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That the religious right have latched onto prohibitionist dogma for centuries is not in question, however your comment doesn't appear to take into account that,
by knieveltech 9y ago
That the religious right have latched onto prohibitionist dogma for centuries is not in question, however your comment doesn't appear to take into account that, at least in the US, said dogma has been spun up specifically to vilify one minority group or another to pander to racists for political gains consistently since the country's founding. Anti-chinese leagues' anti-opium rhetoric circa late 1900's being a prime example.
- aaron-lebo 9y agoThe "race plays a huge part" does take it into account. The prohibitionists were not just "the religious right", you're applying today's politics to something that's been going on for much longer. You're not wrong, but it's also not true that the prohibitionists were racists, either. That's the thing about political movements is they often have wide bases of support. I'm not sure what's controversial about this. Have you guys not been around very religious people who abstain from all drugs but are not racists? There's a lot of those, it's incorrect to act like they don't exist and it's all about racism, because it is not. History is nuanced, it's not an all or nothing thing. It's almost never just x.
- adventured 9y agoYou're exaggerating the case. The biggest prohibitionists circa 1870-1930, were the baptists, who were not motivated by racism at all when it came to prohibition. Rockefeller's baptist circle were the largest funders of prohibition at the time. Rockefeller also did more for black people during that era than any other single individual. The prohibition tie to racism is weak at best, which is to say these contexts differ widely; trying to apply that one cover story to all of them is more than a stretch.