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PaperclipPerfector  11mo ago (text post)   26263 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of January 1, 2024

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When racism had a socially dominant position, racists did in fact openly call themselves racist, and made lots of statements that very explicitly endorsed racism.

Is this actually true? I'd agree that many people openly stated beliefs that we'd label as racist, but I am curious if there are examples of "mainstream racists" (e.g. Wilson, segregation-era Southern elected politicians) openly describing themselves as racist.

Looking into the term, it seems to have originated in 1902 by Richard Henry Pratt, who said:

Segregating any class or race of people apart from the rest of the people kills the progress of the segregated people or makes their growth very slow. Association of races and classes is necessary to destroy racism and classism.

It doesn't seem to be something originating as a positive self-descriptor.

Ironically, he is better known for this quote:

Kill the Indian, save the man.

Contemporary times would give him a certain label.

Contemporary times would give him a certain label.

Why not say it then?

The irony of course is that as a sentiment "Kill the Indian, save the man" is positively enlightened, representing a shining beacon of Liberalism and Western Civilization in comparison to the to the typical rhetoric of the [current year] "woke left" and "dissident right".

I think you're doing a huge disservice to Liberalism and Western Civilization here.

Those are real things with real, important accomplishments.

However, those accomplishments have become so universally accepted and adopted that they're now just common sense, and what we still argue about in relation to those things are the controversial parts, the parts that many people either reject or have moved past onto new projects.

Because those are the only parts of Liberalism and Western Civilization that we still talk about, you're pretending like those parts are what those movements were about, entirely.

You're correct that this sentiment is a shining beacon for those small parts we still fight about today, and a nice rallying phrase for the people who still want to die on the hill of those parts alone.

But that's not fair to those movements, which were about a lot more than that, and had real acomplishments.

Those are real things with real, important accomplishments.

I agree, and the assumption that it is even possible to "save the man" in contrast to the admonishments of "bio-determinists" on both the left and right is exactly what I'm honing in on.

The irony of course is that as a sentiment "Kill the Indian, save the man" is positively enlightened, representing a shining beacon of Liberalism and Western Civilization in comparison to the to the typical rhetoric of the [current year] "woke left" and "dissident right".

Do you genuinely believe that, or are you being edgy or hyperbolic?

The "shining beacon" bit may be a tad hyperbolic but yes, I genuinely believe that.

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