We Were Wrong About America: John Pavlovitz

[Caliman73]

64. Yes it is true, but not the point.

The point is that while there are more people who are prosocial and willing to sacrifice a bit to help others, we have had, in this country, since its beginnings, a very large segment of people who are not of that persuasion. In Germany, there are still people who support White Supremacy and the ideas of the Third Reich. The difference is that Germany had to reckon with what they did in the 1930's and 1940's. They banned the symbols of Nazism and while there, the movement is effectively shut out from power. We had a Civil War here over secession and slavery, but we DID NOT deal with the issue of Slavery and Racism. We actually allowed the people who were literal traitors (or enemy combatants if you accept the secession as legitimate) to assume power in the government again. While the Civil War was about restoring the Union and ending Slavery, BOTH sides still supported the idea of White Supremacy.

The attitudes are around us all and permeate every part of society, which is why policing is so much more brutal in Black and Brown neighborhoods, why Black and Brown people hold less wealth and why health outcomes are so much worse for Black and Brown people.

The same problems are extended to women in general because we also have a problem with sexism that has never been fully dealt with either.

Even Black and Brown people, AND women buy into some of the ideas of White Male Supremacy.

It is good to look to the positive and the progress. It gives us hope. We also HAVE to crawl into the muck and deal with the the problems that have ALWAYS been part of the American experience.

This may sound extreme, but conservatism is a toxic ideology that needs to be eradicated. The premise that it is built upon, the idea that there is a hierarchy of value among people, and that those at the top, have a "natural" right to lead, is the basis of the racism and sexism, and anti-LGBT attitudes, etc...