The argument never flags….

Christopher Hitchens, in this "Fighting Words," regretted that there had been limited reaction to some remarks by Mike Huckabee about the Confederate flag. So, Mr Hitchens must be thrilled by the amount of reaction he managed to provoke in the Fray, where long vicious arguments are under way. There is a thread there with 73 contributions—not something we find every day.

There were two key, tightly-connected, questions: is that flag racist? Readers went for it here. And, was the Civil War was actually about slavery or not? Battle lines drawn here. Nobody seemed to change anyone else's mind, and it wasn't all that civil. Richmond says "We're beyond the point of asking 'What would Gen. Lee do?' partly because we know the answer ('Surrender and tell the troops to go home.') and partly because he's dead." And he also says "When I see that flag on a car or shirt, I think: you've got some nerve. Where do you think you'd be if the South had won the war? Sipping tea and getting yourself fanned by Ole Joe? Afraid not. You'd be working the damned fields getting a penny a day for your labor with no chance of a happier life."

Ryanlindly was interested in regional identity:

A lot of people say it's about history... given the short duration of settlement and frequent intrastate immigration and emigration, just how strong is any person's link to the South? This isn't Bosnia and Serbia. I always thought one of the great things about America was the historylessness of the individuals. State, regional, and even national identifications are kinds of self-deluding jokes. "Are you proud to be from Texas? Are you proud to be from the South? Are you proud to be from America?" Who would answer no? How about the question, "Is it worth creating an idea of yourself around any of these regional qualities? If so, why?"

Pilot22a argued out the issues before concluding, fair-mindedly, "So, Huckabee didn't do anything wrong, except be a wacko religious freak."

The entry that most resonated with the Fray Editor was from MrcpBlair, who said "Sometimes you read a post and go, 'What just happened?'" Well, yeah. Rows raged on and on, about strange side-issues: we've read the entire thread but still couldn't explain how Revelations came into it, leading San to say "I am only saying that anyone believing [that] is wrong and/or illiterate,"  but it certainly was a very typical Frayline.

Dreamweapon explained some of the strong feelings:

Name-calling can be fun and cathartic, there is no point in writing it off completely…Why not shout down the retrograde idiocy [other posters] represent, in all its forms? Rather than idly endure the slings and arrows of semi-literate nimrods…I say why not let loose with a return volley? It's kind of fun.

But it's not clear who exactly he thought needed encouragement—most posters seemed to have drawn this conclusion already. For more examples, look for featured Fray posts at the end of most of the past week's Slate articles..  MR … 4:30 p.m. GMT

Wednesday, January 16, 2008