When racism stops.
When people stop trying to brush racism under the rug.
When people admit that it has an always has been a problem
That’s when it will stop.
Racism, like tribalism, will never completely stop, just as stupidity, unethical behavior, and criminal activity will never fully stop. We can only work to reduce it and have a system of transparency and accountability that will discourage others from participating.
In the meantime, we have to live together without bitterness and sweeping accusations and stereotyping. We can’t learn from a history that we do not know because we erased the parts we don’t like.
Racism in its original definition (a belief that human traits, abilities and behaviors are determined predominantly by race) exists nowadays predominantly in the Black community. Cue on Nick Cannon with his “white people don’t have melanin, so they are savages and rapists” and the rest of the Black elite who cheered him on.
Racism in its next definition (structures of society that disadvantage people of color) has largely been dismantled and replaced with some form of affirmative action, explicit or implicit. Acceptance rates to elite colleges for Blacks exceed overall rates by 40-100%, despite average SAT scores being >200 points lower.
This doesn’t mean that we now now live in a perfect society – there is disparity of opporutnity due to large income inequality. However, it applies equally to all races: poor Blacks, poor Latinos and poor whites are equally disadvantaged as compared to their rich and well educated counterparts. Just take a look at the wage statistics from the Department of Labor by race and educational attainment.
Obviously, the truly “enlightened” people (those who get paid to fight racism) need something to justify their existence and continue in their (rather well paid) professional occupation. So they came up with a new definition of racism: it is any social disparities between white people and others. Regardless of any adverse actions or institutional barriers or prejudices on the part of white people or a complete lack thereof.
And so the problem was solved. Now we have defined racism in such a way that it can never be overcome as long as we humans remain biological creatures rather than engineered objects. And since this newly defined racism will never stop, people like AO will have something to rant about and something to blame for their own personal failures. Isn’t it wonderful?
Of course, this new definition of racism will do nothing to help those poor Blacks (and poor Latinos, and poor Asians, and poor whites), since that pesky equality of opportunity remains as unattainable as before.
But who cares?
Oh for crying out loud! I am sick of making historical heros accountable for their behaviors in the past. It is history and to take their recognition and value away is unconscionable. Statues destroyed by violence is against the law. That too is disturbing. This is a sad trend that will never solve any problems with beliefs or discrepancy. In other words, it is very harmful to think one group has the right to take away our past. Even if it is racist or hateful or ignorant!
Can I borrow “Liberal Symbolic Autocannibalism” so I don’t have to steal it or get it through reparations?
Obamavirus
July 23, 2020 - 4:41 PM 4:41 PM
Sierra Club has gone off the rails
They have become just another Marxist social justice front against the President and his supporters
There is massive clear cutting going on right now in the northern Sierra Nevada and around Bear Valley
Nothing to say about it on their website or in any recent news conferences etc
Clear cutting has traditionally (meaning when R were still in state legislatures) been heavily regulated
What happened to the regulations during the D supermajority??
Looks like cuts are on private land not the national forests
Dem voters who care about the Sierra forests should look into this and decide if you still support the D or maybe if it’s time to switch in Nov
parent
July 23, 2020 - 4:51 PM 4:51 PM
If we are going to judge everybody for the rest of their lives based on one or two actions, or how they spent a year of their life … we are ALL doomed.
Dawg
July 23, 2020 - 4:57 PM 4:57 PM
I’m waiting for the insane Left to go after Mark Twain, and want to ban his books.
Let’s just take EVERY statue, painting, and plaque down of everyone and make it EQUAL! And don’t bother writing any history books either.
We’ll be a nameless, non historical, genderless society so no one gets their damn feelings hurt.
History books are missing a whole lot of events that happened in our history. Rewriting the books to add all of the things that are missing and the massive amounts of information isn’t a bad thing.
It is a neccessary thing.
If we’re going to hold everyone equally accountable, they might want to mention in those re-written history books that the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., was an adulterer.
All MEN (this includes women) have good and evil capabilities. The poseur will claim innocence. The evil ones will try to dominate others with this claim. God is the only perfection, to those of us without Faith, God is still a brilliant tool. I
And yes. Men have used God for evil. Corrupting a peaceful society is evil.
RANDOM TASK
July 23, 2020 - 5:02 PM 5:02 PM
well with this we can see the next targets of hate will be
john wayne
clint eastwood
joe namath
john madden
payton manning
phylis diller
matt damon
these are just a few of the directed hate yet to come
the numbers are rising …..
these people should sip
or at least hord a bunch of commercial fireworks
that always works
Don’t forget….. Howard Cossell, Michael Richards, Louis Farakan, Mel Gibson and Eric Cartman.
Ricardoh
July 23, 2020 - 5:24 PM 5:24 PM
Hey I have an idea since the Spanish killed the local Central and South American natives lets get rid of every city or organization that has a Spanish name. Start with the SIERRA Club.
Bad Nombre
July 23, 2020 - 5:47 PM 5:47 PM
Can we destroy Yosemite in protest? I mean it’s only property, right? No “violence” will be done.
The Fearless Spectator
July 23, 2020 - 6:00 PM 6:00 PM
I have a copy of Blazing Saddles, In The Heat of The Night, and several Richard Pryor movies. I have hidden them well and will watch them every few years even if it’s illegal.
It’s curious that nobody is making any noise about Roots. Will it be banished also? Alex Haley must be turning over right about now…….
ClayDen
July 23, 2020 - 6:12 PM 6:12 PM
Does this mean they are going to change the name of the hospital where our children were born?
