"...and the other warns of the dangers of building up national movements based on identity politics and bigotry."

Brilliant, as is the whole article BTW, as it applies to both sides in the current culture wars.

My fear circles around the divisive dangers of the rampant absolutism that is so readily embraced by many of today's movements.

The subsequent fallout of overt stereotypical generalizations based on race or religion or class have created a 'Reign-of-Terror' like atmosphere with many thinking people hoping for a Robespierre ending...without of course risking their own necks.

Much of the rhetoric denies the very real progress some POC have made...of course there is still a great deal more work needed...but 2021 is not 1963.

Relishing if not bathing in the victim rhetoric is so infantilizing because it denies the very resilience millions needed to rise above the often economic and therefore enduring chains of racism.

And the dialogue, if one could call it that, is so divisive that of course internal and external battle lines are being drawn with gerrymandering and restrictive voting legislation enacted in far too many 'red states' on one hand, and dehumanizing epithets such as karen or white fragility or privilege, on the other.

Relativity and context are so important, so much so that as you point out, such questions surrounding false equivalencies like the Holocaust and Slavery are inane.

But they are intoxicating knee jerk responses to the racist vitriol that often stains and blames all white people for all the evils of the world: tell that to India's Harijan or China's Uyghurs or to Myanmar's Rohingya.

But I digress, thank you for your eloquence.

On another but similar topic in case you haven't already, I just listened to an interview with Anne Applebaum, who talks about the dangers of the current mob mentality in her article:

The New Puritans - The Atlantichttps://www.theatlantic.com › archive › 2021/10 › new-...

Aug 31, 2021 — But for those whose behavior doesn't adapt fast enough to the new norms, judgment can be swift—and merciless. By Anne Applebaum.