Culture Warriors category archive
Hoist on Their Own Petard 0
As my old professor for the history of the Early Federal Period was fond of pointing out, “History is irony.”
Courting Disaster 0
Federal Judge Judge James Ho has a notion of immigrants.
Built-in Bias 0
Writing at Psychology Today Blogs, Karim Bettache takes a penetrating look at how structural racism permeates society. (Structural racism is that thing that racists and their dupes, symps, and fellow travelers say does not exist because they don’t want to admit that it does.) Furthermore, he suggests that it’s a world-wide phenomenon that can be traced back to the age of empire, when European nations used racism–that is, white superiority–to help justify rationalize subjugating foreign lands and peoples.
Bettache cites research that demonstrates that children start absorbing racist messages from the culture almost before they learn how to talk, let alone learn how to read or think critically. Here are a couple of snippets from his article:
(snip)
For black girls, discrimination based on hair texture is a common experience that reinforces their position as outsiders in some environments. Some schools have even prohibited natural hairstyles, considering them “unruly” or contrary to policies requiring a “professional” appearance (Macon, 2014). The message is that to succeed and be accepted, black women must conform to white norms rather than embrace their cultural heritage and identity. Such policies inflict psychological harm and perpetuate racist beliefs that natural black hair is somehow unkept (sic) or unclean.
Given the efforts of the New Secesh to rise again, I think his piece is well worth the few minutes it will take to read it.
Blowback 0
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Gene Collier finds himself dismayed, but somehow not surprised, by the reaction of (some) Republicans to President Biden’s announcement of the “U.S. National Strategy to Combat Antisemitism.” He observes that
Follow the link for his reasoning.
Fiefdom of Religion, Reprise 0
Sam and his crew talk with Will Sommer, politics reporter for The Daily Beast, about who buys into QAnon and why.
Precedented 0
Bill Adkins, writing for the Lexington Herald-Leader, sees an echo of the past (I saw the article at the Las Vegas Sun). A snippet:
Today in the United States, 7.2% of the population is LGBTQ. That’s about 24 million people. This year, nationwide, legislatures have passed 21st-century versions of the Nuremberg Laws. They have passed at least 45 laws so far that attack LGBTQ marriage, endanger their employment and their First Amendment rights, limit what can be taught or discussed in schools and make them victims of persecution. The politicians also target those who defend the victims of these laws, as the Republicans did when they attacked the education commissioner in Kentucky.
I have cited this quote from Mark Twain before, and we see proof of it daily: “History does not repeat itself, but it often rhymes.”
I commend Adkins’s entire piece to your attention.
A First for Florida Man 0
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Gene Collier thinks the Florida Governor Ron DeSantis may have earned a place in the Guinness Book:
At least three different entities — the NAACP, the League of United American Citizens, the biggest Hispanic and Latin American organization in the country, and Equality Florida, which advocates for the civil rights of the LGBTQ+ community — have issued travel advisories warning that policies put into practice by DeSantis have rendered the Sunshine State a credible threat to the health, safety, and freedom of their constituencies.
Follow the link for his reasoning.
The Whitewashing 0
The Orlando Sentinel’s Scott Maxwell takes look at Florida’s whitewashing (here’s a particularly outrageous and stupid example) of America’s history; he finds the implications thereof disturbing because, well, they are. (And, natch, it’s not going on just in Florida.)
A snippet:
The leader of a Holocaust Center made a similar point recently stressing: “The Holocaust, it didn’t start with guns and death camps. It started with words.”
Twits on Twitter 0
That seductive siren, “social” media, vamps the unwary and the stupid into forgetting that the internet is a public place.
All That Was Old Is New Again 0
The “Green Book” returns:
According to the NAACP national headquarters, the advisory is a “direct response to Governor Ron DeSantis’ aggressive attempts to erase Black history and to restrict diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in Florida schools.”
Details at the link.
Suffer the Children 0
Let them be sacrificess to Republican posturing.
Durham’s Bull 0
Despite the hype about John Durham’s report, Farron, who has actually read it, explains why there’s no there there.
The Past as Prologue 0
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Gene Collier reminds that, as Mark Twain said, “History does not repeat itself, but it often rhymes.”
By the way, if you haven’t read the book that Collier refers to in his article, this might be a very good time to do so. It is excellent.