Jason L Lewis

first post in a while hi everyone how are y'all. I've gone on here periodically the last 24 hours looking over this text based game and I think its very interesting. So to start your introduced to the nation screen which is like the character customization menu in RPGs. You make a name which is ran against everyone else to see if its free and real world nations past and present are restricted. you get the default flags of all nations however if you don't upload a custom one. You choose how your people are addressed, what your main standpoints are, conscription, law enforcement, market, and cannabis, and a basic over all ideology and what kind of government your constitution creates. I'll link mine so everyone can see a basic idea of what one looks like, but it is very strange as your are periodically sent "issues" which you get 2-6 options to handle which reflect on your economy, civil rights, and political freedoms. your overarching government model shifts as well as I started as a confederation, with a moralistic democracy. I am now a New York Times democracy/ New York Crimes democracy. the game does this weird thing with different governments where if you make a certain choice the proper name is struck out and replaced with a negative play on it. At the moment I have a mining industry in the top 10% of the nations in the world. NationStates | The Confederacy of Dixie Peoples

Id be glad to give my two sense. I will admit especially as some one who was in high school when I formulated my political identity, this was a big thing for me. Afterwards my draws to identity other than the obvious one being that of region. I do agree with the concept of movements touting an idea hurt the discussion. I definitely do practice a bit of identity politics still being very defensive of the aspects of southern pride not tied to hate. its also helped form my current stance politically as I am more conservative and in favor of individualism, economic liberty, and tradition. At one point I was very much so on the opposite end subscribing to what i consider classical fascism (Mussolini-esque Nationalism mixed with Socialism) or full on Nat-Soc like Nazism. the ideas of these two groups also relies on identity not of race or class but of nation, which is supposed to be the ultimate unifier for a people. To help advance a nations goals for the nation and its citizens. Italian fascism was very popular on those grounds and railed identity home endlessly. The Nazis did the same with German fascism and the idea of Aryian Germans. I have moved in a large swing to the other end as authoritarian left is something I can no longer morally support. Morality is a big factor in traditionalism and conservatism. which is spurred from the Southern Baptist upbringing my siblings and I share. so to me the identity of my home, the deep rural south, and my side of politics of conservatism. for me it feels natural and I do often forget I'm even partaking in the identity politics. to me it feels like part of just how my beliefs are expressed, so its easy to forget. I understand the facts behind the iconography of my identity and I do accept the fact that some will not and can not be shown the opposing side of the arguement. like any issue with two sides. It is a big hypocritical mess when identity is involved in our political systems. No identity is free of this bias and hypocrisy, even just party alignment can have this bias. Every side wants to be the right side of history or a discussion. man needs this feeling of right. This is something that may never change. People cling to symbols, identities, nations, whatever we can to make us feel like we are a part and in the right. it will be inseparable for the foreseeable future I imagine as we as a nation become more polarized and divided. until we can all see the good in one another and over look differences this will continue to worsen. Is it a dangerous outcome, potentially as even now people like "boog boys" still call for the American Civil War part 2 Electric Boogaloo and places like Texas have state officials working to attempt modern secession. I imagine this decade going either way, either identity divides us to separation or we unite on common ground and preserve our nation as it is, but at the end of the day we are all fallible. So is ideology. Especially politics and identity. i cannot say I oppose the acts of identity though as i do practice it myself with southern heritage and how I do tend to stereotype northerners and west coasters as elitist and stuck up. identity is a tool for all and is easily abused by all. I mean my whole answer is me just discussing my own identity if you read it like that which is what I intended as it goes to show how deeply rooted it can be. all groups who make or adopt an identity believe themselves to be the only ones capable of speaking for it which is wrong others experience is mixed in too. if someone outside the identity see it first hand they will have a idea of the next guy they meets actions and beliefs and vice versa. no one is wholly right or wrong. As every coin has two sides. heads and tails, pros and cons, rights and wrongs. Politics has always had this dynamic as well as politicians and voters.