John Muir hospital in Concord started as Concord Community Hospital (had several siblings born there), then it changed to Mt. Diablo Hospital, then to John Muir.
Ansel Adams was an honored member of the Sierra Club until shortly before his death in 1984.
Original G
July 23, 2020 - 7:23 PM 7:23 PM
From the gospel of the lunatic woke.
There in my brethren, endeth my contributions to The Sierra Club.
End this stupidity, send a message by voting democrats out of office.
Cautiously Informed
July 23, 2020 - 7:31 PM 7:31 PM
It’s all part of the ‘blame’ and ‘zero responsibility for self’ movement.
Their moto: ‘it always was, and always will be someone or something else’s fault that my life is the way it is.
Dd
July 23, 2020 - 7:35 PM 7:35 PM
The pyramids in Egypt were built by slaves for the slave owners … Knock em all down !!!!
AO
July 23, 2020 - 7:47 PM 7:47 PM
The Sierra Club isn’t going to disavow him, just realize that there is more to the story than the good parts. Knowing your history is to know ALL of it, not just the parts that makes us proud to be Americans.
The people who founded this land massacred countless people. We focus on our founding fathers and forget to teach the part where they were thoroughly flawed individuals. They built this country on the backs of those they enslaved, whether they were native or brought here on slave ships.
You want to honor these people, know their full legacy, including the parts that make you unconformatible.
Nobody claims that our Founding Fathers were perfect, after all, they were all human being. What we celebrate were their accomplishments. The problem with cancel culture is that they want to destroy everything, erasing the good and the bad.
I haven’t really kept up with these Project 1619 types but I guess tearing down the lives of those who accomplished much somehow makes them feel better by comparison. Its also fun to see in their rewriting of history how they erase the slavery, war and incredibly barbaric acts in places such as Africa and America that existed way before any Europeans had influence there. In their sanitized world of their truth, peaceful indigenous peoples joyously were eating berries and frolicking with the animals.
To say the county was built on the back of slaves is asinine, slaves contributed perhaps 5% to 10% the economic base at its height in America. America was built by Americans. Further, the main beneficiary of American slavery are modern American blacks, who now enjoy a very high quality of life, drastically higher than any country in Africa, and have full freedom of speech and expression. There are more slaves today than ever before in history, mostly in Africa and Asia, largely consisting of black Africans holding slavery over other black Africans. That is an issue worth addressing, not this one.
The people who founded this country did not massacre countless people. The massacres were mutual. Initially natives befriended the European settlers to get their assistance in wiping out tribes with who whom they had been at war for generations. thomas Jefferson outlawed the international slave trade in 1807, other countries followed his lead in 1808. Slavery actually undermined the building of the country. The USA did not become a world economic power until after slavery was abolished, slavery was actually holding back true economic development. As it turned out share cropping was far more profitable than using slave labor. Rather than focus on a practice that was abolished in this country 160 years ago the focus should be on those countries where slavery is still an ongoing practice.
Bob Wiley
July 23, 2020 - 8:18 PM 8:18 PM
As time goes by, we are to learn from our mistakes and the mistakes of others. People are a product of their upbringing whether it be right or wrong. E.g. cigarettes didn’t used to be harmful. Coca-Cola was used to treat sickness due to the cocaine in it.
Instead of demonizing people due to their immoral past, we need to educate our children on how to learn from it. Unfortunately we in America find it easier to yell, scream, and destroy stuff than spend time being good examples to our youth.
To Do List
July 23, 2020 - 8:20 PM 8:20 PM
These thought control people are really sick, and also dangerous. It seems that long ago there were books like George Orwell’s 1984 and Animal Farm that were required reading to teach children the dangers of political control, and now those books seem to be seen as “how to” books by this generation. Really sick, especially the attacking and rewriting of history. The statues and this John Muir story get the publicity, but there is a huge amount of evil going on unnoticed. Long ago you could look up Wikipedia Robert Frost and see that his middle name, Lee, was chosen because his father was a fanatical supporter of the confederacy and named him after Robert E. Lee. This led to a very challenging childhood for poet Frost and explains his dark poems like “Stopping by Woods…” That’s all been cleaned up for us by the thought police and the context is lost, just as Winston worked on in George Orwell’s 1984 fixing history. For the politically correct idiots of today, that is a “how to” book.
Sideline
July 23, 2020 - 8:36 PM 8:36 PM
How intelligent does one have to be to learn from history instead of trying to re write it?
Lazy One
July 23, 2020 - 9:18 PM 9:18 PM
I was a member of the Sierra Club but quit when I realized it was just a left wing America hating group.
Science
July 23, 2020 - 9:21 PM 9:21 PM
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Ash
July 23, 2020 - 9:43 PM 9:43 PM
so jesus was a racist? did don lemon say it? well it must be true.
Bill Cutting
July 23, 2020 - 9:47 PM 9:47 PM
AO lol ok arm chair historian lol try harder next time your way off on what really happened in so many ways but you go on believing all you wrote. Your sense of history is poisonous Marxist ideology Blame game bs get job grouch. So much more was going on so many more players in the game that you didn’t even mention because you have a skewed view on what really happened you haven’t done your due diligence and researched the subject of slavery Or natives for the matter. You gave a cookie cutter post modernist perspective that has worn out its welcome
Hanne Jeppesen
July 23, 2020 - 9:52 PM 9:52 PM
I deplore racists in any form. Having said that I don’t think it is fair to judge people from years ago by today’s standards. I love Yosemite, it is one of my favorite places on earth, have hiked there many times since the late eighties.
