#223 Musings Beyond the Bunker (Thursday December 16)
Good morning,
Today, a potpourri of thoughts:
THE WESTERN CANON
The western canon is valuable, knaves, scoundrels and all, for it they teach us about ourselves, our past, and our human condition. The object is not to cancel it or delete some works from it, but to nurture it and build upon it with new and diverse voices. Importantly, it is “owned” by no one and it can evolve. As Cornell West notes:
“The Western canon is, more than anything, a conversation among great thinkers over generations that grows richer the more we add our own voices and the excellence of voices from Africa, Asia, Latin America and everywhere else in the world. We should never cancel voices in this conversation, whether that voice is Homer or students at Howard University. For this is no ordinary discussion.
The Western canon is an extended dialogue among the crème de la crème of our civilization about the most fundamental questions. It is about asking “What kind of creatures are we?” no matter what context we find ourselves in. It is about living more intensely, more critically, more compassionately. It is about learning to attend to the things that matter and turning our attention away from what is superficial.
…Education draws out the uniqueness of people to be all that they can be in the light of their irreducible singularity. It is the maturation and cultivation of spiritually intact and morally equipped human beings.”
--Cornell West
LET’S TRY TO CLEAR OUR LANGUAGE OF THAT WHICH OFFENDS, EVEN IF TRUE…
Why is it necessary that each and every discussion of racial injustice acknowledging the sins of America’s past be accompanied by name calling and the application of collective guilt, requiring the listener to wear a hairshirt of shame in order to participate further in the conversation?
Can we get rid of using emotionally charged phrases like “perpetualization of white supremacy”? Can we rid ourselves of the notion of collective guilt for historical injustices and instead set about trying to act in a manner that addresses these injustices? Can we stop calling each other racists and instead note the disproportionality of privilege?
Critical race theory is a thing. It’s a philosophical/political construct. It is not what is being proposed for high school students. The battle is to be more honest with our children—both about the great accomplishments of our society and its shortcomings and failures. They should hopefully be taught the good, the bad, the successes, the failures, and the ongoing challenges of our historic inequities.
Name calling has no place in our national acknowledgement of the sins of our past.
RIGHT TO LIFE?
Paul Kanin points out that many, if not most, of those in the “pro-life” faction aren’t really “pro-life” at all. They are only “pro-birth.” Being pro-life would require better healthcare, education, acceptable economic opportunity, and nutrition for families. And many support the death penalty…
Curiously, the majority on voters in the U.S., including Republican-led and Republican-majority states, favor a nuanced view of abortion, not inconsistent with the European model. There is a consensus that abortions should be easily obtained before week 12, unavailable after week 24 and of limited availability in-between. And yet the debate is not focused on the “reasonable middle.” Rather, the elites and interest groups fight for one extreme or the other.
FINALLY, A TAKE ON “BOTH-SIDERISM”:
“Blind adherence to "both-siderism" is as evil as the white-washing of history. We must learn of the mistakes and sins of our history with accuracy and understanding, and thus learn from them as mistakes and sins, without either denying their existence or giving them legitimacy, in order to fully grasp what America is and is not, and how and why that came about.
Not all points of view are legitimate in a liberal and tolerant society -- specifically those which are illiberal and intolerant. The fact that a demonstrably false or abhorrent belief may be held by many does not make it any less false or abhorrent. And of course, this concern extends beyond historical education to our treatment of certain present day "news" and social media.” –Mark DiMaria
Have a great day,
Glenn
From the archives: