EVERY nation, every culture, every society is built on myths. The idea, currently fashionable on the Left, that we can only "rescue" the United States by exposing all its myths for such is, itself, such a myth. The Left isn't so much about exposing myths as it is substituting new ones. Unfortunately, the Left's myths are that the U.S. is no different from totalitarian regimes, and that freedom is wholly illusory. This, of course, plays into the hands of actual totalitarians (see Beijing) - which does not bode well for our international influence moving forward. The truth is that democracy - or, at least, representative governance - is in constant competition with the alternatives, and when those who should be most invested in the survival of freedom instead conspire to slander it, it becomes hard to convince folks in downtrodden areas of the world that we truly do offer something unique and positive.
Well, and they clearly don't even mean it - because after arguing that this is the most racist, intolerant society to ever exist on Earth, then they turn around and demand that we let more immigrants and refugees in. Well, why on Earth would you want to bring in people fleeing violence to an even worse place? It simply makes no sense - it's an utterly incoherent argument, inherently contradictory, but they don't care about that, either, because the politics of the Left is purely performative. And when even your politics are performative? Now you're just running a con ...
Do you know why the American Rescue Act was weighted more heavily toward black farmers? Because black farmers were royally screwed by the Trump administration - Black farmers, left out of Trump's bailout, find relief in Biden stimulus bill (msn.com). So, this is not some sort of reparations for some distant wrong, this is to right a wrong that just happened and in the case of loans, still happening disproportionately to Black farmers. I also believe that you are incorrect in your statement that the payments are going out to ONLY Black Farmers. My reading of the article and the supporting links suggests that there is approximately $5 billion of aid to disadvantaged farmers, of which approximately $4 billion was targeted directly to Black Farmers. Please recall that under Trump’s Aid program, “Direct farm loans to Black farmers fell by more than half under the previous administration and just 00.09% of the $26 billion in direct payments to all farmers [under the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program]”.
Maybe there is an element of overall reparations in the bill. Why would that be a bad thing? Poor white farmers already got theirs. Why are you pitting the two against each other? Why should both not receive help?
Additionally, should we not have any conversations about the real grievous injustices that have happened in the distant and not so distant past? Yes, we are not individually responsible for the actions of our ancestors, but must we just sweep everything under the rug and pretend that really bad stuff never happened? Only just today, there was a hearing about the Tulsa massacre. This event wasn’t even acknowledged before the last 10-15 years. Oughtn’t we have a discussion about whether the survivors are not owed anything for the loss of their land and families?
Yes, we are a great nation and we have come so very far, but we have a long way still to go. If we can not be self-reflective about our problems, or even acknowledge that they exist, then we are in real trouble as a country.
I have an alternate to your Obama Utopia theory. I think we were so proud to have finally elected a black man to be president that we thought, “Good job everyone! We finally solved racism! Now we don’t ever have to talk about it again.” Once it became apparent that we had not solved racism and discovered is was still intractable, we became resentful that we still had work to do.
On CRT, I am less worried about it being discussed, perhaps even taught in an appropriate form, as this is a debate worth having, than I am with states (Idaho, Oklahoma, Tennessee, North Carolina, Texas, etc.) actually banning CRT and the 1619 Project from being taught at all. That is actual censorship.
And p.s. it is not "censorship" unless you believe banning Creationism is also censorship. We don't teach Creationism because it removes what we know - that science is based on evidence and facts. Critical Race Theory is not teaching people anything - it is indoctrinating them into a specific belief system to teach them how to see each other based on skin color. Moreover, it is being foisted on children and families whether they like it or not. You would say that white oppression is foisted on them whether they like it or not but first, that may or may not be true but there are better ways to teach that this this - which is obscenely anti-reality and anti-science even.
Hi Bob - I made no comment about what I personally think about it. I am commenting only on how I think people more broadly might take it or relate to it. People on the left seem to believe that those who aren't educated should not have rights or that they can simply be lectured to or told to shut up. My point is that you can convince people who are white and educated and "comfortable" in their lives to put their own rights aside for marginalized groups. That works for a good many on the left. But there are going to be a lot of people it doesn't work for, people who do not believe they benefit from "white privilege." I didn't put anything in this piece that I personally believe - this is just an analysis of how I think things might go moving forward and why I think it's possible Biden is the wrong person for our time. That you are not "worried" about CRT tells me a lot, though. You are comfortable in your "white savior" role and that's okay. But it is equally damaging to tell young black kids that they do not have a chance in this country because all white people FROM BIRTH are their oppressors. Tell that to a child, that he or she has no path towards success because the system is rigged against him or her and guess what? You don't even have an Obama because anything he is or made is given to him at the pleasure of whites. He doesn't even have a path to earn any sort of success. When black people look at white now - ALL WHITE PEOPLE and yes even you Bob, and I have to assume you are white from your comment above (note how you are giving something to the black community and that something, I imagine, is your privilege - your "gift" to them, which frankly, isn't yours to give and there was a time when we knew better) they see oppressors. They see evil. They see people they are being told never to trust based -- wait for it -- on their SKIN COLOR. It doesn't matter how generous you are with your privilege, Bob, it doesn't matter on which side of the political aisle you sit or how well meaning you are in your heart - you are white and therefore, an evil oppressor. I do love how people seem to believe because they support CRT that will put them on the "good" side. I object to it because it certainty in the place of doubt, it is racism in the place of teaching racism. Teaching our history should not require we sink back to the days when we are judged by our skin color. No one can ever win anything or achieve anything now without it being handed to them by people of whiteness and privilege - surely even you can see the trap in that.