You have to judge these people in total, and my understanding of Muir is his views evolved. Certainly, none of us are perfect, I’m sure I thought and said things back in the sixties and even later that would not be tolerated today. I’m certain I heard comments from men, that I accepted that today would be deemed sexual harassment. Times changes, people changes.
although I don’t consider myself a christian, I do believe that Jesus was all about forgiveness and redemption. So perhaps we need to practice some of that, instead of rushing to judgement and try to sterilize the past.
Hanne, good post. Times do change, attitudes and people change. My attitude today is nothing like it was in the sixties and seventies. When I was serving in Vietnam we used the word gook in reference to the enemy. Today I wouldn’t dream of offending anybody because of their nationality or race. The same thing happened during WWII, American soldiers and civilians used the words Japs and Krauts. When Pearl Harbor was attacked, the headlines in the newspapers read, “Japs Bomb Pearl Harbor.”
We cannot and should not erase or change historical facts, but we can learn from them and change our behavior and attitude towards our fellow man. Oops, is fellow man incorrect? Maybe I should have said our fellow human being. Oh well, that part of my attitude hasn’t changed, I’m too stubborn be politically correct.
I line up under the label of mankind. Modern feminism is a hate group, having joined forces with lbgq, marxists and antifa. Humankind is nice but I like shorter names for typing. MAN. A perfectly lovely word.
I am glad to find middle ground is being found. In several places. California has powerful mindset when it comes freedom of speech, liberty and living free of politically correct bs. We practically invented it. Time to put the mind patrol in the garbage and get back to living and creating.
Hanne, very well said and I completely agree with you. Things were different even 20 years ago, let alone back in the 60’s, 70’s, and then of course back in the 1800’s, etc. And you’re right – no one’s perfect. We need to know history so we can be better and not repeat the same mistakes and bad behavior.
Some people nowadays seem to get their feelings hurt way too easily and need to voice their opinions known very loudly.
Bill Cutting
July 23, 2020 - 9:59 PM 9:59 PM
Yeah animal farm is a good one but George Orwell was a communist sympathizer and Participated in the Spanish Civil War he was antifa
Schmee
July 23, 2020 - 10:19 PM 10:19 PM
Does the Sierra club have any legitimate relevancy in 2020? I’m pretty sure if you combine the EPA and the sierra club and every other environmental organization they are less than the horrible detriment that is Trump
Bella
July 23, 2020 - 10:21 PM 10:21 PM
Radicalism. Let’s balance it, Local and State Politicians. So, should John Muir Hospital in Walnut Creek cancel my daughter’s surgery because of the dogma? Thankful for my Partner to support me through this. Most importantly, as we age we most definitely become wiser.
The Mamba
July 23, 2020 - 10:21 PM 10:21 PM
Leland Stanford is next, if we are taking historical figures out of context, no one will be safe from the cultural revolution!
Led
July 23, 2020 - 11:02 PM 11:02 PM
Here’s what I don’t get about these “problematizations” of particular historical figures: racism is systemic, we are told, and I guess I think that is true in some ways (though I don’t think the concept is very clear), and certainly was true in John Muir’s day! So what is the point of picking out John Muir for thinking or saying exactly what the systemic racism of his day would indicate? Is it about the individual, or not? If so, systemic racism is bunk – if not, why pick out the individual in an age of systemic racism?
Of course there is nothing wrong with historians looking honestly at how past figures thought about their fellow human beings of different races. But it usually is not what makes them different from a random average Joe of their day. John Muir was a normal white guy with sadly normal views for his time about Native Americans and blacks, and a very extraordinary career of writing and action with respect to the natural treasures of America. The Sierra Club’s statement that those noxious views of his are still doing harm doesn’t pass the smell test. Who right now is being harmed by the fact that John Muir was racist? The legacy of an age when views like his were normal is still with us, true in some ways, but not *his* racism in any significant way.
I think Margaret Sanger is rather a different case, because I think Planned Parenthood is still eugenic in its outlook, though not explicitly so anymore. Whereas I don’t believe the Sierra Club is perpetuating racism by honoring Muir’s conservation efforts and vision of the natural world.
DVC Student
July 23, 2020 - 11:56 PM 11:56 PM
They are committing Presentism.
“Interpreting past events in terms of modern values and concepts.”
“The application of contemporary perspectives in explaining past events rather than placing these events in their historical context”
I know a CSU student and her materials also mention chronocentrism, the belief and prejudice that the time period you live in is more important and significant and your judgements better than those of other times. To turn this around, the society of 200 years ago probably would have thought that we are a pack of idiots holding the beliefs about race and society that we do.
Cellophane
July 24, 2020 - 7:05 AM 7:05 AM
The absurd people who believe that they are superior and chose to judge history by their own standards are only displaying the poor content of their character.
This fad, will pass and will end up in the garbage like so much other nonsense spread like manure today.
Sign from Above
July 24, 2020 - 7:11 AM 7:11 AM
I think it’s amazing that the Sierra Club is now attacking the very man that started the organization! Come on people! If this keeps up, we will soon think that George Washington & Teddy Rosevelt were racist. Lets get rid of the three day weekend celebrating his birth! After all, they too wold have been slave owners if they lived a little later. That’s what happened back then. It was wrong and we ABOLISHED it. Yes, there are some that don’t get that fact and we need to work on them. But, in this day, blacks have the same ability to better themselves as anyone else. It’s a choice. You can sit and complain about how bad things are and use that as an excuse, or you can work to better yourself and put yourself in a place to be successful. Your choice! Removing historic statues and changing names does not remove history.
