The rebel flag like you assumed is used as a symbol of southern values and general wackyness. We take a weird sort of pride in hold my beer antics. It's a dukes of hazard wild child thing.
i actually agree with this 100%, i have never seen the confederate flag used as a hate symbol except by people who aren't from the south nor have ever lived there. the only people who see it as a hate symbol are those who don't know what it actually means in the context of the contemporary south.
it's not a fair assumption to say that this is every single case within the south, but there's a reason that when white nationalist etc groups adopt the confederate flag, it's usually combined with other nationalist symbols like the swastika.
source: lived in the south for a fair amount of time.
probably not a good comparison since they're considered the most tribal state in the union
thank god for mississippiliterally every southern state is stuff
florida, oklahoma, tennessee, georgia, louisiana, texas
all good states.