Victor Davis Hanson: Everyone a Bigot?
[Victor Davis Hanson is a classicist and historian at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, and the author, most recently, of The Father of Us All: War and History, Ancient and Modern.]
Anti-Hispanic, anti-gay, anti-Muslim, anti-black — it is hard to keep track of all the recent allegations of bigotry....
We live in a complex, multiracial, and religiously diverse society. A majority of black voters in California opposed gay marriage. Most Muslims probably concurred. Some 70 percent of Americans expressed support for the Arizona law, an overwhelming figure that would have to include some Asians, blacks, and Hispanics. White and Hispanic congressional officials have faced ethics charges, often more serious than those leveled against Rangel and Waters.
In other words, there is no simple ideological, racial, or religious divide between a monolithic “us” and “them.” We have devolved to the point where promiscuously crying “Bigot!” and “Racist!” signals a failure to convince 51 percent of the people of the merits of an argument.
It is too often that simple — and that sad....
Read entire article at National Review
Anti-Hispanic, anti-gay, anti-Muslim, anti-black — it is hard to keep track of all the recent allegations of bigotry....
We live in a complex, multiracial, and religiously diverse society. A majority of black voters in California opposed gay marriage. Most Muslims probably concurred. Some 70 percent of Americans expressed support for the Arizona law, an overwhelming figure that would have to include some Asians, blacks, and Hispanics. White and Hispanic congressional officials have faced ethics charges, often more serious than those leveled against Rangel and Waters.
In other words, there is no simple ideological, racial, or religious divide between a monolithic “us” and “them.” We have devolved to the point where promiscuously crying “Bigot!” and “Racist!” signals a failure to convince 51 percent of the people of the merits of an argument.
It is too often that simple — and that sad....