Hello people!!! **People...People...People** (echoes against the cavernous empty walls of the metaphorical room that is full of the zero readers of this drivel)
According to the lather, rinse, repeat cycle the United States is currently stuck in, (as much as Phil Connors was stuck waking up to Sonny and Cher singing, "put your little hand in mine," over and over and over again) it is time for us to once again be polarized by something, have little desire to converse with people whose thoughts and opinions are different from our own, and assume we know everything about something we, in fact, know very little about. The topic de jour, as so often happens, manifests itself in a catch-all phrase that those who decide to take sides and vitriolically debate don't even know the proper definition of the term. Right now, you could probably make the case that this is happening about a myriad of topics as both sides struggle for the, "heart of the nation."
The one that comes to mind most often for me and I have found fascinating to currently track is critical race theory. According to Wikipedia, the bearer of all truth, critical race theory:
"is a body of legal scholarship and an academic movement of civil-rights scholars and activists in the United States that seeks to critically examine U.S. law as it intersects with issues of race in the U.S. and to challenge mainstream American liberal approaches to racial justice. CRT examines social, cultural, and legal issues primarily as they relate to race and racism in the United States."
If critical race theory was limited to just that pursuit, I would say it sounds pretty reasonable. I have unfortunately been unable to track down a copy, whether digital or physical, of Critical Race Theory: An Introduction, so I haven't been able to do my own grassroots research into the topic. This has made me hesitant to form any opinions, as I still don't know exactly what CRT is comprised of or what exactly has so many people up in arms about it percolating into public schools.
I know that conservative folks consistently state that CRT is a terrible awful thing that is undermining American values and goes against not only what the Founding Fathers thought and fought for but what Martin Luther King, Jr himself spoke out about. They decry CRT as some sort of "far left brainwashing", socialist and/or communist propaganda meant to stir up a race war, and something that would ultimately spell the doom of our country. They say CRT insists that white people are evil and that it is a racist curriculum. While I cannot speak specifically to most of those things, I can say with full confidence and authority that white people are indeed evil...
And so are black people, Asian people, Australian people, Arab people, European people, Hispanic people, Antarctic people, Arctic people... (did I miss any?)
All people are evil. Or, should I say, sinful. Perhaps those two things shouldn't be equated but for the sake of this brief discussion, let us say that they are essentially the same thing. Now, I'm going to try to not get so Christ-centric in this particular post, but even a humanist, atheist, Buddhist, deist, etc, etc would say that all people, in one way or another, are flawed and/or fall short of their "social contract" from time to time. The cliché "nobody's perfect," is a far more accurate depiction of humanity than most people realize.
So if we accept that all are flawed, we should probably also accept that any entity, organization, or social construct created by these flawed beings will also be inherently flawed. Therefore, the United States of America, as well as the ideals of the Founding Fathers and the Constitution, are flawed. As are all the inhabitants past, present, and future.
I don't know enough about specific tenets of critical race theory to say it should or should not be taught but I do know enough about humanity, progressive logical argumentation, and American history to know that it is ok to be critical of this country's past and present. Now, much like how all humans fall short of perfect ideals, every action they commit is not one of ultimate evil or ultimate good. So, much like the individuals, the country of the United States has done some good and some bad.
The most frustrating thing for me during discourse in today's American society is the binary nature of the argumentation. People think others are either right or wrong. They assume a monopoly on truth and morality. If you support CRT, you are, according to one side, racist, evil, and a brainwashed socialist intent on destroying the country. To the other side, you are a forward-thinking angel who has everything figured out and is a model citizen. If you do not support CRT, the former side believes you a patriot, true messenger of equality for all, and a defender of our beloved Constitution. The latter side thinks you are a racist, white supremacist who is a threat to equality for all. Both ways of thinking on both sides of the issue are equally dangerous, especially when the concept itself is called a theory.
I see nothing wrong with better educating people across all age demographics of an accurate history of the United States of America. That would include the following:
- the Founding Fathers creating the first government of its kind, a constitutional presidential republic
- the laughably inaccurate statements in both the Declaration of Independence and Constitution that insinuated that all people were created equal when the only people at the beginning of US's history who could vote were white, male landowners.
- the fact that in order for the country to become the economic, political, and social force it is today, the original inhabitants of the continent were essentially exterminated like a rat infestation and millions of members from a separate continent were shipped to this continent to work as sub-human slaves to build the agricultural economy of a large portion of the country.
- the part the US has played in a variety of military conflicts, some which were created by the US themselves while others were instigated by other forces.
2021 Resolution Tracker
Moses Miles Walked: 824.8 miles
Bible Progress: Isaiah 20
Books Read: 24
Most Recently Completed Book
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes by Anita Loos - review found here.
Currently Reading
In Defense of Sanity: The Best Essay of G.K. Chesterton
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