Justifiable languor
July 24, 2020 - 7:21 AM 7:21 AM
Exactly. I now have the nomenclature. Thank you DVC Student.
Presentism. It would be like blaming a cave man for committing hygiene crimes.
Inner city gang culture is openly rebellious of common morality. Some are even ignorant of common language skills. Passed down through generations. The jewel in gangland crown is to proclaim systemic racism.
All races that respect American culture are accepted. Allowing gang culture to topple America is to allow the burning of libraries, toppling of statues, and irradicating Law and Order.
RANDOM TASK
July 24, 2020 - 7:58 AM 7:58 AM
“Interpreting past events in terms of modern values and concepts.”
dumbing down history for the entitled self absorbed underachievers
call it what it is
they dont understand so they act out ….stomp their feet …yell profanities and flip you off ….
pretty much in that order …..just try and talk to one of the anarchist
non logical nonsensical followers ….
white democrats telling the disenfranchised to sit down i got this you dont know how to stand up for yourself correctly to push our narrative of national socialism communism ….dont worry socialism is what you want ….trust me
Sam Malone
July 24, 2020 - 8:27 AM 8:27 AM
Enough already! I am from Italian heritage and I am personally sick and tired of religious and Italian and John Muir being disrespected.
I have to swallow all the crap the media and other racial groups dish out but I have to keep silent.
All should be respected.
I agree. You are correct. This has gone too far unfortunately we will see more of the media, and political groups that think they are superior with their so called morals! Sick 😷 of it.
S
July 24, 2020 - 9:11 AM 9:11 AM
“Presentism” must be the word of the day.
Don’t think I’ve heard it since college social studies in the 70’s.
Now we have it here and…. I heard it on a Morning Radio Talk Show.
AnimalLover
July 24, 2020 - 9:34 AM 9:34 AM
Historical context my a**!!!
Several weeks ago, on a similar topic, I posted that Coit Tower, the California Missions, and the Golden Gate Bridge may all be construed as symbols of white elitism/racism, etc.
SO, the Clinically Insane (Liberals) have now tainted John Muir. The case can similarly be made for all of the above. For example, was racial profiling used when hiring workpersons (used to be known as workmen) for construction of the bridge? Likely most of the “persons” involved in construction of the bridge were white indicating clear racist hiring policies.
To be fair, a percentage of the workpersons should have been black or Hispanic. Same case could be made for the Bay Bridge. AND, if the bridges are destroyed because they are symbols of white supremacy, then Bay crossings will need to be by ferries. Now there’s another problem. Ferry is also a tainted word because it sounds just like fairy.
To be continued . . .
Justagirl
July 24, 2020 - 9:37 AM 9:37 AM
Rico, your words are spot on! If we could all just take a breath and be this realistic and reasonable, perhaps we could move forward together as a United country once again.
JJ
July 24, 2020 - 9:43 AM 9:43 AM
How about public schools named after people.
Anyone want to look up history on these folks?
Any local theatres named after people?
This could really snowball.
Justifiable languor
July 24, 2020 - 10:45 AM 10:45 AM
Excellent post Ricardoh. None of us would be here without the sufferings of our ancestors. We could be suffering under war torn Africa or not even born because they died in English prisons.
DB
July 24, 2020 - 10:54 AM 10:54 AM
We are currently in the middle of an attempted Communist revolution. This is what Communist leaders do in every culture before they take over – erase the history and replace it with a new one where the Party is always right.
Time to deep six Gandhi, then, because “passages written by Gandhi refer to Indians as ‘infinitely superior’ to Africans, the petitioners protested against glorifying Gandhi despite the racist attitude he is believed to have held during his stay in South Africa. “Gandhi also campaigned against the efforts of the Dalits, the Black “Untouchables” of India, and for the maintenance of the caste system right up to his death.”
Also, FDR appointed a member of the KKK to the Supreme Court, so he has to go. But What about racist Blacks, such as Louis Farrakhan who is openly anti-Semitic? Should we empty every Art Museum and sports Hall of Fame of anyone who was racist? Inconvenient questions for people who avoid the truth.
Natalie
July 24, 2020 - 11:03 AM 11:03 AM
The Sierra Club should have thought of another title for their essay other than “Pulling Down Our Monuments”. All it takes is one person to act irrationally and set arson to the historical house, or a couple of people to damage/take the John Muir statue. Not to mention there is a park called Muir Woods National Monument. There are people who are easily incited towards violence and property damage. To some people, the phrase “Pulling Down Our Monuments” could be interpreted as a call to action, which would have bad consequences.
From my understanding, John Muir’s views towards other types of people evolved over time, as he became more enlightened. John Muir is not one of history’s great monsters. He grew to respect how native tribes lived in nature. Muir earned the name Ancoutahan (adopted chief), given to him by the chief of the Stickeen tribe.
He wasn’t perfect, but nobody is. We can learn from both John Muir and from the native people who lived on the land.
Ricardoh
July 24, 2020 - 12:53 PM 12:53 PM
Beside slavery and a few years before slavery started in the Americas, and only a few years, the Europeans were not having things that great. Religious wars and wars of kings were killing people by the hundred of thousands. Stabbed by swords, shot by arrows, stabbed with spears and pitchforks. They were the lucky ones. The unlucky ones were burned at stake or drugged through the streets by horse or hung or partially hung and while still alive had their guts cut out and if that wasn’t enough they were beheaded and quartered or maybe just beheaded. Get down on your knees and be thankful the founders stopped the royalty garbage. The founders slave holders or not played a large part in stopping or at least slowing man’s inhumanity to man.
