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Originally Posted by Baraka_Guru
History, art/crafts, beliefs/values, social expectations/practices, language/dialect---things like that.
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Using "history" as an example of what could help define national values in the context of your previous post :
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Correction: I find that discussions of values often occur as though people want to undo what happened in the 20th century. The call to "return to core American values" to me sound like "let's get rid of the social progressivism of the 20th century."
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the evolution of social progressivism was a reflection of national values, a call to return, would not create a condition where history would evolve differently. When there is a call to "return to core American values" it is a call to return to the core values that actually allowed for the social change that occurred in the 20th century.
Specifically for example, the core values that drove Martin Luther King during the Civil Rights Movement in the US was grounded in measuring a person by the content of character, or equal opportunity. Today civil rights leaders hold a core value of redress and equal outcomes. Given those two choices I prefer a call to the return of the core American values that drove the Civil Rights movement as exemplified by MLK, not a furthering of the current view held by many on civil rights. This defines the current value struggle in this key social issue. It is not about race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, etc. and I think the core question is misunderstood by many.