If You Are Anti-Critical Race Theory, I'm Sorry - But You ARE Both Racist and Anti-Free Speech - Whether You Realize That's What You're Supporting or Not ...

(Edited - content added.)

As we know, Virginia went Red, in their gubernatorial race this week, as well as other areas in the nation.  

When  USA Today polled Virginians on their biggest reason for voting conservatively,  the top answers were not only handling of the COVID pandemic/immunization, but the teaching of critical race theory at  both university and public-school level.

Florida and Idaho have already passed anti-CRT legislation, and Texas and North Carolina are hearing arguments for these laws, and states like Ohio are considering them - with Florida's law in particular creating the potential for any college or university caught teaching critical race theory to lose government funding. 

So what is critical race theory?  

Well, don't ask this dude - he admits he doesn't know and doesn't understand it -  but B'God, he's against it, because his Republican politicians and right-wing media told him to ...

Sigh. 

I ... don't know whether to laugh or cry, so I'll just sigh.

So, he talks about getting back to educating our children, but he himself forms an opinion based on his lack of education about CRT  and doesn't even know what that means lol.

(By the way, this video was posted by a group of comedians/political satirists called "The Good Liars," which refers to Trump-style Republicans, not themselves.)

A complete definition of CRT can be found here (Britannica), but in a nutshell, Critical Race Theory is that racism, racial bias, and implicit racial bias -  and the associated socioeconomic trappings - are NOT based on inherent racial physical, biological, or genetic traits which determine inferiority through either natural selection or God-ordained inferiority - but instead are social and cultural constructs that we have created ourselves to justify inequity, injustice, and even mistreatment of people of color.

Further, it purports that these antiquated, disproven ideals of natural inferiority have nevertheless permeated our socioeconomic system and our culture, and they have been institutionalized in our justice system and our actual law since day one in this country - even within our constitution. 

Because before the 13th and 15th amendments, the constitution recognized slaves only in that they were counted as three-fifths of a population, which gave Southern white men a bigger population, and thus more representation power in Congress.

The slaves themselves were disallowed the right to vote, of course, just used to account for three-fifths of a population for representation purposes - because of course you know they'd all vote for their slave masters as "benevolent patriarchs" automatically, right? 

Sigh.

All of which our forefathers did without ever actually using the word "slave," but instead "non-free persons," which lets you know in carefully choosing the language, they already knew it was wrong.

Essentially, anti-CRT supporters are simply supporting the same old tired, disproven white supremacy arguments from 300 years ago, just rebranded for today in shiny new packages, finding new ways to either deny that slavery or racism ever existed, or attempt to justify it - to include arguments that "non-free people" did not mean "slave" in our constitution. (They never say what this supposed to mean, just that it doesn't mean slave and we should take their word for it lol.)

The rebranding of this white supremacy is done using lame "whataboutism" arguments based on isolated, singular events, as well as using language that appeals to people who believe they aren't racist.

Though Republican politicians supporting anti-CRT never mention it, at its core, supporting anti-CRT politics means you believe that racial inferiority is either God ordained or biologic natural selection, rather than racism being a socioeconomic and cultural construct we've created to justify inequity, injustice and even mistreatment of people of color -  regardless of whether you realize that's what you're supporting or not. 

And its supporters likely don't even realize that's actually what they're supporting, because as I said, it never comes out of the  mouths of Republican politicians supporting anti-CRT, but it's nevertheless a core component of anti-CRT ;)

Instead, they're focused on linking CRT to being "a myth invented by Karl Marx" and is therefore socialist, you see - hoping to scare people to death about socialism - despite the fact that Marx didn't come up with the idea himself.

Regardless, whether you realize that you're actually supporting thinly-veiled white supremacy in supporting anti-CRT, you still are - because you actually only have two choices:  Either you believe racism is a social and cultural construct we've created to justify racism or you believe race is natural, biologic inferiority/superiority. 

There are no other alternatives to believe than those two - natural racial inferiority or racism is a social/cultural construct we've created to justify racial injustice and inequity - period.

M'kay.

So - erm - first of all, I'm pretty sure people of color themselves thought of CRT, first, not Karl Marx lol.  

In fact, I know this is the case because Sojourner Truth said it years before Marx did.

But no one cared until a white male actually said it - which is proof in and of itself that racism is a social and cultural construct, rather than racial biologic inferiority, isn't it? :)

But because Karl Marx was the first white male to say it, now it's a thing? Got it ;)

But of course, we're supposed to believe that everything  Marx said was "evil," simply because he challenged prevailing thought and our socioeconomic system ;)

Hey, I'm not a Marxist, but then I try to avoid labels, and I don't follow anyone or anything blindly, I question everything - plus I see the positive and the negative in just about everybody.

(Well, there are exceptions of course, but I'm talking about most people,  people within the normal range.  I do think Trump himself borders on evil, but I don't think Trump's followers themselves are evil, just allowing themselves to be led astray from basic human decency towards selfishness and hatred, at odds with their own  stated Christian principles, thereby enabling evil.)

Yes, Marx sometimes said some cuckoo stuff and was pretty cuckoo  in his personal life, as well as overly harsh in his opinions, but he wasn't "evil"  - and we shouldn't throw the baby out with the bathwater - because he also said some pretty brilliant stuff that hit the nail right on the head.