in response to the claim of myself being removed from the 19th, i was not, i left on decent terms with McNasty after making my side clear to him. i had requested the flag and the arkansas state flag be put on my helmet after meeting the requirements to do so. two other members had confederate flags on their helmets and i felt at the time specifically targeted as a new armor team had rolled in after a falling out with their previous designers. the new team had issues with my flag specifically and was not forcing anyone else to change it. when i went to the other two to inform them of the situation in solidarity we left and have since made our peace with the 19th. i might return one day to them if mcnasty allows my choice of helmet and if my schedule opens up for saturdays again. as to co-opting remark i dont know your background so i do not know how familiar you are with my view on the flag or on southern identity as a whole. by definition sure this seems like co-opting but to me im just defending my families own past actions. having a portion of my family originate from virginia as my grandmother remarried a Lee just before i was born and having natives, myself being a acknowledged and documented cherokee, and people of hispanic and african origin in my family ive never been told my thought process is wrong, my extremely liberal sisters who are staunch anti-trumpers and BLM supporters have supported my love for my home here and the flag. because to them even as supporters of an organization seeking to destroy it and the monuments its not about race. im not saying the context isnt there like i said before. ill never deny it ill just present my sides. every coin has a heads and tails. im also a avid patriot as Nemesis will tell you i defend americas actions almost blindly to some extent. so to me i also dont view it as treasonous. i hope one day more people like myself will band together to help reinvigorate this flag with the message of the people who arent being objectively evils support. i know a decent number and have considered forming a activist group to defend the flag locally as we do still love it here. recently a street in the neighboring town where most of us work was approved for a name change from pike. and we didnt have the kinda vocalness youd see from BLM or even centrists on beliefs. because alot are scared. and i understand the fears of my friends who may never openly speak against this removal. because some need their jobs or scholarships. every year i celebrate Lee/CSM day on octobers second monday which is approved by the state. the scar of our past will forever linger let us embrace what good we still can. just as much as we as a nation have never forgotten our actions on the trail of tears, or the spanish american and mexican american wars. imagine for instance how a texan would feel if america constantly back peddled on the war agianst mexico which helped keep texas safe long enough to join the union. or if we back peddled on the bombings of hiroshima and nagasaki. we did evil in the name of good it can be arguesd southerners saw slavery as an evil for good. much like rome did. robert e lee even made comments on this exact philosophy of thought. he was also a civil rights supporter after the war like general Beauregard. jackson had broken virginia law to educate slaves in his life and a black church in virginia today still honors him. going so far as to stain a window with his final words on it "let us cross over now and rest under the shade of the trees" is not all this but relics of this bygone era? or is there a message that exists that the other side needs to help us present just as much as we need to become vocal. ill admit my speech can be fast and loose this whole thread was created in a sense of this exact sentiment of pushing a boundary. i invite discourse on the subject. i like hearing all the unique takes people have, tsar for instance disagrees with tearing the monuments down but instead offers preserving them with museums and parks. just like your own opinion of co-opting which is just fancy talk for calling me a lost causer, which i take no offense to so dont worry, i understand how it shares sentiment with co-opting. however there is real change that can be made. its not just saying one thing while allowing the opposite to happen. if it were up to me ANYONE who has supported any hate groups such as the KKK would be rounded up, put on trial, then shot. this eve includes myself as in high school when i went through every teens edgy phase. i believed alot of nazi party ideaology was sound. i had happily have my blood spilt to cleanse the sins of the evil who hijack this flag as a tool for their means. because i do understand how horribly wrong my beliefs were. and i understand now where i sit on beliefs as where my heart is. will i ever back down in defending my ancestors, heritage and pride for my home, probably not. do i understand others views and hope to one day change them, yes i do. i was once told by Morris calling the south dixie land in this day in age was racist. i was confused as around here we play dixie at games, its on our phones. we wear shirts that say born in dixie or have the states with dixie land written around them. i wear a confederate flag mask for heaven sake. to me its just a way of showing my home off and being who i am. im a first and foremost an american, second a southerner, and third a arklahomie (people born in either oklahoma or arkansas who have spent long times in both states) lastly i am a conservative. nothing is above america as it should be. you can ask blue this i can barely operate discord, social media is terrifying to me and im 20. all my news is from local channels or fox. i see whats going on i hear what people say on the MSM and i hurt when people cry out at southern people as racists. its a minority who at this way and i wish there was more we as people could do to end their hate. my PSN friend brain came in to town for our buddies wedding, hes 20 like me and is from florida and is an african-american or whatever the PC term is i really dunno what is acceptable in that regard. the first day he was here i was worried how hed react if i wore my mask around or a bandana. so i didnt wear it. day two after talkin to him more in person and having a great time hangin at his hotel playin cards i wore it and he was surprised at first but he did not change how he thought of me. tsar also has never changed his opinion of me either and is vocal about his differing belief on the issue. i have only had positive experiences with people i know regarding the flag or my ideas. the only negatives were harry and the artists in the 19th. which is fine as clearly i was not as close to harry as i had believed and the 19th was just that to me the 19th with the exception of mcnasty who i am still on good terms with. there are plenty of people i look up to and repect like H.K. Edgerton, a modern black confederate who tours the south defending monuments, doing ceremonies for other peoples funerals who wish for him to honor them with a confederate funeral, and who carries a 32x32 battle flag on a standard pole like soldiers wouldve carried. hes a hero to me. and a great man. i hope maybe this can help explain things more for you shawn as im always willing to stand by this point. Dixie is home, Arklahoma is heart, and America is my soul. if there is an issue im willig to change my pictures etc. but never will i ever drop my beliefs on pressure or fear. words immortalized by the CSA were Deo Vindice, God Protects in latin. and i do believe in the verbage of god protects the south. maybe i am backwards. and frankly thats okay with me. "because you've got to stand for something or you'll fall for anything" - Aaron Tippin 1991

