the feminist librarian reads

Well, I think that it does stand for segregation. It does stand, as I said a moment ago, for white supremacy. But I think that, over the past couple of decades, it’s come to stand for a big mass of other things too. It stands for rural identity. It stands for a sort of a reaction to all kinds of things like multi-culturalism, secularism, gay marriage – all this stuff that sort of feels like it’s threatening a way – a certain way of life in America, almost like a symbol of a pre-modern America. And I think many of the people who identify with these causes feel like they’re under attack on many fronts. And so this flag that was a symbol of being under attack in the 19th century becomes a symbol of being under attack today.