How often has the majority been wrong? Let’s look at what the majority of people accepted ~50, ~100, and ~150 years ago that now sound staggeringly shameful.

It wasn’t much beyond 50 years ago that a majority still believed it was OK to discriminate against people based on their race, religion, or country of origin with separate schools, drinking fountains, and seating on public transportation. This legally ended in 1964 with the Civil Rights Act finally acknowledging the majority had been wrong all along and that people were in fact people irrespective of their race, religion, or country of origin. Only 50 years ago???

It was just under 100 years ago that the majority was OK with women not being able to vote. This legally ended in 1920 with the 19th Amendment finally establishing that the majority had been wrong all along and that women should have had the same voting rights bestowed on men. Only 100 years ago???

It was just over 150 years ago that the majority permitted slavery and it was legal for one human to own another. This legally ended in 1865 with the 13th Amendment finally abolishing this shockingly shameful practice. Only 150 years ago???

My conclusion? We should all be incredibly critical of societal assumptions accepted by the majority we’ll regret in 50 years.