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Comment on YSK: Charles Lindbergh Pushed Anti-Semitic Conspiracies As Part of the America First Campaign

I think it’s been a minute since Lindbergh was anybody’s hero. However, before anyone defends him as a “product of his time”, antisemitism and racism may have been more socially acceptable, but everyone knew, or should have known it was wrong.

There was never any time in history where “nobody knew” oppression was wrong. The oppressed always know, but nobody listens to them for some reason. And the oppressors imply knowledge of their wickedness when they spend so much effort making cringe arguments that it’s a virtue instead.

What we should highlight is the fact that being a bigot cost Lindbergh, not just his legacy. It made him foolish enough to swallow bad-faith bullshit and get on the bandwagon with a circus of pigs. Racism makes fools of smart people.

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Bloomcole@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
Maybe we should highlight that much more important people were fascists.
It was so mainstream and had to be for everything to be swept under the mat.
Mass murderer and warcriminal Churchill, voted ‘greatest Britton’ not so long ago had a slogan “keep Britain white”

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FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
I hate that phrase “product of his time”.

People like to use it to defend this sort of shit going back centuries, but I know about Benjamin Lay, the badass 1700’s-era hobbit (no really, he lived in a cave) who was friends with Benjamin Franklin and told him to his face what a motherfucker he was for being a slaver. He also walked from city to city spreading his views, because he was a vegan before his time and felt it was wrong to ride horses.

There are always people who know something’s wrong, and generally plenty of people willing to say it.

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- Benjaben@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
  First time I’ve ever seen him referenced anywhere outside where I learned of him! Best dude, what an inspiration.
  
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  - FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    Schools do not teach about him. I didn’t learn about him until reading history books for fun as an adult, but yeah, Lay was an incredibly courageous individual for his time.
    
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    PalmTreeIsBestTree@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
    He was the OG hobbit
    
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rockSlayer@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
Precisely. It’s why I reject being too strict about ruling out judgement due to “signs of the times”. In the famous words of Parenti, ancient Greece actually had a whole segment of the population opposed to slavery. They were called slaves.

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