I feel like this is almost an argument for the 4-day workweek. I just had this discussion with a friend—if we can’t get to 3 day weekends directly, maybe we can just spam federal holidays until we functionally have 3 day weekends anyways? Food for thought.
Holidays are used to try and promote a national / religious culture. Giving any ground in this area to abolitionists / pro-black culture is a bad idea. The more you give them, the more they ask for, and the uglier they become.
> Holidays are used to try and promote a national / religious culture.
Yeah, kind of, except for that thing where they eventually lose any symbolic meaning and just become a day off work (a la Columbus Day, Presidents’ Day, Labor Day, Veterans Day, Memorial Day, …). As opposed to holidays raising the profile and power of groups, it seems like they tend to do more to pacify them.
(Also, “abolitionists” in the sense of “people opposed to slavery” can have as much ground as they want.)
I called them abolitionists to highlight that the pro-black side of America, who then became the civil rights people and now the woke, are never satisfied no matter how much kowtowing they get.
Is that really true? When’s the last time you heard of the 1619 Project, or heard someone calling for reparations? It seems like the fervor over slavery specifically has sort of chilled out a bit, and everyone’s much more up-in-arms about police killings and trans things; much more recent (and ridiculous) obsessions. I don’t think “pro-black” is a useful atemporal label: abolitionists, civil-rights-ists, and wokists are all very distinct groups.
Arguments about police killings are also chilled out because everything woke has retreated somewhat. I expect the 1619 project or something worse to return when the political mood for it is more favorable.
Abolitionists, civil right-ists, and wokists are distinct by goals, but not by their overall ideology. The main difference in composition is that the abolitionists were mostly WASPs, while civil right-ists and wokists were jews, catholics, and other minorities overpowering episcopal WASPs.
I feel like this is almost an argument for the 4-day workweek. I just had this discussion with a friend—if we can’t get to 3 day weekends directly, maybe we can just spam federal holidays until we functionally have 3 day weekends anyways? Food for thought.
Holidays are used to try and promote a national / religious culture. Giving any ground in this area to abolitionists / pro-black culture is a bad idea. The more you give them, the more they ask for, and the uglier they become.
> Holidays are used to try and promote a national / religious culture.
Yeah, kind of, except for that thing where they eventually lose any symbolic meaning and just become a day off work (a la Columbus Day, Presidents’ Day, Labor Day, Veterans Day, Memorial Day, …). As opposed to holidays raising the profile and power of groups, it seems like they tend to do more to pacify them.
(Also, “abolitionists” in the sense of “people opposed to slavery” can have as much ground as they want.)
I called them abolitionists to highlight that the pro-black side of America, who then became the civil rights people and now the woke, are never satisfied no matter how much kowtowing they get.
Is that really true? When’s the last time you heard of the 1619 Project, or heard someone calling for reparations? It seems like the fervor over slavery specifically has sort of chilled out a bit, and everyone’s much more up-in-arms about police killings and trans things; much more recent (and ridiculous) obsessions. I don’t think “pro-black” is a useful atemporal label: abolitionists, civil-rights-ists, and wokists are all very distinct groups.
Arguments about police killings are also chilled out because everything woke has retreated somewhat. I expect the 1619 project or something worse to return when the political mood for it is more favorable.
Abolitionists, civil right-ists, and wokists are distinct by goals, but not by their overall ideology. The main difference in composition is that the abolitionists were mostly WASPs, while civil right-ists and wokists were jews, catholics, and other minorities overpowering episcopal WASPs.