Descent 0
Will Bunch is less than sanguine.
The Heritage of “Race” 0
The concept of separate and distinct human “races” is a social construct, and a poisonous one. We see evidence of that poison in the headlines every day and most emphatically in recent weeks.
It is also an artificial concept that, less than slightly more than four centuries after its birth, is taken by many as immutable and revealed truth.
At Psychology Today Blogs, Carolyn Purnell offers a brief history of the concept of “race.” I commend it to your attention; it is an especially timely read. A nugget:
Prejudices are as old as humankind, but the concept of “race” is not.
For centuries, the term “race” didn’t refer to humans. Instead, it defined the qualities one wanted in a hunting or war animal (e.g., a fast race of warhorses). By the mid-sixteenth century, the term had crossed over to humankind, but it referred only to the elite. For example, the Capetians were the “third race of kings,” after the Merovingians and Carolingians.
Basically, “race” referred to lineage and inherited characteristics, not to broad human groups.
The first modern use of the term possibly appeared in 1684, in an article by the French doctor François Bernier, but few people read Bernier’s work, and the idea was slow to catch on.
“Race’s” real powder-keg moment came in 1735, when the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus published Systema Naturae.
Aside:
She admits this article is inherently superficial due to its brevity.
Strikingly missing from it, in my view, is sufficient emphasis on the influence of chattel slavery in the Americas, which gave wealthy, influential persons economic incentives to propagate the idea that persons of one skin color were inherently superior to persons of other skin colors.
Facebook Frolics 0
Outside agitator frolics.
Last Thursday night, Rupert posted on his public Facebook page an invitation for “goons” to join him in traveling to Minneapolis, where he said he was renting hotel rooms and planned to wreak havoc and “take hella good videos.”
More at the link.
The Grievance Train 0
Sam and his caller discuss the irrationality of equating a stay-at-home order during a pandemic with slavery or internment camps.
Land Grab 0
The Las Vegas Sun comments on the Trump administrations selling out public lands along with the public trust. Here’s a bit from the editorial:
Precisely.
Oil leasing and fracking threaten our natural habitat and rob us of acreage that supports our growing outdoor tourism industry. It also diminishes the scenic beauty of the region, bespoils land of cultural and religious significance to Native American communities, and poses a threat to our most vital resource — water.
Southern Strategy Redux 0
Susan Estrich argues that Donald Trump has been waiting for the opportunity to play his own Willie Horton card.
I would counter that he has been playing it continually for forever.
The Eye of the Beholder 0
One of the lessons of history is that a simmering pot eventually boils over. Too often, it boils over to no effect other than a messy stove top. We are at one of those boiling over points now.
It’s up to the polity–what’s left of it–to determine whether we will turn off the burner or simply clean up the stove top while leaving the pot to simmer until the next boiling over point.
Image via Job’s Anger.
A Divider, Not a Uniter 0
SeattlePI columnist John Connelly looks at the recent riots in reaction to the killing of (yet another) black man for being black. He points out that this is but one in a long series eruptions in the history of white American racism and the legacy of America’s original sin.
Here’s a snippet:
No antidote for endemic racism has been found, not even the election of a Black president. The man who succeeded him spread to falsehood that Barack Obama was born in Kenya. It “spikes” with periodic killings by police. The news media cover protests and riots, but give far less attention to what makes even nonviolent protesters angry.
We’re badly equipped for this spike. President Donald Trump is a deliberate divider, going so far as to encourage violence. . . .”
Prerequisite 0
At The Roanoke Times, retired professor of economics George McDowell suggests that those who would “reopen” the economy must first understand how it works.
I commend his article to your attention. No attempt to excerpt or summarize it would not do it justice.
Aside:
After you read the article, you will know more about economics than our preside–oh, never mind.
(Misplet wrod correxed.)
Return No to “Normal”
0
Werner Herzog’s Bear does not want to go back to “normal.” A snippet:
Follow the link for the entire piece.
If One Standard Is Good, Two Must Be Better 0
Thom comments on the double standard.