Of all the schisms that cleave contemporary America, few are more stark than the divide between those who consider themselves to be victims of US history and those who fear they will be casualties of its future.

  • @[email protected]
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    233 months ago

    In what way? The article mainly presents historical facts, not ideological theories. And when it does present theories, it does so within the historical context surrounding it. That was the whole point of the article, that one’s view of history directly relates to their political leaning. If you want to be fair and balanced but refuse to acknowledge that one side is clearly doing more criminal/immoral acts and/or just straight up lying than the other party, then you’re not being fair at all; you’re giving false credibility to an obvious conman simply because you don’t want to admit you’ve been played

    • @[email protected]
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      13 months ago

      I don’t believe in putting the worst possible spin and interpretation on one person or party and giving the other a complete pass. I was hoping for an objective assessment of conservatives motives and beliefs, but it was pretty much the same old “conservatives are racist”. Trying to distill it down to racism is ignorant at best, but is more likely just another opinion piece with an agenda. Is Trump tapping into nationalist tendencies? Well yeah, but that’s not what characterizes conservatives in general, and it’s not racist in and of itself. Nationalism isn’t necessarily racist (though it can be, and to some it is), specifically it’s pride in what the nation stands for and what is required to maintain the nation the way it is. Or at least the essence that makes the nation. Again, to some this has racism at its roots, but to most (in my experience), it’s about ideals and values that are irrelevant of race. What do you think are the core differences between progressives and conservatives? What is the true, fundamental difference in world view between one who is conservative and one who is progressive?

      • @[email protected]
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        93 months ago

        Regressives are racist, though. They specifically chose to be racist theocrats as part of Southern Strategy. They ran a racist who said Mexicans are rapists and thieves (ironically he is a rapist and a thief). They are currently running a racist who is saying Haitian people are stealing pets and eating them.

        “This article is too biased because it correctly presents the racist nationalism party as participating in racist nationalism.”

      • @[email protected]
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        73 months ago

        What is the true, fundamental difference in world view between one who is conservative and one who is progressive?

        One believes government can be leveraged to encourage/enact positive change, that a lot of people need to be coerced into doing what’s right (read: business owners) and that a population doesn’t need to reenforce or retain one race as their majority, that a diverse population breeds creativity and growth is inspired by such.

        The other believes that government shouldn’t be responsible for anything other than the defense of the country, that the society of that nation is almost entirely decided by the race and culture of a given majority and that it should always remain as such. (Read: there’s your racism) and that might makes right (money = power. You gained that money however you did and therefore what you do with it is always morally correct.)

        • @[email protected]
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          23 months ago

          Thanks for actually answering the question! I would distill it down a little further though, and say that the difference between conservative and progressive is that progressives believe that human nature is malleable and that the system can be used to drive humanity in a positive direction. On the other hand, conservatives believe that human nature cannot be fundamentally changed and that attempts to do so will result in dystopia of some kind, or an overall decrease in happiness as humankind strays further from it’s nature. Obviously there are people within either of these camps who take things way too far. I don’t remember where I read this theory, but it’s the only one that has held up over the years and in various contexts.

            • @[email protected]
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              13 months ago

              I suppose the third type of person is a revolutionary, who wants to throw it away and start over. But then what, continue the cycle of revolution once the next generation arrives? Or is there an end point? Do you think it can actually be achieved? From a practical perspective, does human nature allow that?

      • @[email protected]
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        3 months ago

        The current GOP is still entrenched in their Southern Strategy. To quote Lee Atwater:

        Y’all don’t quote me on this. You start out in 1954 by saying, “removed, removed, removed.” By 1968 you can’t say “removed”—that hurts you. Backfires. So you say stuff like forced busing, states’ rights and all that stuff. You’re getting so abstract now [that] you’re talking about cutting taxes, and all these things you’re talking about are totally economic things and a byproduct of them is [that] blacks get hurt worse than whites. And subconsciously maybe that is part of it. I’m not saying that. But I’m saying that if it is getting that abstract, and that coded, that we are doing away with the racial problem one way or the other. You follow me—because obviously sitting around saying, “We want to cut this,” is much more abstract than even the busing thing, and a hell of a lot more abstract than “removed, removed.”

        This plus fundamentalist Christianity is the basis of the modern GOP playbook, only now it’s Latinos that are the target, at least moreso than blacks

        Sure we can’t distill it down to just racism since the GOP has become so entrenched with the religious right, so let’s just call it Christofascist Racism, but let’s not ignore 60 years of Republican racism and bullshit

        Edit: Lemmy blocks the n-word even when it’s a direct quote, but Atwater was using that derogatory term for blacks in the above quote

        • @[email protected]
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          13 months ago

          That’s just demagoguery. There’s a guy I know who thinks progressives hate America and everything they do is for the sole purpose of destroying it. It’s like that. I get that it’s far simpler to reduce your (political) enemies that way, but it’s lazy and uninteresting to me.

          • @[email protected]
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            23 months ago

            Your guy isn’t in the inner circle of the highest ranking members of a party. Atwater was, and refer to the quote above. Rather than being overt, they couch the racism in other terms, but it’s the same terms.

            Since the 1960s and the ERA and Nixon, racism and fear-of-the-Other has been intrinsic to the Republican party.

            Like… Per their own words. In the quote I referenced. From someone in the inner circle of the Republican party, and who helped them get elected. How? By preying on the fear-of-the-Other ie racism