It's sad that no one seems to have bothered to read the history behind the confederate flag and why it is associated with racism so strongly to begin with. It isn't because it was used by the confederate army during the civil war. It was only one of many flags used by the confederacy.
The confederate flag wasn't all that common in the south until the civil rights movement in the 1950's and 60's at which point southern legislatures specifically started adopting it as a symbol of their opposition to the federal government's efforts to force southern states to end segregation and enforce the civil rights legislation. In other words it was adopted by the anti civil rights movement explicitly to represent their racist cause. That is why it was put on the South Carolina state house and incorporated into flags of other southern states. That is why it is disingenuous to say it was placed there for 'historical' reasons.
Apple's apparent banning of all use of that flag in any context shows a lack of understanding for why it's problematic to begin with and an ignorance of the history of the civil rights movement.
Thanks for pointing this out. The history may not be quite as clear as you (and Wikipedia) say. But regardless, it's good for more people to know that these flags haven't just been flying there peacefully ever since the end of the civil war.
As that article points out, all the Southern states that started flying that Confederate flag for the first time in the 50s and 60s in response to the civil rights movement claimed to be commemorating the civil war too. So it'd be hard for Apple to come up with a rule that excluded racists who were using it as an anti-civil-rights symbol but not actual civil war stuff, and they tend to err on the side of banning everything.
The US civil war was only in 1865. I think if the southern states had tried flying the flag any earlier than WWI, they'd have been met with opposition from people rightfully thinking they were trying to restart the war.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flags_of_the_Confederate_State...
The confederate flag wasn't all that common in the south until the civil rights movement in the 1950's and 60's at which point southern legislatures specifically started adopting it as a symbol of their opposition to the federal government's efforts to force southern states to end segregation and enforce the civil rights legislation. In other words it was adopted by the anti civil rights movement explicitly to represent their racist cause. That is why it was put on the South Carolina state house and incorporated into flags of other southern states. That is why it is disingenuous to say it was placed there for 'historical' reasons.
Apple's apparent banning of all use of that flag in any context shows a lack of understanding for why it's problematic to begin with and an ignorance of the history of the civil rights movement.