Much has already been said about the new star of the left, James Talarico, Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate in Texas, and the contradictions between his radical beliefs and the moral teachings of the Christian faith he so proudly professes. Republicans and conservative commentators have been firing up attacks on this wolf in sheep’s clothing, who serves as an exemplar of what many call “the woke religion.”
Talarico’s noxious and extreme views come wrapped in ostentatious piety, making him an easy target. To Talarico, God the Father is “nonbinary,” the Incarnation justifies abortion, all religions are basically equal, and racism is the gravest sin of all. But not all racism. Whites are uniquely stained with the shame and disgrace of their ancestral guilt and ongoing latent racism, so it is permissible to hold them in contempt.
During the mad, mad summer of 2020, Talarico compared the supposed racism of whites to a deadly virus and called on others with “white skin” to stop spreading the horrible disease. It was an extraordinary choice of words in the middle of an actual pandemic. “We don’t have to be showing symptoms—like a white hood or a Confederate flag—to be contagious,” Talarico said at the time.
Very often, the self-flagellation of white liberals is dismissed as a social ritual, mere hypocrisy. Superficial displays of solidarity were widespread after George Floyd’s death, but the desire for social and professional advancement cannot explain why so many ordinary white people feel powerfully burdened by their collective past. After all, policies like DEI work to their detriment. That they are the racial group least likely to favor their own kin, or to harbor or express prejudice in any way toward others, does not seem to matter as they estimate their own virtue. The liberal whites to whom Talarico appeals are convinced, alone in the world, of their extraordinary unworthiness, iniquity, and unearned advantage.
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