Tag: politics

I’m reading an excerpt of “Self-Reliance” by Ralph Waldo Emerson for school, and I came across something that I think is still so incredibly relevant. He was talking about the bigots of his time (anti-abolitionists) and how they hide under philanthropy to use as an excuse for their hate. (Sound familiar?) He also said, and this really hit me hard, “Your goodness must have some edge to it, – else it is none.” 

Let me repeat, 

“Your goodness must have some edge to it, – else it is none.” You cannot fight bigotry – in his case anti-abolitionists, in our case Nazis and white supremacists – without sacrificing part of your kindness. Because those people are evil, and they know they are evil, but they’re smart, too. 

Just as Emerson said, “malice and vanity wear the coat of philanthropy,” we know that is exactly what happens today. Every “can’t we have a meaningful conversation?” about Nazis is not because people want to have a meaningful conversation. It’s a diversion tactic. They want to seem civilized, they want to seem like wanting to murder people is simply a respectable and protected belief, they want to make Nazism seem like it’s okay. They will use every trick in the book against your facts, they will twist your words, they will make you think you are the terrible person for not respecting their beliefs (because they have already convinced you nazism is simply a belief) and that can’t stand. Your goodness needs to have an edge, your goodness needs to stop once a line has been crossed.  

We can’t “discuss” anymore. We have to stop and say “You are a nazi (or a nazi sympathizer), and you want to kill people because of their race and ethnicity. That is wrong. You are wrong. I will not argue with you. There is nothing to argue.” 

No more “it’s just free speech.” Hate speech is not free speech. Speech that impedes the right of others is not free speech. Anyone that says anything along the lines of “it’s their right” is someone that should automatically be off the list of people you trust, and, if at all possible, out of your life entirely. 

We’ve already let it get far. I’m sure some of you have seen the twitter advertisement for a game that is literally about fighting nazis that said “Make America Nazi Free Again.” and people went ballistic. It already seems normal enough for a common video game trope to be controversial like that. We can’t let it get any farther. This is how it got Hitler to power before. How people thought ‘no way that’ll happen,’ not realizing how normalized nazism got. We can’t repeat history anymore. Let’s make hating nazis normal again.

Sorry for the uncharacteristic post. I saw that quote and everything just hit me. it hit me how bad everything has gotten, how horrible it is that the advice of a man who lived centuries ago is still relevant today. Don’t get me wrong, I’m terrified, and honestly hoping this post doesn’t get horrible backlash, that I didn’t write something wrong or offensive or just didn’t even articulate my point entirely. But I think I’m also determined. I think I’m done being quiet.