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naraburns  nihil supernum  2yr ago (text post)   36985 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of April 3, 2023

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Yeah, part of teaching people to not be X requires you teach them something about X, and they're not necessarily going to go along with the curriculum. Ultimately, the ADL and other forces have judged that the people who just don't think about this until prompted by them are less important than countering the people who come into those views on their own.

I don't see any evidence that the importance of WW2 as the origin story for the modern American state is receding. If anything, the lack people that recall specific details about the story is increasing the utility of it as a legendary battle between good and evil where the good guys prevail because of democracy and freedom and anti-racism. I rarely hear anyone remark that it's actually kind of weird that Stalin was on the side of "freedom".

I've made the argument before that it has felt as though WWII is no longer the legitimizing event it once was, as the populace grows more educated and cynical about history. Like, yeah, no one is going to complain about Stalin so much (reasons why are better left to speculation), but the sort of "textbook version" of WWII you might get taught in public school has been debunked throughout the 21st Century.

Eventually people are going to stop giving a shit

Nothing lasts forever, but if anything, Americans seem to care MORE about slavery than they did when I was younger.

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