By Matt HowertonWhat do the protesters across the country and the Communists in China have in common? Mike Slater has an answer: They’re both tearing down history.
“Every culture’s done this, had their version of it,” Slater said. He explained the ancient Romans’ practice of “damnatio memoriae,” which involved completely erasing the legacy of traitors.
He also highlighted the ideological similarities between today’s “cancel culture” and extremists like “Antifa” saying, “If you’re not building things, it feels really good to tear things down.”
And just in case you weren’t sufficiently uncomfortable with what’s going on, Slater used an eerily-accurate, decades-old video clip from about extremism:
“The biggest advantage of extremism is that it makes you feel good because it provides you with enemies… The great thing about having enemies is that you can pretend that all the bad-ness in the whole world is because of your enemies and all the goodness in the whole world is in you!”
But there is a redeeming quality. Slater explained this a perfect teaching moment for parents:
“We should be teaching our kids to build things because building things feels good, right? Achievement feels good. Being someone who lived a life that a society deems is worthy of building a statue to. Tearing things down shouldn’t feel good.”