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Friday, February 24, 2023
Catholicism, CRT, and the spirit of the age
Recently I
was interviewed by the Catholic Herald’s
Katherine Bennett about Critical Race Theory and the need for Catholics not to
let themselves be intimidated by the progressive spirit of the age. You can watch the interview at YouTube.
Again, he gives no definition of “racism”, and no citations of teachings against “racism” except the liberal paul6 and jp2. Newsflash, professor, the civil rights movement has failed. Judging someone by the color of their skin, ie racism, is Necessary and good
If you are walking in an unfamiliar city and it’s getting dark, and coming toward you are three, ahem, “urban youths”, are you a racist and casually cross the street hoping you don’t catch their attention or ire?, or are you a content-of-their-character guy, suppress your natural and correct instinct, and head right towards them?
You cross the street, making racism a moral duty., You wouldnt have to cross the street if the boys lacrosse team was coming toward you, right?!
Ignoring the first part because it is boring, how racist is Ed acting on your example?
I mean, if you are walking in and you see these two: https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTO3fWijdEN6059aAmYhD8P9cncBdCRbuAm1A&usqp=CAU
You will immediately think "Mormons!" thanks to these clothes and acessories being associated with the missionaries. On a similar situation, the urban youths look plus skin color will lead you to think "oh no!" because they are associated with low-lifes.
Are any of these two associations necessary? Nah, they are both existent thanks to very contingent historical and cultural situations on current EUA. If you picked a alternative reality were mormons missionaries dressed in suits and the blacks were the richer american race them you would never think of making these associations, would you?
Sorry for the rant, i just found the way that people associate knowing statistics in one place and racism very annoying.
Solzhenitsyn wrote the Gulag Archipelago and people in Russia were largely blind to it, until regime change came, then came Putin who was a fan of Solzhenitsyn. Solzhenitsyn brought critique not only upon Stalin but also Lenin, and not only upon Lenin, but also Marx. I am not sure to what extent Solzhenitsyn has been assimilated. CRT presents in my estimation a striking analogy. It does not say only that there is this bad thing out there called racism which has always existed, but so what. It speaks very concretely about the history of the United States and says that slavery and racism have had everything to do with our history. (Not that our history consists only of slavery and racism, but that their story is very much a CRUCIAL element of our concrete history.) (Nota bene: this does not deny that racism and slavery do not have a long and complicated history that is as old as civilizaation.) Just as Solzhenitsyn looked for the deep root, so does CRT look for the deep root, and just as he linked Soviet Terror and Opression to Marxism, so does CRT lay the necessary and decisive link of Slavery and Racism to Capitalism, or as a Christian man like myself would put it Cupiditas. Now I realize that CRT means different things for different people but I would like to suggest that CRT might not be so far off the mark as its critics are. Cornel West, for instance, gives a version of CRT which is I think quite coherent with the Christian faith that he professes.
CRT is a racist enterprise and completely rebuts Martin Luther King Jr's admonition to his children - I won't quote it from memory or look it up - but character and integrity are the watchwords - judging people by the inherent characteristics is a nonsense designed to atomise society and culture by inventing such ideas as cultural appropriation - which black used for their corn row hairstyles - the Vikings and probably other groups got there first. Esmon Dinucci.
That's a really important discussion. As always, your comments are on point! Good one, Ed!
ReplyDeleteAgain, he gives no definition of “racism”, and no citations of teachings against “racism” except the liberal paul6 and jp2. Newsflash, professor, the civil rights movement has failed. Judging someone by the color of their skin, ie racism, is Necessary and good
ReplyDeleteIf you are walking in an unfamiliar city and it’s getting dark, and coming toward you are three, ahem, “urban youths”, are you a racist and casually cross the street hoping you don’t catch their attention or ire?, or are you a content-of-their-character guy, suppress your natural and correct instinct, and head right towards them?
You cross the street, making racism a moral duty., You wouldnt have to cross the street if the boys lacrosse team was coming toward you, right?!
Ignoring the first part because it is boring, how racist is Ed acting on your example?
DeleteI mean, if you are walking in and you see these two:
https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTO3fWijdEN6059aAmYhD8P9cncBdCRbuAm1A&usqp=CAU
You will immediately think "Mormons!" thanks to these clothes and acessories being associated with the missionaries. On a similar situation, the urban youths look plus skin color will lead you to think "oh no!" because they are associated with low-lifes.
Are any of these two associations necessary? Nah, they are both existent thanks to very contingent historical and cultural situations on current EUA. If you picked a alternative reality were mormons missionaries dressed in suits and the blacks were the richer american race them you would never think of making these associations, would you?
Sorry for the rant, i just found the way that people associate knowing statistics in one place and racism very annoying.
Current cultural situation! Oh my, right, soon there will be a wakanda! You conservatives!
DeleteSolzhenitsyn wrote the Gulag Archipelago and people in Russia were largely blind to it, until regime change came, then came Putin who was a fan of Solzhenitsyn. Solzhenitsyn brought critique not only upon Stalin but also Lenin, and not only upon Lenin, but also Marx. I am not sure to what extent Solzhenitsyn has been assimilated. CRT presents in my estimation a striking analogy. It does not say only that there is this bad thing out there called racism which has always existed, but so what. It speaks very concretely about the history of the United States and says that slavery and racism have had everything to do with our history. (Not that our history consists only of slavery and racism, but that their story is very much a CRUCIAL element of our concrete history.) (Nota bene: this does not deny that racism and slavery do not have a long and complicated history that is as old as civilizaation.) Just as Solzhenitsyn looked for the deep root, so does CRT look for the deep root, and just as he linked Soviet Terror and Opression to Marxism, so does CRT lay the necessary and decisive link of Slavery and Racism to Capitalism, or as a Christian man like myself would put it Cupiditas. Now I realize that CRT means different things for different people but I would like to suggest that CRT might not be so far off the mark as its critics are. Cornel West, for instance, gives a version of CRT which is I think quite coherent with the Christian faith that he professes.
ReplyDeleteCRT is a racist enterprise and completely rebuts Martin Luther King Jr's admonition to his children - I won't quote it from memory or look it up - but character and integrity are the watchwords - judging people by the inherent characteristics is a nonsense designed to atomise society and culture by inventing such ideas as cultural appropriation - which black used for their corn row hairstyles - the Vikings and probably other groups got there first. Esmon Dinucci.
ReplyDelete