> It's tautological to say that as by definition 1850s white Americans culture is extremely distasteful to a modern HN commenter
Which definition would that be?
Which definition would that be?
> For instance, by the standard of the general wellbeing of African Americans, it's manifestly obvious that modern American culture is superior to American culture of the 1850s.
Shouldn't really be controversial, but America is going through a regression right now so who knows..
I most certainly admire and find inspirational a lot of the values that built the US from the ground up. Hard work, frugality, dedication, diligence, and self-reliance, to name a few of the qualities that not least Northern Europeans brought to the expanding frontier.
Nor did they particularly hold with the slavery ways of the South.
Also, you may recall, there was a war fought over that issue.
That you share some values with a historical culture is hardly important information, if you look hard enough you can probably find something you like in all cultures, historical and present day.
Weak tautology, then. And a squishy definition. 1850s white Americans' culture by and large is not distasteful to me.
You may of course invoke 'modern' and a No True Scotsman line of argument.
But 1850's American culture is distasteful to me and also to sullyj3 as they say:
"it's manifestly obvious that modern American culture is superior to American culture of the 1850s"
For the regressions, and continuing with my previous assumption: President Trump has been soft on some of the white supremacist groups, for example, being slow to disavow the support of those groups' leaders. This has emboldened some racists to be bolder. Previously, in places like California, racism almost seemed like a thing of a bygone era (at least, it wasn't as overt).