Exit 12A
July 24, 2020 - 3:10 PM 3:10 PM
Sure. Demolish Muir’s house, rename the hospital, and strikeout anything bearing his name like Muir Parkway.
While we’re at it, abolish the Democratic Party due to their long association with promoting slavery and racism in the South during the 1800s.
It’s only fair, right?
Next up: Book burnings by the intolerant leftists.
anon
July 24, 2020 - 11:26 PM 11:26 PM
Will liberals disown Nelson Mandela for his open endorsement of violent terror such as necklacing? His wife Winnie said ““We have no guns – we have only stone, boxes of matches and petrol… Together, hand-in-hand, with our boxes of matches and our necklaces we shall liberate this country.”
Necklacing is when you put a tire over someone’s head, douse them in gasoline, then light them and let them burn. Mandela’s boys visited this fate upon thousands in South Africa.
Here we go again, when will it stop ?
When racism stops.
When people stop trying to brush racism under the rug.
When people admit that it has an always has been a problem
That’s when it will stop.
You wouldn’t be alive today if it wasn’t for your ancestors being racist, AO.
Racism, like tribalism, will never completely stop, just as stupidity, unethical behavior, and criminal activity will never fully stop. We can only work to reduce it and have a system of transparency and accountability that will discourage others from participating.
In the meantime, we have to live together without bitterness and sweeping accusations and stereotyping. We can’t learn from a history that we do not know because we erased the parts we don’t like.
Racism in its original definition (a belief that human traits, abilities and behaviors are determined predominantly by race) exists nowadays predominantly in the Black community. Cue on Nick Cannon with his “white people don’t have melanin, so they are savages and rapists” and the rest of the Black elite who cheered him on.
Racism in its next definition (structures of society that disadvantage people of color) has largely been dismantled and replaced with some form of affirmative action, explicit or implicit. Acceptance rates to elite colleges for Blacks exceed overall rates by 40-100%, despite average SAT scores being >200 points lower.
This doesn’t mean that we now now live in a perfect society – there is disparity of opporutnity due to large income inequality. However, it applies equally to all races: poor Blacks, poor Latinos and poor whites are equally disadvantaged as compared to their rich and well educated counterparts. Just take a look at the wage statistics from the Department of Labor by race and educational attainment.
Obviously, the truly “enlightened” people (those who get paid to fight racism) need something to justify their existence and continue in their (rather well paid) professional occupation. So they came up with a new definition of racism: it is any social disparities between white people and others. Regardless of any adverse actions or institutional barriers or prejudices on the part of white people or a complete lack thereof.
And so the problem was solved. Now we have defined racism in such a way that it can never be overcome as long as we humans remain biological creatures rather than engineered objects. And since this newly defined racism will never stop, people like AO will have something to rant about and something to blame for their own personal failures. Isn’t it wonderful?
Of course, this new definition of racism will do nothing to help those poor Blacks (and poor Latinos, and poor Asians, and poor whites), since that pesky equality of opportunity remains as unattainable as before.
But who cares?
Defund National Parks, beginning with Yosemite.
Liberal symbolic autocannibalism…. Margaret Sanger and now John Muir.
Oh for crying out loud! I am sick of making historical heros accountable for their behaviors in the past. It is history and to take their recognition and value away is unconscionable. Statues destroyed by violence is against the law. That too is disturbing. This is a sad trend that will never solve any problems with beliefs or discrepancy. In other words, it is very harmful to think one group has the right to take away our past. Even if it is racist or hateful or ignorant!
Can I borrow “Liberal Symbolic Autocannibalism” so I don’t have to steal it or get it through reparations?
Sierra Club has gone off the rails
They have become just another Marxist social justice front against the President and his supporters
There is massive clear cutting going on right now in the northern Sierra Nevada and around Bear Valley
Nothing to say about it on their website or in any recent news conferences etc
Clear cutting has traditionally (meaning when R were still in state legislatures) been heavily regulated
What happened to the regulations during the D supermajority??
Looks like cuts are on private land not the national forests
Dem voters who care about the Sierra forests should look into this and decide if you still support the D or maybe if it’s time to switch in Nov
If we are going to judge everybody for the rest of their lives based on one or two actions, or how they spent a year of their life … we are ALL doomed.
I’m waiting for the insane Left to go after Mark Twain, and want to ban his books.
They’re already doing it.
Let’s just take EVERY statue, painting, and plaque down of everyone and make it EQUAL! And don’t bother writing any history books either.
We’ll be a nameless, non historical, genderless society so no one gets their damn feelings hurt.
History books are missing a whole lot of events that happened in our history. Rewriting the books to add all of the things that are missing and the massive amounts of information isn’t a bad thing.
It is a neccessary thing.
If we’re going to hold everyone equally accountable, they might want to mention in those re-written history books that the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr., was an adulterer.
All MEN (this includes women) have good and evil capabilities. The poseur will claim innocence. The evil ones will try to dominate others with this claim. God is the only perfection, to those of us without Faith, God is still a brilliant tool. I
And yes. Men have used God for evil. Corrupting a peaceful society is evil.
well with this we can see the next targets of hate will be
john wayne
clint eastwood
joe namath
john madden
payton manning
phylis diller
matt damon
these are just a few of the directed hate yet to come
the numbers are rising …..
these people should sip
or at least hord a bunch of commercial fireworks
that always works
Let’s not forget:
Abraham Lincoln
Ghandi
Einstein
Both Martin Luther and Mark Twain wrote entire books about the Jews.
