2084

GOP so white!

2085

That’s how they want it.

2086


2087

Nathan Bedford Forrest’s views on race were typical for his generation, too. So what?

2088

Warning: Statistics rectally obtained.

2089

Cuck?

2090

Clustercuck

2091

So were George Washington’s, but he is still usually treated with a bit more nuance than “because he was a slaveowner he was evil full stop.” Granted, you could make a case that all slaveowners throughout history, regardless of context, were evil full stop, but I’m not sure that captures the whole picture. Okay, George Washington was an evil man. Now what?

Now, applying this defense to someone born in 1911 rather than 1732 is problematic for other reasons. But, y’know, Grant once owned a slave (somewhat reluctantly; his father-in-law gave him to him), Lincoln worked very hard to avoid rhetoric that would make him look like a wackjob abolitionist who wanted full social equality for blacks, and until rather perhaps 1862 he was still convinced integration was hopeless and that colonization was the better way. They were not N.B. Forrest but neither were they Thaddeus Stevens or Wendell Phillips. Still in the end they aligned themselves on the right side of history.

All of which is to say, there is something to be said for putting morays into context. Otherwise I think it becomes impossible to view the humans of the past as humans. There are certainly bright stars that see especially clearly ahead of the times (see Thomas Paine or Benjamin Lay re: slavery, for example), but it is a fact that most of us are not bright stars – most of us lack that courage and clarity and some of us are born deeply intertwined with bad systems that predate us.

More pertinent is your example of LBJ, who as you say was born into a racist society but struggled to break out of it and left behind an immense civil rights legacy. I honestly don’t know whether Reagan’s racial views were typical of a white American born in 1911, and even if so that is only one piece of painting some kind of a moral picture of the man… but what is more important from our perspective is the question of what he did about it as a politician. He was all-in on the Southern Strategy approach to Republican politics, as far as I can tell.

2092

I was composing a whole damn reply to your post in my head until I got to this part.

To which I say, “Preach.”

2093
2094

Lofl. She’s not wrong, though. They are absolutely the future of the Trump party. Also Jacob Wohl.

2095

Were others of his generation and background sufficiently reflective so as to grasp the inherent evil at the center of his life? Yes. Does that mean it was possible to do so? Yes. Does that mean there was something quite wrong with the moral philosophy of Washington? Yes. Does that analysis help in evaluating his words and actions? Yes. Is the resulting understanding far better than oh he was the Father of our country and he never told a lie and he chopped down the cherry tree while crossing the Delaware to make all people free? Resoundingly, yes.

Which is to say, if all one has to say about Reagan is well it’s not surprising that this great American President was a bit racist because everyone in his generation was, that really misses the boat.

2096

Uh… uh… uh… uh… good thing we don’t edumacate them like we used to?

2097

Wake up, sheeple!!

2098

Trump supporters are scumbags. This one beats down a senior citizen protesting Trump.

2099

That guy is about as tough as DJT himself. He’d get curbstomped going against someone his own age.

Also, enjoy the A&B charge, dipshit.

2100

Love the Lock Him Up chant.

2101
2102

Dude is younger than me - you watch yourself with that “senior citizen” crap!

2103

Would aged and decrepit be more accurate?

:)