Atomic City Talk

Gator Hill from the Warehouse tavern popped in a letter to the editor in the ridger defending the pole position of the flags at the Warehouse, specifically the fact that the Confederate flag flies high.
While I kinda like the tact he's taken vis a vis the American flag, and why its not at the top, I have to wonder about the thinking of somebody that doesn't realize that the Confederate flag, to many people, don't just symbolize southern heritage, it symbolizes the George Wallace way of thinking.
Sure, the Civil War wasn't about racism, anymore than the Iraqi war was about religious intolerance, but in the years since then the symbol has been perverted into damn near a symbol of hatred, intolerance, and aggression.
Personally, to me, it symbolizes whisky swilling, truck rumbling indigents, smackin' their girls around, beating up the black folk, and pushing around people smaller than them.
Just a thought.

What about the thought that upgrading some of the properties along warehouse road might be harder with that kind of neighbor?

Or is this the beginning of our new tavern scene in OR. Let's think of names for our new "Warehouse District" or "Warehouse Row". Since we don't have a "Old City", maybe this would do. We could have the "Dump Dump", the "Landfill Lounge", the "Rail Roadhouse", "Radioaction", and what else to go along with our redneck biker bar?

Real Clever Cracker. Your post sounds like chapter 2 out of emile Autoris play book.

Sorry this thread isn't about me (or you) either.

Well, you obviously do not know much about Oak Ridge. There have almost always been hole in the wall bars all over town. The CrossRoads, Smokehouse, Horshoe, City Club, Jefferson Tavern, Etc, were here long before the Warehouse. Besides, The Warehouse management has cleaned up their act considerably from a few years ago.

Gator is being disingenuous about the Confederate flag. One can no more isolate the iconography of this flag from slavery than one can isolate the Nazi swastika from the holocaust or the hammer and sickle from Stalinist slavery, brutality and oppression.

In addition to the inescapable fact that the Confederate flag is a symbol of slavery and American apartheid, it is also the flag of secession. Those of us who believe the United States of America is stronger because of all its 50 states can only shake our heads and wonder at those who celebrate a confederacy whose very existence was based on the belief that the United States of America should be broken up.

Anyone who reads this and claims I'm advocating censorship better go back and read again. I never said this private establishment should be forced by law to remove the confederate flag. But I don't patronize businesses where I feel uncomfortable, and a business that proudly celebrates the attempt to break up the US certainly makes me uncomfortable. Your mileage may vary.

"Well, you obviously do not know much about Oak Ridge."

I know something about Oak Ridge, having lived there from ca. 1958 to 1973, and returned on an occasional basis since then.

On another thread, we've discussed the problems OR is having in attracting new people and getting back to the kind of demographic some of us recall in the '60s. In addition to the aging of the OR population, I've also noticed another shift in OR during the 34 years since I moved away. OR seems, to me, to look and act more like an ordinary Tennessee town than it did back then. Oak Ridge exceptionalism is not obvious anymore, and the fact that display of the confederate flag is defended in OR is another sign that the progressivism that marked OR in its early years is in retreat. I count this as an unfortunate thing.

My guess is that they have a bit more cleaning to do.

To add to the list of hole in the wall establishments we now have CHUMPS.