All have been recently re-branded as a racists.
Don’t forget….. Howard Cossell, Michael Richards, Louis Farakan, Mel Gibson and Eric Cartman.
Hey I have an idea since the Spanish killed the local Central and South American natives lets get rid of every city or organization that has a Spanish name. Start with the SIERRA Club.
Can we destroy Yosemite in protest? I mean it’s only property, right? No “violence” will be done.
I have a copy of Blazing Saddles, In The Heat of The Night, and several Richard Pryor movies. I have hidden them well and will watch them every few years even if it’s illegal.
It’s curious that nobody is making any noise about Roots. Will it be banished also? Alex Haley must be turning over right about now…….
Does this mean they are going to change the name of the hospital where our children were born?
Beam me up!
Kaiser?
Oh, John Muir.
Didn’t it used to be called John Muir Medical Center?
Now it’s called John Muir Health?
🤪🙃
John Muir hospital in Concord started as Concord Community Hospital (had several siblings born there), then it changed to Mt. Diablo Hospital, then to John Muir.
Muir Woods in Marin County has announced it will not be changing its name and had a rational, reasonable explanation as to why not.
Why do you think Ansel Adams (one of the most famous members of the Sierra Club) quit?
They were starting to go off the rails, even back then.
Ansel Adams was an honored member of the Sierra Club until shortly before his death in 1984.
From the gospel of the lunatic woke.
There in my brethren, endeth my contributions to The Sierra Club.
End this stupidity, send a message by voting democrats out of office.
It’s all part of the ‘blame’ and ‘zero responsibility for self’ movement.
Their moto: ‘it always was, and always will be someone or something else’s fault that my life is the way it is.
The pyramids in Egypt were built by slaves for the slave owners … Knock em all down !!!!
The Sierra Club isn’t going to disavow him, just realize that there is more to the story than the good parts. Knowing your history is to know ALL of it, not just the parts that makes us proud to be Americans.
The people who founded this land massacred countless people. We focus on our founding fathers and forget to teach the part where they were thoroughly flawed individuals. They built this country on the backs of those they enslaved, whether they were native or brought here on slave ships.
You want to honor these people, know their full legacy, including the parts that make you unconformatible.
Nobody claims that our Founding Fathers were perfect, after all, they were all human being. What we celebrate were their accomplishments. The problem with cancel culture is that they want to destroy everything, erasing the good and the bad.
I haven’t really kept up with these Project 1619 types but I guess tearing down the lives of those who accomplished much somehow makes them feel better by comparison. Its also fun to see in their rewriting of history how they erase the slavery, war and incredibly barbaric acts in places such as Africa and America that existed way before any Europeans had influence there. In their sanitized world of their truth, peaceful indigenous peoples joyously were eating berries and frolicking with the animals.
To say the county was built on the back of slaves is asinine, slaves contributed perhaps 5% to 10% the economic base at its height in America. America was built by Americans. Further, the main beneficiary of American slavery are modern American blacks, who now enjoy a very high quality of life, drastically higher than any country in Africa, and have full freedom of speech and expression. There are more slaves today than ever before in history, mostly in Africa and Asia, largely consisting of black Africans holding slavery over other black Africans. That is an issue worth addressing, not this one.
The people who founded this country did not massacre countless people. The massacres were mutual. Initially natives befriended the European settlers to get their assistance in wiping out tribes with who whom they had been at war for generations. thomas Jefferson outlawed the international slave trade in 1807, other countries followed his lead in 1808. Slavery actually undermined the building of the country. The USA did not become a world economic power until after slavery was abolished, slavery was actually holding back true economic development. As it turned out share cropping was far more profitable than using slave labor. Rather than focus on a practice that was abolished in this country 160 years ago the focus should be on those countries where slavery is still an ongoing practice.
As time goes by, we are to learn from our mistakes and the mistakes of others. People are a product of their upbringing whether it be right or wrong. E.g. cigarettes didn’t used to be harmful. Coca-Cola was used to treat sickness due to the cocaine in it.
Instead of demonizing people due to their immoral past, we need to educate our children on how to learn from it. Unfortunately we in America find it easier to yell, scream, and destroy stuff than spend time being good examples to our youth.
These thought control people are really sick, and also dangerous. It seems that long ago there were books like George Orwell’s 1984 and Animal Farm that were required reading to teach children the dangers of political control, and now those books seem to be seen as “how to” books by this generation. Really sick, especially the attacking and rewriting of history. The statues and this John Muir story get the publicity, but there is a huge amount of evil going on unnoticed. Long ago you could look up Wikipedia Robert Frost and see that his middle name, Lee, was chosen because his father was a fanatical supporter of the confederacy and named him after Robert E. Lee. This led to a very challenging childhood for poet Frost and explains his dark poems like “Stopping by Woods…” That’s all been cleaned up for us by the thought police and the context is lost, just as Winston worked on in George Orwell’s 1984 fixing history. For the politically correct idiots of today, that is a “how to” book.
How intelligent does one have to be to learn from history instead of trying to re write it?
I was a member of the Sierra Club but quit when I realized it was just a left wing America hating group.
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so jesus was a racist? did don lemon say it? well it must be true.
