I understand your concerns about hyper political correctness, GraceG - but taken the other extreme, where would something like toleration of outright Holocaust denial (for example) take us as a human race?
For the most part I believe America does a good job of confronting our dark pages transparently and with open debate. And this is one of the keys to our enduring strength as a nation.
And we HAVE made progress from Civil War times, Jim Crow days, etc...That should be acknowledged.
Should be, but isn't.
Certainly our society has made progress since the Civil War and Jim Crow days.
But I worry that so many people have learned the wrong lessons while they rejoice in the very real progress.
Jim Crow? Wasn’t that put in place by the evil, racist Republicans?
1964 Civil Rights Act? Isn’t that one of the Democrats’ finest hours? Lord knows the Republicans never would have passed such a glorious landmark bill!!
You go and ask just about any young person they will state the above as Fact although I’ll wager just about anyone on this site knows that the above is absolute Fiction.
History isn’t always accurate. Because people lie and they believe what they want to believe.
[ I understand your concerns about hyper political correctness, GraceG - but taken the other extreme, where would something like toleration of outright Holocaust denial (for example) take us as a human race?
For the most part I believe America does a good job of confronting our dark pages transparently and with open debate. And this is one of the keys to our enduring strength as a nation.
And we HAVE made progress from Civil War times, Jim Crow days, etc...That should be acknowledged. ]
Indeed we have made progress, but by succumbing to cultural guilt over matters we had no saw in several generations ago is destructive to any civilization. Acknowledging we could be brutal and horrible in the past should never be used as tool to extract resources from one group to give to another perceived “oppressed” who are no longer under a yoke of oppression.