GOP Nostalgia is a Symptom of Privilege
Author Melissa Harris-Perry recently appeared on “The Colbert Report” to speak about her new book, Sister Citizen, which examines a number of stereotypes of African-American women. As he often does, Colbert teed up a common conservative talking point about “going back to he good old days.” Perry’s response kept ringing in my head for days afterward.
She said that there is no time in American history you would want to go back to as a black girl.
The point is simple but compelling. Those in the position of privilege to write history are the ones whose story is most prominently told. So when we talk about going back to some better time, it’s with the lens of that same privilege that we’re looking back.
The fact is that, unless you’re a white, Christian, straight male, there’s little to look back to and say, “Yeah, I was better off back then.”
One way this longing for the reclamation of privilege is expressed is in espousing what many of the GOP candidates call a restoration of “traditional family values.” I’m never sure what they mean by this, though.
Newt Gingrich has been married and divorced multiple times, and reportedly asked one ex-wife to consent to an open marriage so he could keep the mistress he already had on the side.
Those traditional values?
Mitt Romney’s great-grandfather fled to Mexico where he helped form a polygamist compound where Mormon men could keep multiple wives.
Those traditional values?
emphasis mine
(Source: azspot)
