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Pursuing Compassion While Avoiding Insanity
One of my favorite patients is “Esther,” a short Jewish woman from New York City. She’s always smiling, her accent is wonderful, and we always have a wonderful time together. She’s one of those people who is just impossible to dislike. She is also a Democrat, although part of the reason that she moved down here to Hilton Head recently was the disintegration of her beloved NYC under DeBlasio.
She mentioned how it was really very safe to walk around New York City, even at night, just a few years ago. But not now. She then said something like, “But I can see why the blacks are upset, since white people enslaved them right here in America. No wonder they don’t trust whites. I really think that whites should be more understanding of the difficulties faced by today’s blacks.”
Despite my French nom-de-plume on this site, my real name is very German. I’m only 25% German, but my name makes it sound like I’m right off the boat from Frankfurt. Which made me wonder, “Tell me Esther, did you have relatives that died in the Holocaust?”
She said, “My father’s family is from eastern Europe, and they got to the states in the early 1900s, so they were spared. But my mother’s family was German, and she lost seven relatives in the camps. Her mother got her to the states after the war, and she met my Dad in Brooklyn after that. Very fortunate for her. Why do you ask?”
Me: “Well, I just wondered if I had any ancestors that were Nazis when your ancestors were being wiped out?”
She asked, “Do you know? Were any of your ancestors Nazis?”
Me: “My German ancestors left Germany in the 1880s. But perhaps some of the family that they left behind went on to have kids who had kids who had kids who then went on to be Nazis. Could very well have happened, I guess. I don’t know – that would be difficult to track down. What would they be? Third cousins four times removed? No idea. But yeah, that’s entirely possible. And yet, here I am, as your friend, and your physician. Weird, huh?”
She could sort of see where I was going with this, but asked, “Well, no, it’s not weird. You didn’t know any of those people. You’re not responsible for their behavior, decades before you were born. I mean, you weren’t even there, right?”
Me: “That’s true. But I’m supposed to feel guilty about slavery, which ended in this country over 150 years ago? I don’t think I had ancestors who owned slaves, but I really don’t know, and it would be impossible to track that down at that point. It’s possible, I suppose. But how does any of that mean that I should be more understanding when a black kid in New York flunks a math test? I just don’t quite get my involvement in that situation…”
Esther was really trying to hang on to her perspective on things, understandably. “But don’t you want to help?”
Me: “Of course, I do. Last year I stopped alongside the road – a lady’s car had broken down. I gave her a ride to the next exit, so she could wait in a restaurant to get her car fixed instead of sitting by the interstate. But I didn’t do that because she was black, or because I felt guilty about something that might possibly have happened between our ancestors 200 years ago. I just did it because I’m a normal human being. I’m happy to help people with their problems, but I don’t feel that I am responsible for them. And I’m not angry about being accused of crimes that I didn’t commit. I just don’t understand the logic here. And thankfully, neither do you. Which means you and I can be close friends regardless of what happened in Germany 80 years ago.”
Esther brightened up at the out I was offering her. “Absolutely! Even if you don’t appreciate good latkes! I still can’t believe you didn’t like them – I make them all the time, and everybody loves them!”
Me: “Dislike of fried zucchini and potatoes does not reflect poorly on my character.”
Esther gave me a disapproving look. “Yes, it does. Hmph.”
Martin Luther King had a very good point. Black Americans are obviously just as American as any other type of American, and they should enjoy the full benefits of American citizenship.
He dreamt of a world in which his children would be judged for the content of their character, not the color of their skin. They should be given the same opportunity to succeed as anybody else. Which means, of course, that they would then have the same opportunity to fail as anybody else. But their destiny should be up to them, and no one else. If whites are capable of such things, then why would we deny the same opportunities to blacks, or anybody else?
I don’t see how one could possibly argue with his logic. But his ideas were considered to be radical and dangerous, to the Democratic Party at that time.
Strangely, the Democratic Party of today also finds his ideas to be radical and dangerous.
The Black Lives Matter movement, the Critical Race Theory movement, and most of the Democrat party today find Dr. King’s straightforward logic to be problematic. The color of someone’s skin is an essential part of who they are, and the content of their character is not relevant. In fact, it is racist to comment on their character, or to expect them to make good decisions. This means that an American citizen is no longer responsible for his mistakes. If he is black. Which means that he is no longer responsible for his successes, either.
I think this is critical to the Democrat party platform in today’s America, and not just on matters of race.
“You didn’t build that” is simply an extension of our refusal to acknowledge individual agency. Some lady in Indiana starts a company selling window treatments out of her home. Twenty years later she has 15 employees and two storefront locations. But she didn’t build that.
Meanwhile, some kid in Chicago steals hundreds of dollars worth of merchandise from a Target. But we don’t prosecute him for his crimes, because after all, he’s black. He’s not responsible for his actions, any more than the lady with the curtains is responsible for hers.
This sort of ‘logic’ gets even more complex when they point out that white Americans are responsible for the actions of people they’ve never met, 200 years ago. So I’m not responsible for the success of my medical practice, but I am responsible for somebody’s actions in Alabama in 1835. I get a headache just thinking about it.
Esther is very intelligent. It must be difficult for her to maintain a belief system based on such ‘logic’. But really, she’s just trying to be compassionate and helpful. Which is admirable.
But I would argue that one can be compassionate and helpful without being clinically insane.
This is bonkers.
