It occured to me that the liberal idea that America is "deeply racist" is an hypothesis that works in exactly the same way as the Catholic idea that we are all born with "original sin".
In both cases, it is something that is just in us, regardless of our actual conduct. Everybody is guilty of "original sin" whatever they actually do, even if they live as a saint; America is guilty of "deep racism" no matter how many black people succeed in it, how much integration exists, what discriminatory laws were declared unconstitutional, or anything else.
In both cases, evidence flows only in one direction. Acts of bravery, generosity, selflessness, and so on do not count as evidence against original sin, but every act of cowardice, avarice, or selfishness "proves" origin sin exists. Similarly, acts of fair treatment, abolishment of discriminatory laws, insistence on minority enrollment in university, etc., do not count as evidence against the idea that America is "deeply racist", but every time somebody uses the N-word is "proves" how, below the thin veneer of civlization, America is "really" deeply racist.
In both cases, salvation can come only by supernatural means. In the case of the Catholic church (roughly speaking) original sin can only be erased by baptism by priests and/or the grace of God. For it is only the priests, with their special consecration ceremonies and other mumbo-jumbo, that have this supernatural power to forgive sins and tell you what God really wants. Whatever laymen say or do does not matter: until the ceremony is performed, or God's grace achieved, one is guilty of original sin no matter what one does.
Similarly, in the case of America's racism, the "deep racism" can only be declared over by members of the new priesthood, that is, academia. The only thing--and I do mean the only thing--that would make the bien pensants agree that America is no longer "deeply racist"--is that a properly consecrated priest (left-wing academic in the humanities) would perform the sacred sacrament that makes America free of racism (i.e., write a think, heavily-footnoted, unreadable book with the title, "The End of Institutional Racism".) How people actually treat each other matters not one whit, until such priestly forgiveness is forthcoming; until then, America is still guilty of "deep racism" no matter what it does.
In both cases, it is something that is just in us, regardless of our actual conduct. Everybody is guilty of "original sin" whatever they actually do, even if they live as a saint; America is guilty of "deep racism" no matter how many black people succeed in it, how much integration exists, what discriminatory laws were declared unconstitutional, or anything else.
In both cases, evidence flows only in one direction. Acts of bravery, generosity, selflessness, and so on do not count as evidence against original sin, but every act of cowardice, avarice, or selfishness "proves" origin sin exists. Similarly, acts of fair treatment, abolishment of discriminatory laws, insistence on minority enrollment in university, etc., do not count as evidence against the idea that America is "deeply racist", but every time somebody uses the N-word is "proves" how, below the thin veneer of civlization, America is "really" deeply racist.
In both cases, salvation can come only by supernatural means. In the case of the Catholic church (roughly speaking) original sin can only be erased by baptism by priests and/or the grace of God. For it is only the priests, with their special consecration ceremonies and other mumbo-jumbo, that have this supernatural power to forgive sins and tell you what God really wants. Whatever laymen say or do does not matter: until the ceremony is performed, or God's grace achieved, one is guilty of original sin no matter what one does.
Similarly, in the case of America's racism, the "deep racism" can only be declared over by members of the new priesthood, that is, academia. The only thing--and I do mean the only thing--that would make the bien pensants agree that America is no longer "deeply racist"--is that a properly consecrated priest (left-wing academic in the humanities) would perform the sacred sacrament that makes America free of racism (i.e., write a think, heavily-footnoted, unreadable book with the title, "The End of Institutional Racism".) How people actually treat each other matters not one whit, until such priestly forgiveness is forthcoming; until then, America is still guilty of "deep racism" no matter what it does.
