06-30-2022, 08:15 AM
(06-30-2022, 05:03 AM)pally Wrote: As opposed to the fantasy history conservatives want us to believe?
Expanding history to include the lives of others who lived it is a good thing…even if you don’t like the stories they have to tell. You can’t tell Thomas Jefferson’s story fully, for example, without telling the story of Sally Hemings. It was part of who he is. If it points out he was a flawed man, well he was. You cannot learn from the past if you refuse to acknowledge it. You can celebrate greatness without canonizing people. Heroes often have clay feet. I’d rather celebrate people who do well despite their flaws than laud them as perfect.
There is also the reality that this country’s Constitution was written by white men for white men. So yes it was on one hand forward thinking at the same time also being very much if it’s time. No one gets harmed by pointing that out.
Why are conservatives so afraid our real history? How can knowing the good, bad, and yes even the ugly of our history be negative. It is what it is. A great country and people aren’t afraid to face the past and learn things. It is how we can achieve that goal of a “more perfect union”
BTW, woke is also not a negative. It means understanding and being aware of injustice, empathy towards others, respect for everyone. It is far better to be woke in 2022 than an ostrich living in the past.
I think anyone with any semblance of reason knows most of the people in history who did big things had flaws. They were human, just like everyone else. "You cannot learn from the past if you refuse to acknowledge it" is a phrase that fits my point exactly. Columbus sailed across the ocean and "discovered" the new world (and yes, I know the Vikings had already been here) but we are no longer allowed to acknowledge that fact because of what he did to the natives. Lee, Jackson, and Longstreet were some of the finest field Generals ever produced in this country, but we can no longer acknowledge that because of slavery. Yet we can put aside Lincolns views on slaves and pretend like he wasn't a racist because of his Emancipation Proclamation. Washington, Jefferson, and all the rest from Columbus to Roosevelt are being wiped from history by the woke mob, because they don't fit today's version of what a person should be.
And BTW, "Woke" is a negative, and finally people are starting to see that. You may think it is the definition you posted, but it's a monster out of control.
