No one would recognize it. I’ve never seen one in the real world: just on the internet and in reference books. Maybe in histories.
Please, before we Ugly American this into conventional “wisdom” can we stop calling that thing the Stars and Bars? There’s no saltire on the stars and bars; it may have been the official flag of the rebellion for a time, but it really doesn’t evoke the same emotional response, among supremacists or the oppressed, as any of the variants of or including the [sedition] saltire. Hardly anybody recognizes the stars and bars. The confederate saltire is as recognizable as the swastika. Just call it the damned rebel flag.
Just curious, from where are you observing “them” and “they?” I’m right here in the middle of them and, as a southerner I suspect you consider me one of “them.” My observations are based on actual, day-to-day, having to live surrounded by bigots. The problem is that you have lumped us all together as though everyone in the south is a racist, bigotted, redneck. There are many of us who have and continue to fight racism even though our great-great-grandfathers fought under that flag. Also, as older generations die off and newer generations come along, the confederate devotees are becoming fewer and fewer. (Thank God.)
BTW, your argument presupposes that all southern states have thriving tourist and convention industries. Other than a bit of coastline in some of the states, few southern states have any real tourist business at all.
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