(September 1, 2017 at 2:21 pm)Thumpalumpacus Wrote: I'm pretty sure people are aware racism exists in America. Discussing how to deal with it ... well, that's a bit of a slog, don't you think? I've had tough discussions with friends about racist things they've said. You know what didn't happen? They did not recant their racism. It doesn't work that way except in very, very few instances.
I think one thing we can carry away from Charlottesville is that the radical right feel emboldened enough to publicly march under a swastika flag. At that point, I think discussion is useless hand-wringing, because these are people who are not interested in discussions. I think another thing we can carry away from Charlottesville is that these neo-NZis are willing to resort to violence as well as violent imagery in order to gain their political ends. That being the case, that once more renders discussion nugatory.
I don't walk away from the discussion, I'm just not under any illusions about its potential for productivity. You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him think.
Yep, there was a time when America could have ignored these sickos when they were under their rocks. The problem is now that there is an asshole in the White House who has for the past 5 years dog whistled at them. I'm only hoping between Heather's unfortunate death, and the overwhelming support of Texas after Harvey, the swing voters and moderates on the right will be increasingly less likely to allow more embolden of these sickos.
There is no polite discussion to be had with a White Nationalist. It would be like a Jew trying to convince a Nazi not to gas them. But you can challenge media and politicians not to pander to them. Politicians set the tone.
