Something about a hard pill to swallow
Comment on Justice for Longstreet
orbituary@lemmy.dbzer0.com 15 hours ago
I embrace the sentiment. If people cannot change and are chastised for their past, there is no incentive to apologize or reform.
We need to be able to allow people a path toward redemption.
ToiletFlushShowerScream@piefed.world 13 hours ago
LemmySuxNow@reddthat.com 14 hours ago
Absolutely. People are complex and capable of change. I’m not saying we should be building statues of Longstreet or honoring him, but we should remember him more kindly than we do.
ceenote@lemmy.world 14 hours ago
I agree, with the caveat that when the person is still living we need to distinguish between people who have had a genuine change of heart and people who are just publically adopting a popular position for social reasons.
Jaycifer@piefed.social 11 hours ago
Why? If someone behaves correctly at all times in their public life and doesn’t act on their poor beliefs in their private life, why should I care about what’s going on in their head? Wouldn’t any of that energy be better spent on someone still acting bad?
wolframhydroxide@sh.itjust.works 10 hours ago
The alt-right especially have the strong tendency to back down when confronted, then continue using dog-whistles and other less-provably-problematic things, which helps them build up support while keeping their fellows around them, until they break out and start calling for racial purity again, but this time with a bunch more people blindly following them.
It’s a festering cancer that needs to be excised, not given new places to which to metastasise.
orbituary@lemmy.dbzer0.com 11 hours ago
And how do we know for sure? Point at them a lot? Yell, “REMEMBER WHEN YOU DID THAT THING? ARE YOU STILL SORRY?”
There comes a point where we have to trust them to show their bad self again, but also allow them to be their reformed self. So, sure, be aware - but if you bring it up or hold it against them, are you really allowing them to move on?
WorldsDumbestMan@lemmy.today 11 hours ago
I bet you would not say that if the person did something bad to you.
I strongly believe there are tiers of people in society based on this, and that they are permanent.
orbituary@lemmy.dbzer0.com 11 hours ago
You’re incorrect. I have a number of people in my life who “did something bad” to me whom I’ve forgiven after the right things were said and right actions were taken. I have also done “something bad” to others and made an earnest apology. Don’t presuppose who I am because it doesn’t fit your own narrative.
We need to be more forgiving. That’s not a blanket statement - it requires proper apology and actions from the person who “did something bad.”
RestrictedAccount@lemmy.world 15 hours ago
👆Wisdom
0ops@piefed.zip 12 hours ago
Isn’t there a Sun Tzu quote kinda like that? Something about always leaving your enemy with an escape?
orbituary@lemmy.dbzer0.com 11 hours ago
“Something something fuck a mother fucker if he can’t take a joke.” –Sun Tzu.