Ok something about the elderly

[nadinbrzezinski]

And this goes for Helen Thomas or your really elderly neighbor...as brain cells die, and they do, people who are really old start saying things that might shock you. In a few cases it is things they believed before that they had self discipline not to say. In other cases they revert to what was (and in some places still is) common accepted belief when they were thirty.

Anybody cares to observe some of the things that were all the rage when she was young? The International Jew and the Protocols were common and top of e charts when she was thirty. No you did not have to go to gun shows or white supremacy websites to get this. Just walk into your local bookstore. What you are seeing is a reflection of this country not too long ago in historic terms.

And yes her statements were common belief oh back in the 1930s and 1940s. They went underground after the Holocaust, but they are resurfacing and becoming chic again. And I will call her an anti-Semite spouting out of the Protocols, if I ever have the chance.

[Ozymanithrax]

1. I also think that we hate complexity in individual hero's.

We want a person who we see do virtuous things to be virtuous in all things.

Helen can be a great woman who did historic things in the press corps, and still be prejudiced and spiteful in others.

And, clearly, age has decayed her faculties.

[LiberalLoner]

2. Thank you for this post! Very enlightening. It could explain

some of the racism I'm seeing coming out in the open from relatives in their 70's who never dared to say openly racist things before.

[silverweb]

4. Definitely.

I've experienced that with a relative in his late 80s, who has pretty severe vascular dementia. He was always one of the most thoughtful, gentle men you'd ever want to meet, kind to everyone.

He has been mostly cared for at home with some outside help. When introduced to a new male aide a few months ago, he was cordial and shook his hand, but the moment we were alone, he went into a tirade: "It should be whites for whites and blacks for blacks ONLY. Don't let him back in here."

I was stunned because I'd never heard him say anything remotely like this before. Then, reflecting on his family and upbringing, I realized that this was an attitude he'd been surrounded by and immersed in from a very young age. He reversed that kind of thinking as an adult, but now his dementia and irrational fears caused by his dementia have brought it back.

[truedelphi]

3. Matter of fact, the "k" word to describe

Jewish people was even printed in the letter section of Life magazine, circa 1919 to 1930.

And Life Magazine went to Germany and did this rousing full pictorial of how great life was there in 1936. Although they did have two of the fifteen pages devoted to showing some of the difficulties that the Jewish population was facing. (Signs in public parks to the effect of "No Jews allowed here." Gold Stars having to be worn," et al.)

[nadinbrzezinski]

5. It was amazing, but most modern-day

Americans do not know this. We don't teach history in this country, but that is a whole different rant...

[Blue_In_AK]

6. History and civics sadly lacking.