i fully respect the sentiment of were all americans. thats partially why this is such an issue for me. i as an american am not only entitled to but have a unalienable right to free speech, this flag while associated with awful people is not their flag. we just want others to help us force the identity back to the hands of the good people who just wanna remember there fathers fathers and how they fought and died, not just in the civil war but at normandy, tripoli, seoul, in the jungles of vietnam, and now in the deserts against the muslims you bring up in you own statements. soldiers in the 1900s who were southern could and often would have battle flags painted on their helmets and carry bandanas or the flag itself as a piece of home. we also continue to honor some of the best like bragg and hood with massive bases where some of the best of the best train. the confederacy and the south are linked with america in such a way that to not be inclusive of both sides of an arguement is to be more divisive than those taking sides. i agree any generalization is bad, north south stereotypes, calling muslims terrorsits because of the actions of a few. the lists can go on on awful divisive language. but as a southerner every time i see this flag yanked down or burned it reminds me of the inevitable fight for americas flag we will one day face. it be abroad or at home one day our moment will come when those who support america must again unite to defend it and its flag, and you can bet even the most pro secession southerners will be there. myself included. i will always love my home in dixie and honor it and those whos blood stain its soil. same for my home in america and those who have fought to give me my right to choose. in the words of Robert E. Lee "Now we must look to the time when the blue and the grey will blend into a nation reborn with a greater strength and purpose." north and south as one. but he also said to forgive ones enemies. and i hope one day the people who are good can be forgiven for the actions of the few and evil.