I mean, we're not talking about Hitler and attempts to mass-eradicate certain races and groups off the planet - we're talking about a man who challenged prevailing thoughts about our socioeconomic system - perhaps overly harshly - period. 

(And by overly harsh, I mean it probably didn't help his case that he called all capitalists "blood-sucking vampires," but that was Marx  for you lol.)

For instance, even though again, Marx was not the originator of CRT, he was a proponent of it - I do believe in critical race theory, because I have studied too much factual evidence to support it, as well as I have personally met people of color, directly from Africa (Nigeria, Botswana, and Tanzania), with no white blood at all, who kicked my ass intellectually, proving that there is no such thing as biological or "God-ordained" racial inferiority, and that racism is, in fact, a social and cultural construct we've created to justify our racism. 

Also remember that the theories of socialism, or even communism, are not what actually happens in practice.  

In socialist/communist theory, the producers are supposed to own everything equally, but that's historically never actually happened, because there is still always a small oligarchy or even a dictator at the top controlling everything, just the same as in fascism, a true monarchy, or laissez-faire capitalism - the only thing that changes is who's allowed within the oligarchy or dictatorship to control everything. 

 Thus, true theoretical socialism or communism has never happened, and likely will never happen, in practice - not in Russia, Cuba, China, Cambodia, or insert country calling itself socialist or communist here -  because unfortunately, humans cannot be unbiased and objective enough to make things equal and fair - and quite simply, most humans are too greedy. 

Marx also said a lot of brilliant things that were actually true about the industrial revolution and exploitation of laborers, especially at that time.

For instance, Marx also said that man (or woman) has an inherent need to create or innovate - it's our core nature.

This of course is an odd thing for an atheist to say, considering our inherent need to create would actually support the entire basis of Christian faith being creation of life and our "being made in our creator's image," but nevertheless, that's what he said lol.

Further, he postulated that when humans become separated from the creative process, from the sense of accomplishment gained from craftsmanship, we become part of a machine, by making only a part to a whole machine, which he called "dehumanization of the American worker."

He predicted this "dehumanization" and separation from the creative process/craftsmanship would ultimately lead to lack of sense of accomplishment, lack self-worth, and ultimately depression, frustration, and anger - especially if paid little to do it with no health benefits.

Sorry, but I believe that one, too - and the proof in the pudding for that one is what happened during the pandemic, when people were unable to do anything at all, couldn't work or socialize, this led to mass depression and anger, wanting someone to blame, for many.  

Not me, I previously couldn't afford to do stuff for years,  and was previously a "slave" to the conveyor belt of productivity-based pay for years prior, with the odds stacked against you - so pandemic restrictions and "not being able to do"  was simply par for the course for me, I know how to handle it and what to do lol.

But that is because I learned the trick to it a few years ago, after having experienced financial struggle so long, before the pandemic. 

The trick to avoiding depression when restricted or confined -  due to pandemic or  financial situation or even physically -  is to find your inner craftmanship, find something creative to do, for a sense of accomplishment - OR - immerse yourself in nature, in creation itself :)

Even if you hate your job (which I don't now, I love my job now, but it took years of getting to this level), your job does not define you, it's a part of your identity but not the whole -  unless you allow it to be - so find your craftsmanship and your sense of accomplishment anyway, outside of it - whether paid to do it or not :)

In other words, overall, I agree with Marx's assessment of our broken, sick socioeconomic system -  but I don't necessarily agree with how he wanted to "treat" it, what he wanted to do about it.

Regardless, back to our current political situation, the problem is basically anti-CRT Republicans don't want to have to feel uncomfortable about slavery or racism, or God forbid, feel guilt or remorse about it, so they do what any good gaslighters do - pretend it never happened and that racism doesn't exist and never existed and that you're crazy for thinking it did, and actually outlaw anyone teaching it.

Sigh.

Regardless, this type of truth-denying and gaslighting were defeated before, and it will be defeated again - it just takes time, though it may get worse before it gets better for a while, and we likely never will fully defeat it because there will always be pockets or racists and  power abusers/exploiters of others.

Today's Republicans are very short-sighted - make a quick gain or quick buck and get out, leaving a mess legacy for the Democrats to clean up later, only instead, get blamed for - they're like Wall Street stock-traders that way lol.

This short-sightedness cannot sustain itself forever, and at some point, we're going to reach a BS and too-much-drama threshold - drama is like the pain threshold that way.  

At a certain point, no matter how paranoid, gullible or easily roused by BS, and/or prone to drama a person is, they're still human - meaning even their neurological systems have nerve receptors that have a threshold for pain, fear, or aggression, and once that threshold is reached will result in exhaustion and avoidance.

Even their self-induced fight-or-flight responses cannot sustain for too long, and thus, they will not be able to sustain this frenetic pace long term.

Especially because at some point, either they, or their children and grandchildren, will hopefully eventually realize the people pushing them into fight-or-flight response isn't us, it's their own leaders and their own choice, based on BS.

Plus let us not forget that history itself, like truth, is NOT short-sighted, does not interpret data based on knee-jerk, fight-or-flight neurologic responses - it records everything including who was responsible for what, what they did to try to cover it up, gaslight, and white-wash it - all of it.  

And though it may take a long time for truth to come out, even possibly after we're gone, despite unbelievable gaslighting efforts to whitewash and cover it up, the truth always does :)