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Spoiler: Kaep’s issue was in fact with the flag, anthem, and America. All of which he views as inextricably linked to and in fact built upon racism. There was never a mental separation. Just an excuse to get otherwise-opposed people onboard.
It’s otherwise like saying “my problem isn’t with this political party, just its ideology and history and current members” For Kaep there is no substantive difference between what he sees as racist policies versus America, its history, and its people. The whole point is to spit
on the flag and anthem and symbols of patriotism. He views it as otherwise being forced to honor the symbols of your oppressor. Not a government now oppressing you but otherwise great. But rather one that has always oppressed you and was built for that purpose. So it should
have its national symbols and songs disrespected, patriotism seen as evil for being patriotic to an oppressive regime, and the nation’s very fabric changed. It makes sense when you take his twisted worldview. It always did. Of course he does what he does. And it means what he
means. Two types of people only ever pushed a different line: The cynically opportunistic who realized that his actual radicalism would alienate even people otherwise inclined to agree with his protests, and a bunch of gullible white liberals and some middling people who
never made the connection and don’t themselves see evil as woven into the government and nation. People who saw it as largely fine when Obama and Democrats are in charge and only as evil and racist when Republicans are. People who don’t actually get Kaep’s point that it’s not
just the current government and policies. It’s not just Trump or some racist local government or agency as you like to pretend. It’s the very nation itself. From its start. Never stopping. Symbolized by these markers of patriotism that have to be trashed and disrespected. A
nation whose very fabric needs to change. Whose future must be disconnected from its past. And as long as we respect and honor patriotic symbols to our past and traditions and pretend like the nation itself isn’t fundamentally bad, that can never happen. Duh.
