The season is giving us wonderful
things to talk about just now, in
weather in the Northern Hemisphere
which is simply punishing to men-
tion, and adventures in progressiv-
ism which seem inspired to emulate
this brooding miasma in all but its
transitory aspects, with articula-
tion of a new and alluring image of
racism. Does anyone recall what it
was like in 1848, when dialectical
materialism steeped us in its kettle?
The present striving, to portray a
frequency of effect as monolithic-
ally determinate, is understandable
in view of its unspeakability, but
if we have learned that reform is
not wasted on the weather, how do
we propose racism without racists?
I'm going to go out on a limb, and
suggest a little skepticism toward
theories of a culture's more repul-
sive characteristics which endow
them with the impersonal innocence
of weather. It's really only for
these analytical risks that I haz-
ard resistance to neo-Natural Law
illusions to dismiss free will, but
now that you mention it, fatalism
has acquired such support of late
in the fluctuations in the ozone
layer, as to endanger blame itself.
These consequences of inertia are
usually deemed ironic, when belat-
edly perceived. But like our dif-
ficult weather just now, let's not
flatter them by denying meteorology.
We can be dazzled by how it could
Drew Gilpin Faust
Race, History, and
Memories of a Vir-
ginia Girlhood
August, 2019
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