[lbo-talk] Is Obama Running Interference to ProtectBankers' Pay?

SA s11131978 at gmail.com
Mon Mar 23 20:11:03 PDT 2009


Miles Jackson wrote:


>> Well, in another post, you bring up the civil rights movement. Okay,
>> then - answer your own question: How did the civil rights movement's
>> moral discourse reinforce power relations?
>
> Interesting question. Quick take: it drew from and reinforced
> traditional Christian values; it perpetuated the myth of meritocracy
> (we should all be judged by the content of our character); it evoked
> moral teleology (the arc of history is long, but it bends toward
> justice).

Okay, good. Now, if the moral discourse of the civil rights movement could reinforce traditional values and perpetuate the idea of meritocracy, surely it could also discredit racism and impel whites through force of conscience to reject Jim Crow. Yes?

SA



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