BF2S Forums Race relations thread

uziq wrote:

i’ve just remembered this from an essay by Eric Foner.

For many decades, historians viewed Reconstruction as the lowest point in the saga of American democracy, a period, allegedly, of corruption and misgovernment imposed on the South by vindictive Radical Republicans in Congress once they overturned Johnson’s supposedly more statesmanlike white supremacist Reconstruction policies. The cardinal error was granting suffrage to black men, said to be by their nature incapable of exercising democratic rights intelligently. This interpretation formed part of the intellectual legitimation of the Jim Crow South, which in the late 19th century began abrogating the rights blacks had gained during Reconstruction. The supposed horrors of Reconstruction offered a stark warning of what would happen if Southern blacks were able to exercise their right to vote. But after the civil rights revolution (sometimes called the Second Reconstruction), a wholesale shift in historical outlook took place. Today, Reconstruction is seen as a noble effort to create the foundation of racial justice in the aftermath of slavery. The tragedy is not that it was attempted, but that it failed.

that’s what this is really about. releasing a press statement on MLK’s day. it’s about a culture war going back to the civil rights movement and the reappraisal of history that began then.

i mean that’s obvious. but when you chime in with all this hysterical nonsense about ‘woke radicals destroying america’, you are basically just joining in the attack on the civil rights movement. i mean, really? do we have to rehash the arguments of the 1960s again. do you want to return to jim crow and segregation too?

Multiculturalism “is not who America is,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on his last full day at the State Department, a curious message from a diplomat whose own ancestors were immigrants from Italy, and one that ran counter to the United States’ long-held pride in being a melting pot of cultures.

In a post on Twitter, Mr. Pompeo, who has overseen a State Department where diplomats of color have been ignored, passed over or otherwise pressured to resign, also decried what he described as a sop to political correctness that he said “points in one direction — authoritarianism.”

“Wokeism, multiculturalism, all the -isms — they’re not who America is,” Mr. Pompeo wrote. “They distort our glorious founding and what this country is all about. Our enemies stoke these divisions because they know they make us weaker.”

The tweet infuriated American diplomats abroad and in the United States who described it as a final insult by an administration that has promoted far more white male Foreign Service Officers than women or people of color. Black and Hispanic diplomats each make up 8 percent of the Foreign Service, and Asians account for 7 percent, according to State Department data from March, the most recent available.

Mr. Pompeo’s post was particularly notable in that it came the day before Kamala Harris will be inaugurated as the first woman of color to hold the office of vice president.

“Talk about not reading the room,” said Lewis A. Lukens, the former deputy ambassador in London, responding to Mr. Pompeo’s post on Twitter.

Mr. Pompeo’s remarks may have been aimed at political conservatives he hopes to win over in future campaigns for office, including, possibly, a bid the presidency in 2024. It may also be a final dig at the 1619 Project, a New York Times project that reframes American history around the consequences of slavery and the contributions of Black Americans, which Mr. Pompeo has criticized repeatedly.

uziq wrote:

there is nothing 'sensible' about your contributions. you are spouting hysterical nonsense about 'woke lesbians' toppling society.

the entire point is that history is a pretty damn conservative discipline, nobody's national heritage is being torn-up by PhD theses or student activists.

republicans frothing about 'woke mobs' is the same as conservatives affecting to be concerned about 'critical race theory': a useful phantasm to manipulate their idiotic voters over. there IS no threat to the US or UK from 'critical race theory'. you are deluded.

the american history promulgated by historians, academics, and US universities throughout the majority of the 20th century, until at least the mid-1970s, was free of french left-wing 'theory', and was actually an expression of incredibly revanchist positions within the united states (notably the southern states and lost cause lobbyists).

you talking about history being 'traditionally left-wing' is historically illiterate.

you're not 'challenging' anything with a 'sensible' discussion. you have no sources, no evidence, no argument.

Dilbert_X wrote:

uziq wrote:

there is nothing 'sensible' about your contributions. you are spouting hysterical nonsense about 'woke lesbians' toppling society.

the entire point is that history is a pretty damn conservative discipline, nobody's national heritage is being torn-up by PhD theses or student activists.

republicans frothing about 'woke mobs' is the same as conservatives affecting to be concerned about 'critical race theory': a useful phantasm to manipulate their idiotic voters over. there IS no threat to the US or UK from 'critical race theory'. you are deluded.

the american history promulgated by historians, academics, and US universities throughout the majority of the 20th century, until at least the mid-1970s, was free of french left-wing 'theory', and was actually an expression of incredibly revanchist positions within the united states (notably the southern states and lost cause lobbyists).

you talking about history being 'traditionally left-wing' is historically illiterate.

you're not 'challenging' anything with a 'sensible' discussion. you have no sources, no evidence, no argument.

The problem is not the historical facts, and I'm doubtful tenured government jobs are dominated by right wing capitalists, its the new narrative:

- Everything white men have done is bad and tinged with racism
  - Why were the crew of the moon landings not all black - racism!
  - Why wasn't Einstein black - racism!
  - Why aren't basketballers all black - lets skip that one
- Everything white men will do is bad and tinged with racism
- We must burn it all down and ensure no white man can do anything ever again
- Black people are sweetness and light
- We must replace white racism with black racism

uziq wrote:

wow it's like everyone else views dilbert's inane claptrap in the same way as i do.

feels good man!

Last edited by Dilbert_X (2021-01-19 17:28:03)