"But human beings are not the aggregate of the experiences of everybody who has ever looked like them." <<Thiiiiiiiiiiiis. Once I realized how insane this is, I couldn't help but notice how often we ALL do it. "White people" and "Black people" are not two monolithic metaphysical essences that transcend space and time.
"But human beings are not the aggregate of the experiences of everybody who has ever looked like them." <<Thiiiiiiiiiiiis. Once I realized how insane this is, I couldn't help but notice how often we ALL do it. "White people" and "Black people" are not two monolithic metaphysical essences that transcend space and time.
You might find Kwame Anthony AppiahтАЩs тАЬThe Lies That Bind,тАЭ on this topic, pretty interesting. Dry in places but illustrates how we humans just canтАЩt shake our addiction to identitarian essentialism.
Thanks for calling this out. I was going to highlight it as well.
I just finished Simon Schama's series on The History of Britain and he concludes: тАЬBut history ought never to be confused with nostalgia. It's written not to revere the dead, but to inspire the living. It's our cultural bloodstreamтАФthe secret of who we are. And it tells us to let go of the past, even as we honor it; to lament what ought to be lamented; to celebrate what should be celebrated.тАЭ
We don't need to ignore or forget the past. In fact, I would argue that we should allow it to inform us. But, it shouldn't dominate the present. It's not constructive and we need to focus our energies on creating something new.
And, yes. I believe that we are all much more alike than we are different, in spite of our conceits otherwise.
"But human beings are not the aggregate of the experiences of everybody who has ever looked like them." <<Thiiiiiiiiiiiis. Once I realized how insane this is, I couldn't help but notice how often we ALL do it. "White people" and "Black people" are not two monolithic metaphysical essences that transcend space and time.
"'White people' and 'Black people' are not two monolithic metaphysical essences that transcend space and time."
It will never cease to amaze me how many people don't understand this simple fact.
You might find Kwame Anthony AppiahтАЩs тАЬThe Lies That Bind,тАЭ on this topic, pretty interesting. Dry in places but illustrates how we humans just canтАЩt shake our addiction to identitarian essentialism.
Thanks for calling this out. I was going to highlight it as well.
I just finished Simon Schama's series on The History of Britain and he concludes: тАЬBut history ought never to be confused with nostalgia. It's written not to revere the dead, but to inspire the living. It's our cultural bloodstreamтАФthe secret of who we are. And it tells us to let go of the past, even as we honor it; to lament what ought to be lamented; to celebrate what should be celebrated.тАЭ
We don't need to ignore or forget the past. In fact, I would argue that we should allow it to inform us. But, it shouldn't dominate the present. It's not constructive and we need to focus our energies on creating something new.
And, yes. I believe that we are all much more alike than we are different, in spite of our conceits otherwise.