@Tsar yes im aware of the context of how its viewed and i dont think my usage of the word southerner is to broad as all southerners are generalized on the idea of "backwards, racist, uneducated, cousin lovers" regardless of how different each state which has inherited the Dixie identity and evolved with it actually look independently. this is more of where i planned to take the discussion any way i just wanted context for where it started. southerners regardless of which state they are from or what they believe can and will be associated with the 4 things i have stated. in the words of the late great Johnny cash in the song southern accents, "youngins call it country, and the yankees call it dumb." this is an issue that will outlive the flags itself. people outside the south don't really understand what life is like they base everything off the actions of a minority of people, the KKK and people like the guys at Waco and cult leaders in the swamps, as what southerners behave like. and you cannot say this is false. as you have been in calls or parties where i have been associated with those things even before people find out i support the flag simply because i talk different. people try to shame each other for something out of their controls. i was born southern by the grace of god and i like to hold true to those words. and on the idea of family and religion tsar the battle flag holds true to both if you actually see how beautiful it is, the 13 stars representing the southern states which are themselves a family, the x being that of saint Andrew. who when crucified did not believe himself worthy of the same cross as Jesus and was lashed to an X instead. and the red white and blue mean the same things they do on our own stars and stripes, blood of heroes with innocence and the ideas of liberty in each color respectively. a conscious choice was made to choose the cross over the national flags to help separate from the KKK but the organization just adopted it after it fell out of favor. am i saying people wont be offended by that context, no, im saying that they shouldn't be however as the ones who simply honored the fallen raised it first the hateful people who followed and popularized it still are a minority even in the modern era where the amount of people who support the flag in polls now rests in the low 40% range. about 1% of that 40 are the racists, the rest of us just wanna live and let live and be proud of who we are where were from. but these one percent are vocal and they hurt the rest of us. for instance for those unaware every state has a recognized confederate memorial day, typically in april or may. with exceptions of october and january for robert e lee days in arkansas and alabama. the people who go out an honor heroes and decorate graves on this day are not the KKK. its they slowly dwindling support from the poor and lower middle class population. as some one born in oklahoma which is a former confederate territory with a massive number of apologists and supporters alike i remember seeing this kinda stuff everywhere. but no one ever screamed destroy the statue of stand watie or take your flags down there. i was very young of course but growing up in the cherokee regions of oklahoma it was a common thing to hear america described as a conquering nation by the older folks. the ones who remember the stories their fathers told them from after the war or the grand fathers of the war. cherokees risked alot going to bat for the CSA and today most people only know they exist because of a sentence or 2 in history books. they have been functionally isolated to oklahoma as a group and have suffered on the trail of tears and even more prior to the civil war. imagine how they feel seeing american flags over their homes and hearing how great and lucky they are to have been here for it. to them i imagine most who are respectful would leave the US flag alone, but im sure there are groups who are deeply offended by it. there is 2 sides to every coin. im just as bad at stereotyping northerners as pompous and self righteous assholes. and i think both sides of the isle need to come together and work to in generalizations like this as whole so that some day we can all go without callin eachother names or hatin one another. then maybe the cross will be saved from fading away. as the good will outshine the bad like it did ever so briefly after the civil war.

further the Battle flag is flown to avoid the symbology of white supremacy. if we flew the actual national flag like some contenders suggest wed actually be supporting the hate they designed it with.

