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We move forward as a society by recognizing that jackasses in history participated in jackassery, and by learning that some of those jackasses were framed as “good” or “leaders” or “briliant” or whatever were, in reality, pretty fucked up individuals, so that we may understand our history isn’t as flawless and unbloody as we maybe learned as children.

For instance, I was taught throughout my childhood that Henry Ford was a revolutionary leader and the inventor of the automobile. Found it a bit odd that, later on, they moved the goalpost, so that instead of having invented the automobile, he invented the assembly line! He didn’t even do that.

In fact, Henry Ford was an antisemitic jackass that took the money he made by exploiting people at the right time with the right technology, and poured it into the stupid concept of a town in South America, exploiting/displacing natives to produce rubber. Something atleast The Deuce had the sense to dismantle, but only after decades of trying and failing.

Acknowledging the darkness in our history instead of pretending it’s not there is how we admit that we’ve done some fucked up shit as a species, and how we know we still have a long way to go, how we know there is yet work to be done, how we move forward as a species.

Have a good day :)

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smooth_tea@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
What you’re describing is exactly the delusion I was talking about. And it’s very typical these days. People don’t want nuance, they want perfect heroes or complete villains, complete polarization, anything in-between is too complex and we’re too insecure to be associated with someone who’s done something bad. I don’t need a messiah, in fact I think that is exactly the problem that is the foundation of your line of thinking.

I have no problem admiring the good Pavlov or Ford did, and I don’t really care that they did something bad, it’s irrelevant to the discussion, really. And I can say that because I believe that recognizing their achievements says absolutely nothing about me agreeing with what they did wrong. I think that people who have to point out the worst are ultimately scared that if they don’t do that, it would say something about themselves.

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jandar_fett@lemmy.world ⁨1⁩ ⁨year⁩ ago
Agreed and well said. It reminds me of when someone lauds Thomas Jefferson as being brilliant and having great political ideas for America, but then someone clutches their pearls because he was a slave owner. Yes, being a slave owner is abhorrent, BUT it doesn’t negate the positive contributions. That isn’t how reality works. You can condemn the bad and accept the good when it comes to the effects of people and organizations and concepts.

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