"One of the distinct advantages of getting older is that I can remember more than two decades"

Good post from Shakesville on how a longer memory helps protect you from the stupidity of others who have zero historical knowledge...

The Creeping Creepiness of Racism

Toady, I entered a conversation about whether a white news commentator might not have known that suggesting that other golfers "lynch him (Tiger Woods) in a back alley" was a racist comment worthy of public sanction.

Among the various arguments I read was this one: Given the commentator's age, she might not really understand the charged context of the word "lynch" in reference to a person-of-color.

And somehow, vaguely, in the back of my mind, I remembered a time when I could not imagine that I would be hearing this argument from progressives.

Later in the day, I read that many younger readers at the same blog did not know the racist connotations of the phrase "Shuck and Jive", "cakewalk", or "porch monkey".

I was amazed.

Read more here.