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Celebrating people and history is a core pillar of identity. The “founding fathers” are central to the story of America’s founding. Jesus is certainly a glue o
by tyre 5y ago
Celebrating people and history is a core pillar of identity. The “founding fathers” are central to the story of America’s founding.
Jesus is certainly a glue of Christianity, Mohammad of Islam, etc.
Does that mean we have to accept all of who those people are? Of course not. We can choose to celebrate the Federalist papers and denounce the slaveholding.
People have a natural desire to follow leaders, to idolize people. In doing so they are tied more closely to others who value/worship/memorialize the same.
That’s (one!) tribal glue.
- akerl_ 5y ago> People have a natural desire to follow leaders, to idolize people. In doing so they are tied more closely to others who value/worship/memorialize the same. Yea, this is pretty much the same reason that people want racists’ statues taken down. People celebrating bigots are people who value bigots, and that’s a tribe I’m pretty happy letting go extinct.
- kbelder 5y ago> that’s a tribe I’m pretty happy letting go extinct. Funny, saying that sort of thing is what got Fisher condemned.
- Veen 5y ago> People celebrating bigots are people who value bigots But, with some exceptions, these people aren’t celebrated for their bigotry. They’re celebrated for their positive achievements. People are complex mixtures of good, bad, and indifferent values. No one is pure of character or thought.
- derbOac 5y agoFWIW I happen to think ideas should be celebrated, maybe accomplishments per se, not people. I've grown skeptical about celebrating people. There's too many problems in the background, all the time, too many unknown stories, too much about the idolizers rather than the idolized, too much weight of privilege, too much.