Quotes from Henry Ford(posted on FB by my father)

[RainDog]

22. Throughout history - many influential people couldn't think beyond their prejudices

Ford was an anti-semite - and so were many others. He, like just about everyone, had good and bad ideas. He was far ahead of the rest of the world in the area of alternative energy - but far behind in issues related to human rights.

Milton is considered one of the greatest writers in the English language. Yet his works are full of misogyny and hatred toward other groups. It's impossible to read a history of literature without reading a history of misogyny - so you have to read those works knowing those people were bound by the prejudices of their time. He was also a fierce proponent of freedom of speech in regard to criticism of power held by religious institutions - so he had his good ideas, too.

The best thing to learn, imo, is that people who lived in past times do not have the answers to present questions and we have to engage in mental distortions to pretend they do - but, sometimes, they do have answers that have been suppressed by the powerful. In Ford's time - anti-semitism was the realm of the powerful and ignorant alike.