Martin Luther King sounded reasonable and inspiring. Elizabeth Warren (and every other mainstream Democrat today) sounds insane and hostile.
And every election, Democrats win about half the popular vote.
This is bonkers.
Published in General
Hey, I’m still waiting for my reparations from the country of Italy. Rome invaded and conquered my Anglo Saxon ancestors in Britain in 87 AD, killing hundreds of thousands and taking treasure and thousands of slaves away as booty. The Norwegians Swedes, and Danish are next in line for their Viking invasions, stolen treasure, killings, and taking more of my countrymen as slaves in the 8th thru 11th centuries. That may seem long in the past, but only 8o years ago The German Huns nearly destroyed my homeland with their blitzkrieg, killing 1.5 million Britons in two World Wars, not to mention the Romans rearing their spaghetti-heads one more time in helping the Krauts.
I figure I should get at least one-million dollars aggregate from all these countries, whose barbaric actions were far worse and some more recent than anything Americans inflicted on Black people during slavery. I demand action from the United Nations!?!
Great article, good comments. It all shows us how we can’t just ignore comments just because they’re insanely stupid. And if sane people ever win elections again, they have to fix education and find ways to open up media, and fire bureaucrats who feed it and live off it.
The battle of New Orleans was won in part due to gay French pirate. I find that hilarious.
True – but keep in mind that really only represents about 1/4 of the adult electorate. Half the country votes in most elections, so half of half, etc.
That doesn’t mean that other quarter doesn’t agree with those who voted, but you get the idea. What’s startling is that so much of whats in the mainstream (media, culture, education, etc) is almost entirely in the progressive vein.
It’s concentrated evil. Like from Time Bandits.
Regarding accusations of ancestral guilt and the fomenting of inter-group resentments, I’m reminded on a quote:
“Man loves, men hate. While individual men and women can sustain feelings of love over a lifetime toward a parent or through decades toward a spouse, no significant group in human history has sustained an emotion that could honestly be characerized as love. Groups hate. And they hate well…Love is an introspective emotion, while hate is easily extroverted…We refuse to believe that the “civilized peoples of the Balkans could slaughter each other over an event that occurred over six hundred years ago. But they do. Hatred does not need a reason, only an excuse.”
–Ralph Peters
Is that the same Ralph Peters who is a military expert?
You attend an inner city Black church?
Yes, Colonel Ralph Peters, former intelligence officer and prolific writer.
Nooo… I thought that was a universal statements.
The smash and grab approach to retail is replicated in the approach by many young Blacks to institutions and culture.
Their honesty is being called into question. Once Democrats gain a large majority in a district, they put in place a machine that guarantees a Democrat will be elected in perpetuity. I bet even if a district manages to get a sizeable majority of Republican voters, the Dems will win with 130% of registered voters voting. (There have been cases of districts with over 100%.)
And the MSM won’t call them out . . .
Why is it that leftists always let blacks off the hook for almost anything? I’m sure Ester is lovely and we should be compassionate because ladies named Ester often have rough marriages. But what is this constant pattern of excusing black people in a way they don’t do for other groups?
Really? Give me three examples. :)
Sanford and Son doesn’t count.
I think Ester from the Bible seemed to have it rough with her husband giving the order of killing all the Jews.
As an addendum, leftists also excuse behavior by Hispanics, Muslims, Gays, Trans-people (whatever those are), evil Scientists (as long as they are woke) Environmentalists, and fellow Democrats (especially if they are rich). They tend to give breaks to all persons with at least a little bit of skin color, with the gross exceptions of Rednecks, Jews, Cubans, and Asian immigrants from South Korea, China, Japan, and Vietnam, whom they treat with contempt. In the grossest exception of them all, their most extreme contempt is reserved for Conservative Blacks whom they absolutely despise and fear more than White people.
It must be difficult being a leftist trying to keep up with the complicated list of who to like and dislike. I’m sure mistakes are made all the time. Much easier for Conservatives – we just ignore skin color.
Her husband saved her life and gave the Jews proactive slaughter of her enemies. He was arguably the best of husbands; very considerate and accommodating.
It’s not that complicated. I have a magic 8-ball that I consult over coffee in the morning over whom to hate that day. No wrinkled brow involved.
Well he ended as a good guy but I worry that he would have convinced to kill the Jews if Esther did not object. I think that would make for a rocky patch in a marriage. However, I get the impression from Ester that killing an inconvenient tribe on a whim was a normal thing.
Esther’s relationship with Ahasuerus apparently was cordial, and when Esther asked for relief for her people (whom I don’t recall if Ahasuerus knew she belonged to) he granted it, plus some — elevating Mordecai her protector to chief counselor and ordering that the Jews could kill their enemies. That’s a pretty darn good husband whose decision-making I try to emulate every day.
I don’t think it would have been a whim. It would have been relying on the counsel (however wicked) of a trusted advisor.
So you send your soldiers to kill your wife’s opposing tribe everyday?
I apologize for not responding earlier. What I notice is that any group who is doing well is privileged and exploitative and any group that isn’t doing well is assumed to be oppressed and perfectly innocent. Lefties for awhile had pity for Asian-Americans but then they got better off than white people.
I guess the question becomes, how bad off do white people have to get, before we get some pity?
You want pity? Do your own, like everybody else does.
Something wrong with preferring to not be attacked for no reason?
See? You can do it!
Ha, don’t you think that you do, right here on Ricochet?
I do mine, you do yours. Ok?
I am worried that friends don’t do enough to discourage self-pity.