Zimmer asks when precisely that golden era of free speech for which centrists hanker for us to return was in place. He answers:

"Unless we are talking about wealthy white Christian men only, it makes little sense to construct a version of U.S. history in which previous eras were characterized by greater freedom while the very recent past has been marked by a loss of free speech."

#nostalgia #polarization #CiivilRights #minorities #patriarchy #MaleEntitlement #heterosexism
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"The frequently invoked 'consensus' of the post-World War II era, for instance, was depending on both major parties agreeing that white patriarchal rule would remain largely untouched. …

"It wasn’t a coincidence that 'polarization' started when one party broke with the white elite consensus and supported – albeit reluctantly – the civil rights revolution of the 1960s."

#nostalgia #polarization #CiivilRights #minorities #patriarchy #MaleEntitlement #heterosexism
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