To the observant the previous few months have provided ample fodder for what seems to be America and most of the West’s burgeoning culture of outrage. Whether it took the form of “protesters” with “room to destroy” wreaking havoc on the streets of Baltimore, or the incessant cries of “No more racist cops” from those who seem nonplussed at the idea of being denied the ability to trespass on private property, these examples of collective, often social media driven outrage seem to dominate the 24/7 news cycle. Last week saw, in light of the horrible tragedy in Charleston, South Carolina, the beginning of what could be the fiercest campaign yet waged in the name of the greater “Outrage Wars.” While it may not yet be clear as to what tactics or means will be used to wage this ever escalating war of feels over reals, one thing is becoming evident: facts have no place in this bubbling conflict, instead the loudest mob (and perhaps the one most desperate and open to violence) will claim victory.

A few times each week I take part in an activity that at times begins to resemble ritual self-flagellation. Donning my ideological hazmat suit I wade knee deep into the trending hash tags on Twitter. If Twitter is the hand on the pulse of our collective conscious (ha!), then hash tags, I suppose, represent the most pressing psychological outbursts that reside in the collective unconscious. The hash tag that caught my eye the most last week was the incredibly (not) self-aware “#TakeDownTheFlag”. The flag the hash tag in question is referring to is, of course, the battle flag of the former Confederate States of America.

The Confederate flag has been something of a symbolic shapeshifter for most of its history; to some, it represents the indignant defiance towards Northern intrusion as well as a celebration of the aristocratic south, while to most, it has become an object of racial hate, a testament to the country’s history of slavery. Regardless of whether you see the Confederate flag as an embodiment of the sort of rebellious Southern spirit displayed by the Dukes of Hazzard or you regard it as something darker, America’s own Dixie swastika, one characteristic concerning it has become most clear over the previous weeks: the flag, like other semiotic elements, invites itself to be used and exploited by a wide spectrum of interests. The Confederate flag and the ensuing brouhaha concerning its flying over the South Carolina capitol grounds is yet another example of America’s insistence on looking at complex situations, often tangled in a web of complicated historical narrative, and simplifying them into a mere slogan, or in this case, hashtag.

Let’s be honest with ourselves- in today’s cultural climate the white southerner is the only ethnic group that is free game for derision and ridicule, so the frenzied, media-driven outrage towards one of their last remaining symbols of heritage is no surprise. Coming out against the flag is not a risky act; you have nothing to lose showing your opposition towards it. The outrage and “not in my America” sentiment displayed by white Americans towards the flag is nothing more than signaling to show how totally not racist they are. I shake my head at the naiveté displayed when your average twitter user sees a Jay-Z tweet ending with “#TakeDownTheFlag”, and, in a sense of uninformed moralism hits “re-tweet”, as if some great deed of humanity has been achieved.

Beyond anything the South Carolina shootings have offered politicians and other people in positions of power the opportunity to grandstand and further their own agenda. Barack Obama took the podium at the eulogy for the nine slain and exclaimed, amidst a sea of media manufactured crocodile tears, that America “has some hard questions they need to ask themselves about race.” Previously Obama had decried the attacks as yet another example of the rampant gun violence that is all too common in the U.S. but practically nonexistent in the rest of the world. I guess the Charlie Hebdo massacre and Australian Café shooting that occurred earlier this year didn’t happen. For Obama Charleston presents itself as an opportunity to kill two political birds with one stone: he gets to set blacks and whites increasingly against one another, and he gets to pathologize white middle America, characterizing them as hateful gun owning extremists.

Of course Obama and the rest of America’s politicians don’t really care about violence, especially that caused by their own hand. Did the wedding party that was hit by a U.S. drone resulting in the deaths of 12 innocent Yemeni’s prompt a nationally televised funeral eulogy by our commander in chief? Of course not. Was a whole ethnic group told they had blood on their hands for the slaughter of innocent arabs (the drone operator was white, after all)? Of course not. So too, do American’s and their news media skirt the tough issues, employing a most sickening brand of selective morality and outrage. I couldn’t help but feel revulsion seeing Republican after Republican deliver another contrived “statement of grief” concerning the loss of life, while simultaneously demanding that entire regions of the world be turned into molten slag under the might of U.S. fighter jets.

Obviously I in no way condone the violence that we saw in South Carolina. What happened in Charleston was obviously an example of some of the worst that humanity has to offer. I hope the killer is brought to justice and is punished to the full extent of the U.S. legal system. But I am tired of the way that people pick and choose the easy battles to make their point, never once thinking to turn the camera inward.

Issues such as the Confederate flag controversy can take up so much of one’s time and energy, even if they believe the issue to be silly or superfluous. Perhaps that’s what is so insidious about them. As I read tweet after tweet decrying the C.S.A. as “traitors” (never mind that America’s founding act was violent rebellion against the British crown) I felt a deep unease at the simplicity and seeming contempt for nuance and facts that most people have towards any issue. People champion the flag of the U.S. over the Confederates as if the Civil War was the final triumph of good over evil in the U.S., never acknowledging that the flag flown by the alleged angelic victors was the same one flown during the atomic bombings of Japan, the massacre at My Lai during the Vietnam War, or over Abu Ghraib prison during the Iraq War. If someone who displays the Confederate flag has to answer for the crimes committed during the nation’s brief four year existence, then surely someone who waves the stars and stripes must answer for the much greater crimes committed under its shadow. Overwhelmed by the stupidity and myopia emanating from my digital screen I did what any sane person would do: I deleted my Twitter. -Licinius