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Survivor Appendix E (5e) Authors- Ursula K. LeGWINS!
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<blockquote data-quote="Gradine" data-source="post: 7499987" data-attributes="member: 57112"><p>The thing is there's a difference between things that are "norms" or "socially acceptable" and beliefs which are universally held. The idea that racism is bad or <em>owning people </em>is unconscionable are not new developments in human history; when people of the past are held accountable for their atrocious beliefs/actions, it's important to recognize that those individuals had contemporaries who were saying the same things.</p><p></p><p>As a quick aside, Lovecraft's racism was particularly virulent even for the particular period in time he occupied. Howard's issues hewed closer to the norms of his time (or at the very least his particular genre), but again it's important to note that both authors had contemporaries who were writing works <em>without </em>their incumbent racism or sexism, or were even at times actively working against those forces. They are who I feel compelled to judge those individuals by.</p><p></p><p>From there, it's a matter of how much slack you're willing to give someone for succumbing to popular opinion rather than deducing or listening to what is morally right. For what it's worth, I think there's some credit to be had there, but not nearly as much as most others seem to be willing to extend. I mean, if we want to bring up past presidents, Abraham Lincoln himself expressed his doubt in there being intellectual equality between the races, and this was a dude who had multiple conversations with Frederick Douglas, a man who is <em>way </em>smarter than any of us are likely to be. It's for this reason that I try to bring a measure of empathy to my critiques to the past; that there's a difference between <em>understanding </em>why people were the way that they were, and <em>accepting </em>them (or at least refusing to <em>judge </em>them). Ignoring the mistakes of our ancestors simply due to how commonplace they were is how we stagnate growth as a culture.</p><p></p><p>That's why, and I recognize that I'm probably in a significant minority on this, I sincerely <em>hope </em>to be excoriated by my descendants for my immoral beliefs or practices. It would mean that we are continuing to evolve morally and culturally as a society. I'd hope to be able to read ahead or at least change with the times but I'm not so egotistical to believe that I do not have blind spots or that I'm dismissive of what are certainly moral rights because I consider them too extreme at this point in time. I mean, I can see pretty clearly that the person I was even ten years ago (let alone twenty years in high school) was pretty awful. If I had an abundantly high opinion of who I am now in, say, 2028, I'd take that as a red flag that I'd stopped growing emotionally, intellectually, or morally.</p><p></p><p>That said, I don't expect to sway anyone, at least not here; Survivor threads are by definition a silly little thing; I was just hoping to elucidate more the reasons on why I've been voting the way that I have, as the question happened to come up. This isn't the space I'd normally consider for proselytizing my point of view.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Gradine, post: 7499987, member: 57112"] The thing is there's a difference between things that are "norms" or "socially acceptable" and beliefs which are universally held. The idea that racism is bad or [I]owning people [/I]is unconscionable are not new developments in human history; when people of the past are held accountable for their atrocious beliefs/actions, it's important to recognize that those individuals had contemporaries who were saying the same things. As a quick aside, Lovecraft's racism was particularly virulent even for the particular period in time he occupied. Howard's issues hewed closer to the norms of his time (or at the very least his particular genre), but again it's important to note that both authors had contemporaries who were writing works [I]without [/I]their incumbent racism or sexism, or were even at times actively working against those forces. They are who I feel compelled to judge those individuals by. From there, it's a matter of how much slack you're willing to give someone for succumbing to popular opinion rather than deducing or listening to what is morally right. For what it's worth, I think there's some credit to be had there, but not nearly as much as most others seem to be willing to extend. I mean, if we want to bring up past presidents, Abraham Lincoln himself expressed his doubt in there being intellectual equality between the races, and this was a dude who had multiple conversations with Frederick Douglas, a man who is [I]way [/I]smarter than any of us are likely to be. It's for this reason that I try to bring a measure of empathy to my critiques to the past; that there's a difference between [I]understanding [/I]why people were the way that they were, and [I]accepting [/I]them (or at least refusing to [I]judge [/I]them). Ignoring the mistakes of our ancestors simply due to how commonplace they were is how we stagnate growth as a culture. That's why, and I recognize that I'm probably in a significant minority on this, I sincerely [I]hope [/I]to be excoriated by my descendants for my immoral beliefs or practices. It would mean that we are continuing to evolve morally and culturally as a society. I'd hope to be able to read ahead or at least change with the times but I'm not so egotistical to believe that I do not have blind spots or that I'm dismissive of what are certainly moral rights because I consider them too extreme at this point in time. I mean, I can see pretty clearly that the person I was even ten years ago (let alone twenty years in high school) was pretty awful. If I had an abundantly high opinion of who I am now in, say, 2028, I'd take that as a red flag that I'd stopped growing emotionally, intellectually, or morally. That said, I don't expect to sway anyone, at least not here; Survivor threads are by definition a silly little thing; I was just hoping to elucidate more the reasons on why I've been voting the way that I have, as the question happened to come up. This isn't the space I'd normally consider for proselytizing my point of view. [/QUOTE]
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