EVERY nation, every culture, every society is built on myths. The idea, currently fashionable on the Left, that we can only "rescue" the United States by exposing all its myths for such is, itself, such a myth. The Left isn't so much about exposing myths as it is substituting new ones. Unfortunately, the Left's myths are that the U.S. is no different from totalitarian regimes, and that freedom is wholly illusory. This, of course, plays into the hands of actual totalitarians (see Beijing) - which does not bode well for our international influence moving forward. The truth is that democracy - or, at least, representative governance - is in constant competition with the alternatives, and when those who should be most invested in the survival of freedom instead conspire to slander it, it becomes hard to convince folks in downtrodden areas of the world that we truly do offer something unique and positive.
And much worse when we ourselves are making the case that our country is not great.
Well, and they clearly don't even mean it - because after arguing that this is the most racist, intolerant society to ever exist on Earth, then they turn around and demand that we let more immigrants and refugees in. Well, why on Earth would you want to bring in people fleeing violence to an even worse place? It simply makes no sense - it's an utterly incoherent argument, inherently contradictory, but they don't care about that, either, because the politics of the Left is purely performative. And when even your politics are performative? Now you're just running a con ...
Hi Sasha –
Do you know why the American Rescue Act was weighted more heavily toward black farmers? Because black farmers were royally screwed by the Trump administration - Black farmers, left out of Trump's bailout, find relief in Biden stimulus bill (msn.com). So, this is not some sort of reparations for some distant wrong, this is to right a wrong that just happened and in the case of loans, still happening disproportionately to Black farmers. I also believe that you are incorrect in your statement that the payments are going out to ONLY Black Farmers. My reading of the article and the supporting links suggests that there is approximately $5 billion of aid to disadvantaged farmers, of which approximately $4 billion was targeted directly to Black Farmers. Please recall that under Trump’s Aid program, “Direct farm loans to Black farmers fell by more than half under the previous administration and just 00.09% of the $26 billion in direct payments to all farmers [under the Coronavirus Food Assistance Program]”.
Maybe there is an element of overall reparations in the bill. Why would that be a bad thing? Poor white farmers already got theirs. Why are you pitting the two against each other? Why should both not receive help?
Additionally, should we not have any conversations about the real grievous injustices that have happened in the distant and not so distant past? Yes, we are not individually responsible for the actions of our ancestors, but must we just sweep everything under the rug and pretend that really bad stuff never happened? Only just today, there was a hearing about the Tulsa massacre. This event wasn’t even acknowledged before the last 10-15 years. Oughtn’t we have a discussion about whether the survivors are not owed anything for the loss of their land and families?
Yes, we are a great nation and we have come so very far, but we have a long way still to go. If we can not be self-reflective about our problems, or even acknowledge that they exist, then we are in real trouble as a country.
I have an alternate to your Obama Utopia theory. I think we were so proud to have finally elected a black man to be president that we thought, “Good job everyone! We finally solved racism! Now we don’t ever have to talk about it again.” Once it became apparent that we had not solved racism and discovered is was still intractable, we became resentful that we still had work to do.
On CRT, I am less worried about it being discussed, perhaps even taught in an appropriate form, as this is a debate worth having, than I am with states (Idaho, Oklahoma, Tennessee, North Carolina, Texas, etc.) actually banning CRT and the 1619 Project from being taught at all. That is actual censorship.
Thanks!
And p.s. it is not "censorship" unless you believe banning Creationism is also censorship. We don't teach Creationism because it removes what we know - that science is based on evidence and facts. Critical Race Theory is not teaching people anything - it is indoctrinating them into a specific belief system to teach them how to see each other based on skin color. Moreover, it is being foisted on children and families whether they like it or not. You would say that white oppression is foisted on them whether they like it or not but first, that may or may not be true but there are better ways to teach that this this - which is obscenely anti-reality and anti-science even.
Hi Bob - I made no comment about what I personally think about it. I am commenting only on how I think people more broadly might take it or relate to it. People on the left seem to believe that those who aren't educated should not have rights or that they can simply be lectured to or told to shut up. My point is that you can convince people who are white and educated and "comfortable" in their lives to put their own rights aside for marginalized groups. That works for a good many on the left. But there are going to be a lot of people it doesn't work for, people who do not believe they benefit from "white privilege." I didn't put anything in this piece that I personally believe - this is just an analysis of how I think things might go moving forward and why I think it's possible Biden is the wrong person for our time. That you are not "worried" about CRT tells me a lot, though. You are comfortable in your "white savior" role and that's okay. But it is equally damaging to tell young black kids that they do not have a chance in this country because all white people FROM BIRTH are their oppressors. Tell that to a child, that he or she has no path towards success because the system is rigged against him or her and guess what? You don't even have an Obama because anything he is or made is given to him at the pleasure of whites. He doesn't even have a path to earn any sort of success. When black people look at white now - ALL WHITE PEOPLE and yes even you Bob, and I have to assume you are white from your comment above (note how you are giving something to the black community and that something, I imagine, is your privilege - your "gift" to them, which frankly, isn't yours to give and there was a time when we knew better) they see oppressors. They see evil. They see people they are being told never to trust based -- wait for it -- on their SKIN COLOR. It doesn't matter how generous you are with your privilege, Bob, it doesn't matter on which side of the political aisle you sit or how well meaning you are in your heart - you are white and therefore, an evil oppressor. I do love how people seem to believe because they support CRT that will put them on the "good" side. I object to it because it certainty in the place of doubt, it is racism in the place of teaching racism. Teaching our history should not require we sink back to the days when we are judged by our skin color. No one can ever win anything or achieve anything now without it being handed to them by people of whiteness and privilege - surely even you can see the trap in that.