AO lol ok arm chair historian lol try harder next time your way off on what really happened in so many ways but you go on believing all you wrote. Your sense of history is poisonous Marxist ideology Blame game bs get job grouch. So much more was going on so many more players in the game that you didn’t even mention because you have a skewed view on what really happened you haven’t done your due diligence and researched the subject of slavery Or natives for the matter. You gave a cookie cutter post modernist perspective that has worn out its welcome
I deplore racists in any form. Having said that I don’t think it is fair to judge people from years ago by today’s standards. I love Yosemite, it is one of my favorite places on earth, have hiked there many times since the late eighties.
You have to judge these people in total, and my understanding of Muir is his views evolved. Certainly, none of us are perfect, I’m sure I thought and said things back in the sixties and even later that would not be tolerated today. I’m certain I heard comments from men, that I accepted that today would be deemed sexual harassment. Times changes, people changes.
although I don’t consider myself a christian, I do believe that Jesus was all about forgiveness and redemption. So perhaps we need to practice some of that, instead of rushing to judgement and try to sterilize the past.
Hanne, good post. Times do change, attitudes and people change. My attitude today is nothing like it was in the sixties and seventies. When I was serving in Vietnam we used the word gook in reference to the enemy. Today I wouldn’t dream of offending anybody because of their nationality or race. The same thing happened during WWII, American soldiers and civilians used the words Japs and Krauts. When Pearl Harbor was attacked, the headlines in the newspapers read, “Japs Bomb Pearl Harbor.”
We cannot and should not erase or change historical facts, but we can learn from them and change our behavior and attitude towards our fellow man. Oops, is fellow man incorrect? Maybe I should have said our fellow human being. Oh well, that part of my attitude hasn’t changed, I’m too stubborn be politically correct.
I line up under the label of mankind. Modern feminism is a hate group, having joined forces with lbgq, marxists and antifa. Humankind is nice but I like shorter names for typing. MAN. A perfectly lovely word.
I am glad to find middle ground is being found. In several places. California has powerful mindset when it comes freedom of speech, liberty and living free of politically correct bs. We practically invented it. Time to put the mind patrol in the garbage and get back to living and creating.
Hanne, very well said and I completely agree with you. Things were different even 20 years ago, let alone back in the 60’s, 70’s, and then of course back in the 1800’s, etc. And you’re right – no one’s perfect. We need to know history so we can be better and not repeat the same mistakes and bad behavior.
Some people nowadays seem to get their feelings hurt way too easily and need to voice their opinions known very loudly.
Yeah animal farm is a good one but George Orwell was a communist sympathizer and Participated in the Spanish Civil War he was antifa
Does the Sierra club have any legitimate relevancy in 2020? I’m pretty sure if you combine the EPA and the sierra club and every other environmental organization they are less than the horrible detriment that is Trump
Radicalism. Let’s balance it, Local and State Politicians. So, should John Muir Hospital in Walnut Creek cancel my daughter’s surgery because of the dogma? Thankful for my Partner to support me through this. Most importantly, as we age we most definitely become wiser.
Leland Stanford is next, if we are taking historical figures out of context, no one will be safe from the cultural revolution!
Here’s what I don’t get about these “problematizations” of particular historical figures: racism is systemic, we are told, and I guess I think that is true in some ways (though I don’t think the concept is very clear), and certainly was true in John Muir’s day! So what is the point of picking out John Muir for thinking or saying exactly what the systemic racism of his day would indicate? Is it about the individual, or not? If so, systemic racism is bunk – if not, why pick out the individual in an age of systemic racism?
Of course there is nothing wrong with historians looking honestly at how past figures thought about their fellow human beings of different races. But it usually is not what makes them different from a random average Joe of their day. John Muir was a normal white guy with sadly normal views for his time about Native Americans and blacks, and a very extraordinary career of writing and action with respect to the natural treasures of America. The Sierra Club’s statement that those noxious views of his are still doing harm doesn’t pass the smell test. Who right now is being harmed by the fact that John Muir was racist? The legacy of an age when views like his were normal is still with us, true in some ways, but not *his* racism in any significant way.
I think Margaret Sanger is rather a different case, because I think Planned Parenthood is still eugenic in its outlook, though not explicitly so anymore. Whereas I don’t believe the Sierra Club is perpetuating racism by honoring Muir’s conservation efforts and vision of the natural world.
They are committing Presentism.
“Interpreting past events in terms of modern values and concepts.”
“The application of contemporary perspectives in explaining past events rather than placing these events in their historical context”
Thanks DVC Student, for improving my vocabulary.
I know a CSU student and her materials also mention chronocentrism, the belief and prejudice that the time period you live in is more important and significant and your judgements better than those of other times. To turn this around, the society of 200 years ago probably would have thought that we are a pack of idiots holding the beliefs about race and society that we do.
The absurd people who believe that they are superior and chose to judge history by their own standards are only displaying the poor content of their character.
This fad, will pass and will end up in the garbage like so much other nonsense spread like manure today.
I think it’s amazing that the Sierra Club is now attacking the very man that started the organization! Come on people! If this keeps up, we will soon think that George Washington & Teddy Rosevelt were racist. Lets get rid of the three day weekend celebrating his birth! After all, they too wold have been slave owners if they lived a little later. That’s what happened back then. It was wrong and we ABOLISHED it. Yes, there are some that don’t get that fact and we need to work on them. But, in this day, blacks have the same ability to better themselves as anyone else. It’s a choice. You can sit and complain about how bad things are and use that as an excuse, or you can work to better yourself and put yourself in a place to be successful. Your choice! Removing historic statues and changing names does not remove history.