Hi for those of you who know me welcome! for those of you who don't I am Jason a proud Southron and Arkansan. I am an average workin class citizen and gamer. However, I support a symbol that is divisive to Americans. I am here to explain myself and why I fly the Confederate battle flag/Navy jack. first off I'm sure most are aware but for those who dont know the CSA had 4 national flags and a vast amount of varying battle flags, namely the Bonnie Blue flag which was the basis for some of the aspects we see on the battle flag. the blue and white single star of the bonnie blue was the first national flag and a symbol rarely mentioned, it had its own derivative of the "Dixie" tune called bonnie blue flag hurrah. its blue field and white star was multiplied to eleven during the secession. then the flag of Alabama the saint Andrews cross. was taken as the basis for a battle standard by Hood in Tennessee making the eleven star cross flag. this flag then added stars for Missouri and Kentucky becoming the ANVs standard. this is sadly as far as the design would progress as the other southern states of Maryland, Delaware, West Virginia, and Kansas did not leave the union with the CSA. however Oklahoma and the New Mexico territories did. which is how modern Arizona, new Mexico, and Oklahoma got their borders. this is the prelude to modern iconography as officially there is 11-13 southern states, unofficially there are 20 states which fall under the dixie line/mason Dixon line. the Stars and bars, a variation of the colonial stars and stripes is the second confederate national flag which was confused with the Union in battle. resulting in the white field, which sadly represents the elite aristocrats views on white purity, and battle flag in the corner. however this one would also be subject to change due to the confusion of surrender if it hung low without a gust of wind. resulting in the final national flag the blood stained banner the white field again appears with a red bar representing the blood of confederates who died in 1861-1863. this flag also featured the ANV battle standard in the corner. this flag would be the one lowered from Appomattox courthouse in 1865. many people used the battle standard after the war as a symbol of rebellion, jesse james famed folk hero and train robber was a confederate private during the war and robbed trains as revenge for Missouri not leaving and for the loss of the war. the KKK flew the 3rd and 4th national flags originally due to their symbols of white supremacy on them the white fields, however after Bedford Forrest's passing the ANV standard was adopted to help gather average southerners support. this hurt the flags image and carried on well in to the 1900s. including in the civil rights era. when segregationist Dixiecrats, and the KKK flew the flag to show despise for mingling of races. however people such as myself who dotn see the issue as one of race but of wealth do not, i repeat, do not associate with the actions of these two organizations. its an issue of region, heart and home for most, in the north those who fly it are doing to show they are rednecks, and those in the KKK who fly it sadly still tarnish it with their hate. I'm descended from Cherokees and blacks alike. with documentation to prove it. and from what I've been told by my grandparents they all supported the flag. to them as archaic as it sounds its the symbol of their people. the saw the Union as a conquering nation and still despised it. but that's the old southern identity, as we have progressed we have become avid patriots and most are nice people. we just wanna support our dead ancestors who fought and died, namely Cherokees in my family who rode under Stand Wattie. others fly it to honor the ANV or Hood or Bragg. as more and more are taken down by the PC culture we lose more and more of our heart and soul as southrons. my ancestors would be sad to see it go. so would even people like Abraham Lincoln who played Dixie the night Lee surrendered to honor the bravery of the south. I've lived in the south my whole life and never once have I seen people lynch one because of skin or politics. we are the home of southern hospitality after all. anyone who only looks for the bad will find it. the key is to look at the good. which is what matters.

anyone else think this would be a meta idea? if so we can start doing tests on discord. if we get the manpower we can do anything. need literally all characters right now.

I played very briefly on reach and was involved in some very minor clan wars. Like no record kinds. Back then things definitely seemed a lot more action oriented. I dropped off with four as i had slowly transitioned to mw3 and bo2. Over their i was in reborn, a semi competitive clan. Where i got a feel for the competition halo had to deal with. My name price actually came from clan policy which was a gt change to a cod character-clan name-3 number code format. That was probably one of my best clan experiences till advanced warfare killed the cod vibe off. Made some good friends in the real world from reborn. I think that's a key aspect of clans, you gotta be able to make friends inside and out. Halo 5 i noticed when i rejoined the community starting in some small generic style quick rise and fall clans. And when I'd bounce between them friends would cut ties. In regards to how i think this all ties to the community. The "xenophobia" is killing it alongside no new recruits in the pool. Clans isolating themselves and being toxic alongside the community outside not being able to look at it and see the good side because of the toxic clans has dried of manpower and killed relations. Now as we slowly crawl towards infinite I see little change community wise. However the hope that in a year or so infinite will have revived a dying community gives me some hope. But like gregor said its not likely and harry made a great point on 343 being unreliable and inconsistent. Who knows maybe we will all be wrong and infinite will be the game to knock COD, BF, and other triple A fps games down a few pegs. Times are changing this decade who knows what's next. All we can do is stay on 343's wild ride.

no the gunsmith who made this does commission i believe

Next time you are on and catch me on mw2019 I can invite you then. I may be able to while your offline.

Id say so. Plus if you own mw2019 you get a ghost skin and m4 variant that looks like the one from 2.