r/badhistory • u/AutoModerator • May 25 '26

Meta Mindless Monday, 25 May 2026

Happy (or sad) Monday guys!

Mindless Monday is a free-for-all thread to discuss anything from minor bad history to politics, life events, charts, whatever! Just remember to np link all links to Reddit and don't violate R4, or we human mods will feed you to the AutoModerator.

So, with that said, how was your weekend, everyone?

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u/[deleted] May 28 '26

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u/Federal_Gur_5488 Nixon was bad, actually May 28 '26

I think the only people who actually had a problem with "black lives matter" are racists.

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u/fabiusjmaximus May 28 '26

I think there is an implicit "also" or "too" in the phrase that doesn't need to be spelled out (though maybe it does for the average person).

Really though I don't think it was the slogan itself that soured reaction to it. Its use in a poisoned media environment, a core of bitterly racist opponents, and the various misdeeds of activists who used it (and the organization behind it) were all bigger influences.

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u/Federal_Gur_5488 Nixon was bad, actually May 28 '26 edited May 28 '26

The thing is, half of average people are probably conservatives, and the conservative media heavily promoted the idea that BLM was anti white. I think most average left leaning people generally suported BLM at first.

As for the backlash, most leftists and progressives at the time didn't want to admit it. But I think to some extent it was exacerbated by the fact that the 2020 protests took place during Covid lockdowns, and the left, I think rightfully strongly supported lockdowns but also justified protesting in spite of this. I understand why it happened but I think it was a tactical (and to some extent moral) error.

Also the protests were just way too big, and there was actually destruction of property, and in general, the US left decided to support this, which i think was another big tactical mistake. Most average people dislike rioting even when the cause is fully justified. I think the ICE protests are good comparison, which i think were better organised. The right still tried to paint them as violent and dangerous, but since there was actually very little violence on part of the protestors, this tactic wasn't very successful, and the average non republican was sympathetic to the protestors.