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When I think about Jan 06 2021 and all of the various perspectives on that, there is one thought that I cannot get away from. All of this is occurring in a worl

When I think about Jan 06 2021 and all of the various perspectives on that, there is one thought that I cannot get away from. All of this is occurring in a world with widespread surveillance, instant archival of media and technology to ensure integrity of the archives. What about, say, the American revolution? How reliable are the narratives from 1776? 1867? 1918? 1989? Apologies if you think I’m being flippant about your founding event, it’s not my intention to upset anyone but rather to consider how great moments in history could be interpreted in another way. FWIW I generally accept the official versions of things. But still, if we can’t nail the truth in today’s world, what hope did our forebears have in a much sparser and ‘darker’ world.

cogman10 5y ago
Congratulations, you now understand the merits of critical race theory. The main thesis of CRT is that a major portion of US laws and institutions were created in the context of slave ownership and outright racism. That makes a lot of people uncomfortable, so they prefer to whitewash the history instead of addressing it and thinking of the ramifications. A great example of this is HOAs. The original intent of HOAs was to keep PoC out of the neighborhoods. This is a little bit of a tangent but I think it runs into the same root cause of Jan 6 and the current perceptions of it. If you are on the left you see it as an insurrection of try and stop or interrupt the democratic process. If you are on the right you see it as patriots trying to stop an unfair election and preserve the american way of life. However, deep down, it really comes down to a more base and fundamental aspect of humans. We like to be part of our groups and organizations. That makes us blind or dismissive to faults of our group. Cognitive dissonance is one hell of a drug. CRT battles the same problem. We don't like seeing historical "good guys" as having flaws.

cogman10 5y ago

Congratulations, you now understand the merits of critical race theory. The main thesis of CRT is that a major portion of US laws and institutions were created in the context of slave ownership and outright racism. That makes a lot of people uncomfortable, so they prefer to whitewash the history instead of addressing it and thinking of the ramifications. A great example of this is HOAs. The original intent of HOAs was to keep PoC out of the neighborhoods. This is a little bit of a tangent but I think it runs into the same root cause of Jan 6 and the current perceptions of it. If you are on the left you see it as an insurrection of try and stop or interrupt the democratic process. If you are on the right you see it as patriots trying to stop an unfair election and preserve the american way of life. However, deep down, it really comes down to a more base and fundamental aspect of humans. We like to be part of our groups and organizations. That makes us blind or dismissive to faults of our group. Cognitive dissonance is one hell of a drug. CRT battles the same problem. We don't like seeing historical "good guys" as having flaws.