Charlie and Mona have come a long way in the last decade. Don't be too hard on anyone who cannot (pretty much by definition) see his or her blind spot. The general illumination often has to change significantly to result in recognition of what some objects in the landscape actually are. Trumpism for them was like a flare gun shot above a…
Charlie and Mona have come a long way in the last decade. Don't be too hard on anyone who cannot (pretty much by definition) see his or her blind spot. The general illumination often has to change significantly to result in recognition of what some objects in the landscape actually are. Trumpism for them was like a flare gun shot above a battlefield that unexpectedly broke through the darkness and delineated edges and angles and enemies they had not previously been able to distinguish.
I recall Mona's opinion stuff from the Reagan years and don't recall any awareness of the racism embraced by their takes on affirmative action, the welfare queen story, and so forth. But of course in their own sincere perception they weren't racist themselves. The welfare queen story wasn't a dog whistle, it was a valid concern about crime and government being open to fraud. Affirmative action wasn't an effort to unskew the societal playing field, it was patent unfairness to white people. Being against public assistance programs is not about wanting to not pay taxes, it's about ensuring that idle people don't fall into the trap of dependency...
Charlie and Mona have come a long way in the last decade. Don't be too hard on anyone who cannot (pretty much by definition) see his or her blind spot. The general illumination often has to change significantly to result in recognition of what some objects in the landscape actually are. Trumpism for them was like a flare gun shot above a battlefield that unexpectedly broke through the darkness and delineated edges and angles and enemies they had not previously been able to distinguish.
I recall Mona's opinion stuff from the Reagan years and don't recall any awareness of the racism embraced by their takes on affirmative action, the welfare queen story, and so forth. But of course in their own sincere perception they weren't racist themselves. The welfare queen story wasn't a dog whistle, it was a valid concern about crime and government being open to fraud. Affirmative action wasn't an effort to unskew the societal playing field, it was patent unfairness to white people. Being against public assistance programs is not about wanting to not pay taxes, it's about ensuring that idle people don't fall into the trap of dependency...