My Grandfather (well, all my grandparents, but I'm thinking of the pulpit-swapping with synagogues and black churches in the south grandfather in particular) as well. Progressive thinkers didn't just spring from the ether in 1961.
Glory ,'Potential'
All Ogle, No Cash -- It's Not Just Annoying, It's Un-American
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Exactly - you can go all the way back. There were Catholic priests who tried to save American Indians from being slaughtered by Columbus. So no one gets too much of a break for being too old to know better.
The difference, to me, in deciding whether or not to make allowances is the degree of malice I find in their views. Whether or not it comes from hatred or ignorance.
Not a complete break but a little lattitude... the family friend IS thinking outside the box he was given, but it's a teeny box.
And he also gets the "deals with individuals fairly" chit. He may make broad statements about "the blacks" or "the hispanics" but he's a respected mechanic who treats his customers and employees of all backgrounds well. He's the guy bussing was invented for-- hard to diss the folks you know.
FWIW, my shiny new tagline is CS Lewis--but it seemed appropriate to the new board.
(For posterity, "Friendship is unnecessary, like philosophy, like art... It has no survival value; rather it is one of those things that give value to survival.")
Mr. Lewis, meet Richard Dawkins. Mr. Dawkins meet C.S. Lewis.
Snerk! Gar is right; it infuriates me when people say things like "but everyone was anti-Semitic then." Well, no they weren't. Just for a start, an awful lot of Jews weren't anti-Semitic. (Some were, of course.)
Yes, those "everyones" are a disservice to the bold exceptions and an arrogant view of ourselves.
I was going to say something about having the courage of your convictions and bravery in the face of ingnorance and oppression, but smarter people than I have said it and I'm tired. Go look them up and pretend I said it.
I've never read any C. S. Lewis. t /Not wanting to be left out of the CSL conversation