Forum Post: The right side of history
Posted 11 years ago on Nov. 7, 2012, 3:06 p.m. EST by brightonsage
(4494)
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
Everybody (almost) wants to be on the right side of history. Otherwise you look like fool. That is why so many slave owners became lifelong abolitionists, ... right after they heard that Appomattox eliminated all possibility that emancipation could be reversed.
So, given a little time, those who were panicing about voter fraud, marriage, sexual orientation and gender pay equality, will be claiming that they always supported these constitutional rights, just like they had always opposed the wars in Iraq, or Viet Nam. or Jim Crow.
And I say, let them do it. Sure, it will represent "amnesty," a word they still can't say, in the presence of equally good Americans with a beautiful tint to their skin without throwing up. Let them do it because to continue to rub their light colored noses (like mine) in it, will prevent everyone from ever fully experiencing equal rights. Magnanimity or forgiveness is a virtue that can reward both the giver and the receiver and it comes cheap. The old south that is still in some of us, has tried one last hurrah, and failed. Again.
My own family were documented abolitionists but some in generations, since the Civil War (yes, that is what it was) some cousins have flirted with bigotry. tThis has been exposed at family gatherings when a cousin brought one of "them" to meet the family before joining it, officially. But the time came when more enlightened members reminded the offenders of the family's history and standards, that it wouldn't accept any outward expression of it.
Equality, democracy, rule of law, and generosity of spirit must be exercised to keep them in shape. So, after the wounds are licked, maybe we can all rationalize and make up the stories that retroactively put us on the right side of history. We have big, but solvable problems to address and the more committed hands, the better.
So, no carping or whining, just pick your favorite issue from the right side of history and get busy. You always knew this time would come.
I really can't comment on your family but I can tell you that mine has retained some 90% of their DNA over the last 20,000 years. I don't really believe any of us will be mating with other peoples anytime soon. And that really is the supreme test isn't it? So sure, have at it, but it's not for us.
Biological differences among races do not exist.
Of course not - there is only one race after all - The Human Race - very colorful race it is. {:-])
Thank you for one of the funniest comments that I really have ever read here! I have to go now but I will bookmark this webpage to show my friends and family later as we can learn a lot from your comment!
Phylogeography and the human genome... bookmark that also.
'Epigenetics' - bookmark that and I'm still laughing at your previous comment. Thank you!
The point was, stop whining and picking on people you think are different and start working to make America work for everybody.
I wasn't whining about race here; I have never raised the issue of race.
Whining about whatever. I don't know you and you weren't a personal target. If the shoe doesn't fit, don't wear it.
You would prefer I was barefoot?
As long as you aren't kicking somebody, your footwear is entirely up to you. If you want to make this a better place, I would walk a mile in your moccasins.
Well thank you very much and I guess I'll stick to my shit kickers then. Unfortunately, no one - and I mean no one - even knows what your idea of a better place even is because all of you, are all over the map, Obama supporters. And that's the only thing anyone can be certain of. So, it's a dog eat dog world; we all go it alone, and I like that.
Denial......
"The permanent limbo of fools, which keeps them in Paradise lost, where they remain happy"
Good Luck with that...I'm just sayin..
Very well said! Thank you for this brilliant post.
Gotta start somewhere. And I don't have enough time.
That sounds a little ominous so I am wishing you well and thank you again after again reading your post. OWS is the start of something very important for us all.
When you get old you start hearing foot steps.
Struggling alone is exhausting but struggling together can give comradeship and purpose. If you are anywhere near Toledo, OH you are invited to a dinner just like the one I now have to go prepare.Take care.
Well, thanks anyway, but I am on the Front Range of the Rockies.
The invitation remains open ended and thank you again for your post as I just read it for a third time!
I appreciate that. While we don't have so many trolls now, trusted colleagues need to take conversations to a more responsible level, emails or facebook (which I haven't been using) because constructive activity takes coordination and saboteurs (which you would get on this forum) would be annoying at best and disruptive at worst.
I agree with you. More of us have to connect with each other in the physical space and in this regard OWS may have to take a leaf from the TP's play book when it comes to getting organisational tactics.
I hate to be mentioned in the same breath and they don't represent the degree of success we need or aspire to,
The Tea Party's first organizers were all schooled in radical left practices and took ideas from 'The Ruckus Society' and I kid you not! OWS and other progressives need to revisit history sometimes when it comes to organising but of course I agree with you about the TP.
The Tea Party's first organizers were from the left. Then it was hijacked by the Koch brothers.There are elements of what is called the OWS that are mutually incompatible. In the competition among ideas they will gravitate to where their soul mates are and you can can the "votes". Beware the Koch brothers when your group appears to be growing.
The Koch brothers are a malignant influence on our politics and they fund many rightwing organisations and thinktanks. They are oligarchs are the real 'enemy within' in the US.
LOL. That wouldn't surprize me. Maybe that's why the TP took a step back and said, wait a minute! We do not want to address social issues! OWS very wisely adopted the same strategy.
I believe you are correct.
My family said the same except, "you start seeing ghosts"
Scary isn't it?
I painted a picture of a spirit wolf. I say everybody has one. They take the sick, injured or damaged ones. Mine has been patient. He will know when it is time.
But now, looking across the campfire, he licks his lips.
Wow....well said...without shame, animosity or degradation.
If all could be as respectful as you, on both sides of the fence, how greater a nation and world this would be.
Funny, most individuals I know deny this or the fact that, "You always knew this time would come."
So, where do we go from here? Most want to continue to believe in their godliness of horrors towards others.
No magic bullet. May sound corny but when I show up, I look for something that needs done. Do it for a while and some people notice. They start asking what you think would make it better or easier or whatever. Then you have some credibility to speak. You don't have to shout.
My Dad was looking for a place to hunt in Wyoming. Found a cabin with cement mixer, cement and a crack chinking job half done. He was about finished when the owners showed up. They asked if he was looking for a place to hunt. Said he could hunt there any time. They became great friends.
You have to be willing to invest yourself. That will keep you on the right side of history.
Voter fraud is a constitutional right and you want people to support it?
Voter suppression isn't a Constitutional right and I don't want people to support it. It is a much larger problem and when you get it fixed, we can talk about your tiny little issue.
"So, given a little time, those who were panicing about voter fraud, marriage, sexual orientation and gender pay equality, will be claiming that they always supported these constitutional rights, just like they had always opposed the wars in Iraq, or Viet Nam. or Jim Crow."