Were the racist comments as openly vile in 2008 as they have been this time round? I don't remember it being this bad. Students rioting at Ol' Miss? WTF?
No it wasn't, mainly because everybody was sick of Bush and his successor, McCain. Conservatism was in near collapse; it only survived because the Democrats did not move fast enough to deal with the problems of the 2008 market implosion.
America is changing and the Twitter racists and the fratboy rioters stand opposed.
They ought to come spend a day or two -- or a semester -- on my campus, where, for many ways you could define racial/ethnic/cultural groups, there isn't any clear majority. Any demographer will tell them that this is what the US is going to look like in a generation or so. And it works pretty well: not quite a post-racial/ethnic nirvana, but everybody gets along the great majority of the time, especially when we're getting down to business (i.e. classes); social life is more fragmented.
But if they come, they, too, have to behave themselves.
I'll join Strelnikov in pouring a libation. It strikes me as a very good sign that the US was willing to re-elect a black president, not as the result of overblown high hopes for the man or the revolutionary act, but because he's a reasonably competent president and a clearly better choice than his opponent. We're not post-racial, not even close, but it's a sign that things are moving in the right direction.
This marks the end of any chance for the return of white supremacy in American politics, barring a dictatorship.
ReplyDelete[Pours some cheap booze on the ground.]
One might hope so, but old ways die hard. If Mitt had won, I was planning to re-read "It Can't Happen Here," by Upton Sinclair.
DeleteWere the racist comments as openly vile in 2008 as they have been this time round? I don't remember it being this bad. Students rioting at Ol' Miss? WTF?
ReplyDeleteNo it wasn't, mainly because everybody was sick of Bush and his successor, McCain. Conservatism was in near collapse; it only survived because the Democrats did not move fast enough to deal with the problems of the 2008 market implosion.
DeleteAmerica is changing and the Twitter racists and the fratboy rioters stand opposed.
They ought to come spend a day or two -- or a semester -- on my campus, where, for many ways you could define racial/ethnic/cultural groups, there isn't any clear majority. Any demographer will tell them that this is what the US is going to look like in a generation or so. And it works pretty well: not quite a post-racial/ethnic nirvana, but everybody gets along the great majority of the time, especially when we're getting down to business (i.e. classes); social life is more fragmented.
ReplyDeleteBut if they come, they, too, have to behave themselves.
I'll join Strelnikov in pouring a libation. It strikes me as a very good sign that the US was willing to re-elect a black president, not as the result of overblown high hopes for the man or the revolutionary act, but because he's a reasonably competent president and a clearly better choice than his opponent. We're not post-racial, not even close, but it's a sign that things are moving in the right direction.