05-03-2019, 09:44 AM
Racism is hardly new to America, going back to colonial times. English settlers had varying attitudes toward First Peoples, ranging from patronizing to warlike. Chattel slavery had effects lingering to this day.
Even among whites, tribalism was the norm in the times of mass immigration. Decendants of colonial-era settlers loathed the Irish immigrants of the mid-19th century, and the irish often clashed with free blacks over economic roles. WASP elites were more sympathetic to German and Scandinavian settlers, but not to the largely-Catholic immigrants from southern and eastern Europe, let alone the Jews.
The remarkable aspect of American tribalism is not that traces of it exist; it is that it abated during the last completed Crisis Era. Labor unions on the rise in the 1930s wanted solidarity across ethnic lines that would make the efforts of Big business to pit one ethnic group against another impossible. Non-WASP individuals made rank during the Second World War, and it was obviously unwise to tell a Polish joke to "Colonel Kowalski". Jewish successes in enterprise, cultural creativity, and the professions made them useful. Above all, America's greatest enemies in World War II showed beyond any doubt that ethnic and religious bigotry pose extreme danger to democracy and the survival of innocent people that bigots treat as pariahs.
Ethnic and religious bigotry are most likely to flourish were populations are more monolithic or where a heritage of ethnic bigotry is entrenched in the culture. It is hard to imagine Google searches for a vile smear of black people that rhymes with the name of Roy Rogers' horse, but in 2008 West Virginia led in the number of such searches per capita. West Virginia has a small percentage of blacks, and, yes, the state is in deep economic distress as the coal mines are worked out. West Virginia used to be one of the strongest Democratic states, the sort that went to the Republican party only in electoral blowouts. The powerful United Mine Workers' Union was able to get out the vote for Democratic pols until the 1990s, and millions were surprised as the state went to Dubya in a close election. As economic distress becomes the norm, bigotry and tribalism flourish.
Even among whites, tribalism was the norm in the times of mass immigration. Decendants of colonial-era settlers loathed the Irish immigrants of the mid-19th century, and the irish often clashed with free blacks over economic roles. WASP elites were more sympathetic to German and Scandinavian settlers, but not to the largely-Catholic immigrants from southern and eastern Europe, let alone the Jews.
The remarkable aspect of American tribalism is not that traces of it exist; it is that it abated during the last completed Crisis Era. Labor unions on the rise in the 1930s wanted solidarity across ethnic lines that would make the efforts of Big business to pit one ethnic group against another impossible. Non-WASP individuals made rank during the Second World War, and it was obviously unwise to tell a Polish joke to "Colonel Kowalski". Jewish successes in enterprise, cultural creativity, and the professions made them useful. Above all, America's greatest enemies in World War II showed beyond any doubt that ethnic and religious bigotry pose extreme danger to democracy and the survival of innocent people that bigots treat as pariahs.
Ethnic and religious bigotry are most likely to flourish were populations are more monolithic or where a heritage of ethnic bigotry is entrenched in the culture. It is hard to imagine Google searches for a vile smear of black people that rhymes with the name of Roy Rogers' horse, but in 2008 West Virginia led in the number of such searches per capita. West Virginia has a small percentage of blacks, and, yes, the state is in deep economic distress as the coal mines are worked out. West Virginia used to be one of the strongest Democratic states, the sort that went to the Republican party only in electoral blowouts. The powerful United Mine Workers' Union was able to get out the vote for Democratic pols until the 1990s, and millions were surprised as the state went to Dubya in a close election. As economic distress becomes the norm, bigotry and tribalism flourish.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.