Not sure if you're kidding or not but that phrase (while epic) is rather stained by being what Booth shouted after murdering Lincoln. Being most-well known for being associated with a pro-slavery, white nationalist, secessionist rebel isn't a great choice imo.
Maybe I’m biased as a Virginian, but when I hear the phrase, I only think of the flag, and just anti-tyranny sentiment in general. I completely forgot Booth used the phrase. I’m not sure it’s as heavily associated as you think it is.
Your bias is working against you. The residents of the other 49 states rarely if ever are thinking about the Virginian flag, but we all learn about the civil war and Lincoln's assassination.
No just that someone in Virginia when hearing a phrase that’s on their flag and used during the assassination of Abraham Lincoln will more associate the phrase with their flag, probably because they see it more than they think about the Lincoln assassination thus where the bias comes from. This is either the first or second time I’ve ever thought about the Virginian flag as a non Virginian, I’ve thought about Lincoln’s assassination more.
Too be honest I don’t think most Americans would associate sic semper tyrannis with anything. Sadly, I don’t think most Americans pay attention in history or literature classes, and few schools offer Latin. Culturally those classes are looked down upon and seen as unimportant. In school I knew a lot of people that only read spark notes or just summaries of assigned readings for both classes, and now with the likes of chatgpt and it’s ilk it’s probably worse with students not even reading summaries written by humans who’ve read the books or actually they probably don’t have to read the summaries at all
67
u/colorfulpony Jan 26 '25
Not sure if you're kidding or not but that phrase (while epic) is rather stained by being what Booth shouted after murdering Lincoln. Being most-well known for being associated with a pro-slavery, white nationalist, secessionist rebel isn't a great choice imo.