the Confederate flag on the Dukes of Hazzard is just silly. No one is going to turn to hate or racism because of a toy car or poster from an old and beloved by many TV show. Also, without the Confederate flag, what makes it the Dukes car/General Lee anyway? Isn't it then just a regular red car?
This sort of thing won't help race relations. It just makes fans of the show not want to buy any new merchandise.

[d.w washburn]

Oh for the love of...
What happened was a tragedy. That shooter was an evil, awful psychotic racist, and we need this discussion about race, and wanting the Confederate flag taken down from state property is totally valid, but come on this is the Dukes of Hazzard, worrying about the Confederate flag on the Dukes of Hazzard is just silly. No one is going to turn to hate or racism because of a toy car or poster from an old and beloved by many TV show. Also, without the Confederate flag, what makes it the Dukes car/General Lee anyway? Isn't it then just a regular red car?
This sort of thing won't help race relations. It just makes fans of the show not want to buy any new merchandise.

It could actually be said that the Old TV show was doing something to actually CHANGE the meaning of the flag to something more positive and that includes moving away from racisim. But certain people can't let things go and have to keep harping on them. aka politicians.

[AndrewCrossett]

Yeah, things like this will generate a backlash to the backlash. But then they'll go too far and there will be a backlash to that backlash backlash, too.

Sometimes I think I'd just like to take a nap for 20 years or so and see who's still standing when I wake up.

[d.w washburn]

Yeah, things like this will generate a backlash to the backlash. But then they'll go too far and there will be a backlash to that backlash backlash, too.

Sometimes I think I'd just like to take a nap for 20 years or so and see who's still standing when I wake up.

This is why politicians and lawyers should be abolished. If we all actually learned to live together in peace and acceptance then we wouldn't need them any more.

[simbob4000]

Yeah, things like this will generate a backlash to the backlash. But then they'll go too far and there will be a backlash to that backlash backlash, too.

Sometimes I think I'd just like to take a nap for 20 years or so and see who's still standing when I wake up.

Geez, I would hate to just jump into the sensitivity and faux outrage of 20 years from now.

[t hedge coke]

It's a symbol used by dangerous and dumbass racists all over and a flag representing a secessional movement that failed against a still standing government... but it's lawyers and politicians who need to lose their livelihood so we can have it painted on little collectible car toys!

I love the South. I have some respect for that flag, even, in certain contexts. I like Dukes alright, too. But this is some bullshit.

It's toy cars. People are dying, that flag has been used as a signal of aggression and intolerance by groups for over a hundred years in addition to its more positive and nostalgic connotations, and y'all worried about a new toy car you may or may not want to buy. And, acting like the government is preventing you from getting it.

You want it that bad? Paint it on there? Get a little set of paints, buy a decal, whatever, and slap that shit on there. Done.

[Cyke]

Point of fact: the flag was rarely actually used by governments in the 20th century. Its use died down after the Civil War and was revived in 1948 by Dixiecrats and the KKK specifically to protest Harry Truman, who promoted desegregation and anti-lynching laws. That's where it came from, so the flag wasn't so much about positive Southern heritage when it was revived, but a heritage that was about perpetuating oppressive, racist laws when the civil rights movement began to pick up steam.

With that said, the South has been represented by so many things other than that flag, to no problems at all. Even the General Lee's Dixie horn is iconic. But then we'd have to also realize that the flag, wherever it's used, is only one part of subliminal messaging, in addition to naming streets after slaveholders, honoring politicians who supporting lynch mobs, and the like. There's immense power in branding -- any Mad Men episode can tell you that -- and flags are brands for ideals. Just as the American flag holds immense patriotic power, the confederate flag bears intense historical memories for a lot of communities (black and white alike) who are actively combating anti-black racism on a daily basis. For some on the ground, it's tantamount to something like the Nazi flag -- the branding of organized, institutionalized race-based killings in the name of "the greater good," but the US made vital decisions that prevented those actions from becoming as widespread as Germany.

[bloodofthegods]

Just because some racists use the Confederate flag for their own agenda doesn't mean that the Confederate flag is a symbol of racism. If we hadn't raised generations of children on the illusion that slavery was the only reason for the Civil War than the Confederate flag wouldn't be associated with racism. People using the US flag or the crucifix for unjust agendas hasn't stopped it from being the symbol its suppose to be about; freedom and forgivness, respectively. Ignorance isn't a valid excuse for this.
Edit: This comes to mind ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8VCbvMoCV8

[Vakanai]

It's a symbol used by dangerous and dumbass racists all over and a flag representing a secessional movement that failed against a still standing government... but it's lawyers and politicians who need to lose their livelihood so we can have it painted on little collectible car toys!

I love the South. I have some respect for that flag, even, in certain contexts. I like Dukes alright, too. But this is some bullshit.

It's toy cars. People are dying, that flag has been used as a signal of aggression and intolerance by groups for over a hundred years in addition to its more positive and nostalgic connotations, and y'all worried about a new toy car you may or may not want to buy. And, acting like the government is preventing you from getting it.

You want it that bad? Paint it on there? Get a little set of paints, buy a decal, whatever, and slap that shit on there. Done.

I doubt anyone here wants it that bad. For me it isn't anything about the flag (despite being from the South, I have no strong attachment to it either way) or a collectible from a show (not really a fan, I've seen maybe all of one episode my entire life), it's the disappointment that anyone actually thinks this is necessary or helpful. As you pointed out, it is a toy car. People died, there are real issues people should attend to, and in this atmosphere where we should all really try and have an honest and frank discussion about race, someone actually thinks there'll be backlash over a silly toy vehicle? It's a toy car, it doesn't matter one iota, and only the most sensitive of people would even take notice of it never mind feel hostile over it. It's just a lame example of some executive succumbing to a bit of cowardice and wanting to appear to be more PC when nobody thinks a toy car is any kind of issue. If they want to put out some positive message right now, and we need some positive messages, they wouldn't be worried about a toy, they'd try something actually helpful like saying some portion of all proceeds will be given to a fund for the victims and their families, or to some organization that helps promote racial tolerance. But this is just a sad and utterly trivial scared act of "We're PC" that doesn't help or change anything. And that, in this day and age, bothers me tremendously. Corporations don't care about victims of tragedy, or making the world better, or even about the customers and fans of their products, they just care that they don't look bad. And to me, that makes them look bad.

[Cyke]

Just because some racists use the Confederate flag for their own agenda doesn't mean that the Confederate flag is a symbol of racism. If we hadn't raised generations of children on the illusion that slavery was the only reason for the Civil War than the Confederate flag wouldn't be associated with racism. People using the US flag or the crucifix for unjust agendas hasn't stopped it from being the symbol its suppose to be about; freedom and forgivness, respectively. Ignorance isn't a valid excuse for this.
Edit: This comes to mind ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8VCbvMoCV8

It wasn't *some racists.* It was the fact that entire local governments post WW2 were using it to rally constituents around policy protections that were indeed racist in nature and would be racist in effect, against the growing civil rights movement that was brewing in the South (the birthplace of the movement). It condoned the institutionalization of racism; if anything, it was anti-forgiveness for the crime of being black. That's where it comes from.

Say what you will about the use of the flag and the General Lee, but historically it was revived for the freedom of government to oppress, not to institute justice.

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/...-there/396431/

[Joker]

If we hadn't raised generations of children on the illusion that slavery was the only reason for the Civil War [/url]

Being even a part of the reason is enough.