Trademarks and The Georgia Flag 

When my great grandfather said he was going to go outside to burn a fag, he was referring to smoking a cigarette and not what you thought I just said. Wordsmiths know that meanings change over time. 

The words cellophane, aspirin, and thermos were once brand names protected by trade-mark. The owners of those marks were negligent in the protection of them and saw their symbols fall victim to what is now called genericide – a delightful melding of the words generic and suicide. The sad brands had their capital letters removed and were stripped of their monetary value by the courts as they were booted out of the commercial world. 

Logos and artwork are vulnerable, too. There is a 1907 postcard showing a swastika as a good luck charm with the four legs meant to be four “L’s standing for Luck, Light, Love, and Light. Ganesha, the Hindu god of good luck used the swastika as his good luck charm; however, he was negligent in having his lawyer send Hitler a corrective letter to stop the use of the swastika and lost control of it.  Had Ganesha gotten his father, Siva “The Destroyer God”, to take up this matter with Hitler back in the 30’s we would have all been better off. Of course, who is to say that Siva wasn’t in the bunker in 1945?

The Cross of St. George, otherwise known as the Confederate Battle Emblem, was introduced late in the civil war but lived far past the conflict as a trade-mark of sorts for the Confederate States of America.  It was appropriated by the white supremacy crowd in the 50’s, but you could also find it in use as a symbol of defiance against the meddling Yankees in any decade you care to name from 1865 forward. 

Far too late has the battle been joined to wrest the symbol from the militant right and give it back to the more or less genteel Sons and Daughters of the Confederacy. The “flaggers”, as they are known, spend much of their time attempting the impossible – convincing modern America that the old South stood for something other than slavery or segregation or Jim Crow. Call this exercise in frustration the Lost Cause of the new millennium.

Where were all those defenders of southern heritage when the rebel flag was hoisted in support of “segregation forever”? Most of them were in short pants playing in the back yard while their parents looked on in silence or, more likely, silent approval. Segregation was defended with a straight face as being part of southern folkways – part of Southern Heritage, if you will.  No sane southern lawyer would have hauled the KKK into court over a trade-mark infringement case.

This has left us Georgians with a lousy mess on our hands. The rebel portion of the old 1956 Georgia State Flag was a victim of genericide long before Governor Roy Barnes committed politicide and gave us a newer, and far uglier, flag. Our legislators have struggled with the flaggers and the governor and come up with yet another new flag as they have attempted to come up with a ballot solution that makes sense. Good luck as good sense is not really welcomed at this debate. We’re dealing here with fantasy.

It is fantasy to believe that the rebel flag can be rehabilitated after all this history, but do not underestimate the powerful pull of hopeless romance in the South. The flaggers spend their battle re-enactment weekends and their grave dedications making believe that they were once part of southern aristocracy, or kin to Mary, Queen of Scots, or both. Fantasy has turned them into so many re-enactment Scarlet O’Hara’s pleading with Rhett Butler for one more chance. 

Frankly, my dears, I don’t give a damn. Your flag has had all the second chances it deserves. To use a favorite southern rejoinder -- Ya’ll can move to Mississippi where the flag is more to your liking. Should I finally get a vote in this, I’m marking down for the new flag and anyone who has their romance firmly in control will join me. Now, with that off my chest, I think I’ll step outside and burn a fag.