I’m all for eliminating the Civil Rights Act in places where I’m confident local government will do its job and a cartel of white businesses won’t use coercion to discriminate against black people.
This is from a comment highlighted by Ta-Nehisi Coates at his place over at The Atlantic. Yes, it’s a very truncated quote, but let me give you the summation: Dude is saying that when he’s sure people are following the law, we can repeal the law.
This has to be the stupidest thing I’ve read all month.
Why do we have to get rid of the rule, if everyone is following it? Why does it bother you that a rule mandating equal treatment exists? And why does it bother you so much that, in the face of its success, you feel the need to destroy it? Without the law on the books to remind people, what’s to stop the same discriminatory behaviors from resurfacing?
Maybe the best counterexample to this sort of bullshit is the current Wall Street debacle. Many felt that regulations could be relaxed, since there had been no financial catastrophes for 60-something years. We relaxed them aaaaand….BAM! Catastrophe! Oh noes, how could this have happened?!
Arguments like the one highlighted above never take such considerations into account–it’s too inconvenient. People have never behaved in the way he proposes they could, and they never will. It’s why we have laws in the first place. It’s also why this is such a frustrating article. If we’re going to discuss fantasy worlds, couldn’t we talk about the last couple issues of Green Lantern or Xbox games or something?