Dec 27, 2022·edited Dec 29, 2022Liked by Glenn Loury
Race and culture have been highly correlated historically. It’s hard to separate ethnicity from culture. I agree that cultural innovations that arise among a specific group quickly become the province of mankind, but we lose something when we downplay or ignore the social and historical circumstances from which those innovations arose.
The major argument for de-racialization among some Black intellectuals seems to be that Black identity is often used in this country to embrace a victimization complex rather than foster a positive sense of race-esteem. But to push for de-racialization as a response to this tendency seems to me to be throwing out the baby with the bathwater.
To echo Glenn’s observation, other ethnic groups aren’t taught the same message that their own racial heritage is a fiction. Given recent geopolitical trends, The Clash of Civilizations as posited by Samuel Huntington is coming across as increasingly prescient compared to The End of History. The notion that humanity can be reduced primarily to homogenous atomic units untethered to larger cultural or racial identities is not only ahistorical and unscientific, it’s also inadequate for grappling with the forces governing the 21st century.
Race and culture have been highly correlated historically. It’s hard to separate ethnicity from culture. I agree that cultural innovations that arise among a specific group quickly become the province of mankind, but we lose something when we downplay or ignore the social and historical circumstances from which those innovations arose.
The major argument for de-racialization among some Black intellectuals seems to be that Black identity is often used in this country to embrace a victimization complex rather than foster a positive sense of race-esteem. But to push for de-racialization as a response to this tendency seems to me to be throwing out the baby with the bathwater.
To echo Glenn’s observation, other ethnic groups aren’t taught the same message that their own racial heritage is a fiction. Given recent geopolitical trends, The Clash of Civilizations as posited by Samuel Huntington is coming across as increasingly prescient compared to The End of History. The notion that humanity can be reduced primarily to homogenous atomic units untethered to larger cultural or racial identities is not only ahistorical and unscientific, it’s also inadequate for grappling with the forces governing the 21st century.
> To echo Glenn’s observation, other ethnic groups aren’t taught the same message that their own racial heritage is a fiction.
Uh, how about white people?