*** OFFICIAL *** Joe Biden Presidency Thread

[Dan Druff]

“The New York Times of all places?” Surely you are aware that the Times has several regular conservative columnists and that Douthat is one of them?

I notice you didn’t quote this part:

I don't understand the allegation that the right doesn't want slavery/segregation talked about at all.

Since when?

When I was in school in the '80s, history lessons included slavery, segregation, and the '60s civil rights movement. All of this was presented as an injustice against black people which was eventually righted in the '60s. There wasn't anyone demanding that we whitewash this from American history, or that it shouldn't be taught in schools, and I haven't seen anyone demanding that today.

Every time I bring up CRT to people on the left, they first deny that it's being taught, and then when I bring up that CRT-like concepts ARE being taught, they respond with, "Conservatives just don't want the ugly history of racism in this country taught to kids."

That's bullshit. Conservatives don't mind the true and well-accepted history of racism in America to be taught. However, it's been over 55 years since the civil rights movement of the '60s, and the country is a very different place now. There's a huge difference between teaching that America was racist in 1963 and that America still has systemic racism today, designed to keep white supremacy in place. The former is 100% clear and has been well-accepted by the general public for decades. The latter is highly controversial, and is presently just a form of political opinion.

The argument is simply being re-framed by the left, making it look like conservatives just can't stand real American history being taught. No, conservatives are fine with that -- they just don't want political opinion of modern America taught as fact.

That may be what you think, but that’s not what the Taliban is implementing as policy in places like Texas.

And there is still systemic racism in the US today. To say otherwise is comical.

That's your opinion.

I'm fine with you or others holding that opinion, as you have a right to it. You also have a right to state that opinion, and I would never want you censored when attempting to do so.

However, TEACHING opinion as fact in schools is a different story. I do not want "systemic racism is occurring in the US today" taught to school kids, as that's a controversial opinion. It's the same reason I don't want "abortion is murder" taught in the schools as fact. That's also a controversial opinion.

This is very different than teaching well-accepted historical facts, such as black people being mistreated and given fewer rights in this country prior to the mid-1960s. It is not at all controversial to teach that slavery was wrong, or that forcing black people to drink from separate drinking fountains was wrong.

That's why it's so infuriating when leftists say, "WE JUST WANNA TEACH HISTORY & THE RIGHT DON'T WANNA LET US!!!!!"

Nobody on the right is asking for inaccurate history to be taught. As I said, in the 1980s I was taught about all the wrongs committed against black people -- including some fewer than 25 years prior -- and there was no controversy about those lessons. Nobody on the right wants that stuff to be excluded from curriculums. We just don't want modern (and highly controversial) opinions about 2020s systemic racism to be taught as fact.