Exactly. I now have the nomenclature. Thank you DVC Student.
Presentism. It would be like blaming a cave man for committing hygiene crimes.
Inner city gang culture is openly rebellious of common morality. Some are even ignorant of common language skills. Passed down through generations. The jewel in gangland crown is to proclaim systemic racism.
All races that respect American culture are accepted. Allowing gang culture to topple America is to allow the burning of libraries, toppling of statues, and irradicating Law and Order.
“Interpreting past events in terms of modern values and concepts.”
dumbing down history for the entitled self absorbed underachievers
call it what it is
they dont understand so they act out ….stomp their feet …yell profanities and flip you off ….
pretty much in that order …..just try and talk to one of the anarchist
non logical nonsensical followers ….
white democrats telling the disenfranchised to sit down i got this you dont know how to stand up for yourself correctly to push our narrative of national socialism communism ….dont worry socialism is what you want ….trust me
Enough already! I am from Italian heritage and I am personally sick and tired of religious and Italian and John Muir being disrespected.
I have to swallow all the crap the media and other racial groups dish out but I have to keep silent.
All should be respected.
I agree. You are correct. This has gone too far unfortunately we will see more of the media, and political groups that think they are superior with their so called morals! Sick 😷 of it.
“Presentism” must be the word of the day.
Don’t think I’ve heard it since college social studies in the 70’s.
Now we have it here and…. I heard it on a Morning Radio Talk Show.
Historical context my a**!!!
Several weeks ago, on a similar topic, I posted that Coit Tower, the California Missions, and the Golden Gate Bridge may all be construed as symbols of white elitism/racism, etc.
SO, the Clinically Insane (Liberals) have now tainted John Muir. The case can similarly be made for all of the above. For example, was racial profiling used when hiring workpersons (used to be known as workmen) for construction of the bridge? Likely most of the “persons” involved in construction of the bridge were white indicating clear racist hiring policies.
To be fair, a percentage of the workpersons should have been black or Hispanic. Same case could be made for the Bay Bridge. AND, if the bridges are destroyed because they are symbols of white supremacy, then Bay crossings will need to be by ferries. Now there’s another problem. Ferry is also a tainted word because it sounds just like fairy.
To be continued . . .
Rico, your words are spot on! If we could all just take a breath and be this realistic and reasonable, perhaps we could move forward together as a United country once again.
How about public schools named after people.
Anyone want to look up history on these folks?
Any local theatres named after people?
This could really snowball.
Excellent post Ricardoh. None of us would be here without the sufferings of our ancestors. We could be suffering under war torn Africa or not even born because they died in English prisons.
We are currently in the middle of an attempted Communist revolution. This is what Communist leaders do in every culture before they take over – erase the history and replace it with a new one where the Party is always right.
Exactly!
Time to deep six Gandhi, then, because “passages written by Gandhi refer to Indians as ‘infinitely superior’ to Africans, the petitioners protested against glorifying Gandhi despite the racist attitude he is believed to have held during his stay in South Africa. “Gandhi also campaigned against the efforts of the Dalits, the Black “Untouchables” of India, and for the maintenance of the caste system right up to his death.”
Also, FDR appointed a member of the KKK to the Supreme Court, so he has to go. But What about racist Blacks, such as Louis Farrakhan who is openly anti-Semitic? Should we empty every Art Museum and sports Hall of Fame of anyone who was racist? Inconvenient questions for people who avoid the truth.
The Sierra Club should have thought of another title for their essay other than “Pulling Down Our Monuments”. All it takes is one person to act irrationally and set arson to the historical house, or a couple of people to damage/take the John Muir statue. Not to mention there is a park called Muir Woods National Monument. There are people who are easily incited towards violence and property damage. To some people, the phrase “Pulling Down Our Monuments” could be interpreted as a call to action, which would have bad consequences.
From my understanding, John Muir’s views towards other types of people evolved over time, as he became more enlightened. John Muir is not one of history’s great monsters. He grew to respect how native tribes lived in nature. Muir earned the name Ancoutahan (adopted chief), given to him by the chief of the Stickeen tribe.
He wasn’t perfect, but nobody is. We can learn from both John Muir and from the native people who lived on the land.
Beside slavery and a few years before slavery started in the Americas, and only a few years, the Europeans were not having things that great. Religious wars and wars of kings were killing people by the hundred of thousands. Stabbed by swords, shot by arrows, stabbed with spears and pitchforks. They were the lucky ones. The unlucky ones were burned at stake or drugged through the streets by horse or hung or partially hung and while still alive had their guts cut out and if that wasn’t enough they were beheaded and quartered or maybe just beheaded. Get down on your knees and be thankful the founders stopped the royalty garbage. The founders slave holders or not played a large part in stopping or at least slowing man’s inhumanity to man.
Sure. Demolish Muir’s house, rename the hospital, and strikeout anything bearing his name like Muir Parkway.
While we’re at it, abolish the Democratic Party due to their long association with promoting slavery and racism in the South during the 1800s.
It’s only fair, right?
Next up: Book burnings by the intolerant leftists.
Will liberals disown Nelson Mandela for his open endorsement of violent terror such as necklacing? His wife Winnie said ““We have no guns – we have only stone, boxes of matches and petrol… Together, hand-in-hand, with our boxes of matches and our necklaces we shall liberate this country.”
Necklacing is when you put a tire over someone’s head, douse them in gasoline, then light them and let them burn. Mandela’s boys visited this fate upon thousands in South Africa.