Jon Stewart put defenders of the Confederate flag on blast Wednesday night during the Daily Show , calling it a “archaic symbol of racist insurrection.”
Even South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley asked that the flag that flies near the capitol building be removed following criticism of that the Confederate flag was still flying after nine people were killed during a shooting rampage that appeared to have racial motives.
Plenty of retailers have followed suit and have halted sales of the Confederate flag, including eBay, Walmart, Amazon, and Etsy .
Defenders of the flag say that it should fly because of the heritage it represents and the way it honors soldiers who fought for the Confederacy, but they probably were not ready for what Jon Stewart had to say about those beliefs.
Jon Stewart took that reasoning and compared it to supporting Nazi German y for a totally unrelated cause.
“It’d be like saying you support flying a Nazi flag because you support their robust anti-smoking agenda. But that wasn’t really their thing .”
Jon Stewart also brought up the fact that those fighting for the Confederacy fought against the United States all in the name of slavery.
“They fought for the South against the United States because of slavery. That’s the heritage you’re defending. I’m sure your soldier ancestors had other redeeming qualities, but this is the thing that they’re known for.”
For those saying that the removal of the flag would lead to a slippery slope , Jon Stewart also had a comment that debunked that argument, as well.
“Usually when you do the ‘slippery slope’ argument, you like to end it in something bad. The next thing, black children don’t have to go to schools named after men who wouldn’t have allowed them to learn how to read.”
The new symbol that Jon Stewart proposed was one that he said would be “a flag that represents the aspects of their heritage we can all celebrate.”
The symbol, meant to celebrate the invention of barbeque , would be a burning pig. Jon Stewart suggested the symbol would insinuate how the cooking method was likely invented.
“That’s probably how barbecue was invented. Ingenious southerners saw a pig on fire and thought, ‘I can work with this.’ ”
Jon Stewart has never been one to hold back, but lately his selection of topics and commentary have been extra bold , including jokingly threatening to leave his post on the Daily Show early if Donald Trump had not announced his candidacy for president.
Jon Stewart’s segment on the argument against the Confederate flag can be watched here.
[Photo By Stephen Lovekin / Getty Images]
