Blog Assignment #11: Magazine Article

I recently read a news article about that wacky representative from South Carolina, Joe Wilson, the man who yelled “You lie!” at President Obama a few weeks ago. The article stated a lot of things that many people believe to be true. Joe Wilson’s comments are based on racism. Joe Wilson is against immigrant rights. Joe Wilson is just your typical Republican extremist who can’t stand the fact that America now has a black president. These are all accusations. Of course, Wilson doesn’t think of himself as racist, so he’s making amends. But others aren’t like Wilson. Wilson is remorseful. Wilson realizes now that what he has done is wrong. Some racists from South Carolina and other parts of the South are calling him a hero and applauding his actions.

Racism is incredibly outdated. Maybe it was cool to be a racist all the way back when anyone who was anyone owned slaves, and it might have even been acceptable for someone to be racist if they had friends or family who were Confederate soldiers. It might even be fair to say that racism was embraced in the South up until the 1960’s. However, we’re in the 21^st century. Why is all this hatred still around?

The answer may seem simple, but it runs a lot deeper than most people know. Human nature is a huge road block. We as humans in general are afraid of people that are different from us. We want to be associated with people of their own heritage and beliefs, and get uncomfortable around those who don’t share these same things. Honestly, being racist nowadays is just a way of saying that you are living in the past and don’t feel like updating your mindset to accommodate new social rules and ways of life.

Extremists are what keep these things alive though. People who continue to call themselves Confederates and perpetuate this hatred and fear of the different are the reason that America isn’t completely past our dark history. Certain members of society would rather focus on the past than move forward into a brighter future where everyone is accepted and racism is slowly weeded out of society. They want the Civil War to continue. They want there to be more and more deaths fueled by an outdated concept. The official war ended in the 19^th century, but thanks to these individuals, the war won’t die.

What kind of person wouldn’t want to usher in a new age of understanding and compassion because of longstanding racist sentiment? The answer should be obvious. The same people who hate others for seemingly no reason are the same people who are just angry that they couldn’t get anywhere in their own lives. This is discussed in one section in chapter five of Tony Horwitz’s Confederates in the Attic. Certain people in the piece don’t want people of another race or people that they feel are below to them have better lives than themselves, going as far as violence to make sure that these so-called “inferior” people are kept down.

The certain people that I speak of are those who are still living in the past—people who can’t accept that they’ve failed in their endeavors. And, they’re so afraid of the community realizing that they’ve failed that reverting back to pre-Civil War beliefs is the only way they know to numb the pain of failure. The idea of former slaves having better lives is sickening and disgusting to these people. The whole reason for their existence is to make the lives of a once lesser people miserable, because their own lives are such train wrecks. There is some value in saying that the Civil War was the beginning of modern America, but thanks to these people it stays stuck in limbo, halfway between the days of hate and oppression and the days of acceptance and understanding.

It’s not Joe Wilson’s fault that we’re not moving forward. It’s the people who have the same upbringing as Wilson, but can’t admit they’re wrong and don’t want to take the time to learn tolerance. Wilson obviously learned to accept the ideas of the 20^th and 21^st centuries, because he knew that what he had done was wrong. He is an example of someone with a racist upbringing who is willing to go against others like him and help move America into a new era. If only everyone who was raised like he was could embrace these ideas and join in the furthering of American ideals.