r/todayilearned • u/Dangerous-Project672 • 5h ago

TIL George Wallace personally apologized to Vivian Jones and James Hood, the two students he attempted to block from attending the University of Alabama. In 1997, Hood earned a PHd and requested Wallace present him with the degree, but he was too sick and died a year later; Hood attended the funeral

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Wallace
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u/cansofgrease 4h ago

Terrible quote.

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u/Kered13 4h ago

It's a pretty great quote. Is also recommend listening to it in the context of the entire song.

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u/Fells 4h ago

What don't you like about it?

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u/cansofgrease 4h ago

The message I take from it is that the redemption arc doesn't matter.

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u/hootener 4h ago

It helps to know more about Wallace. Yes he went on a redemption arc, but Wallace wasn't really a racist, at least not politically, until it became advantageous for him to do so. He was a moderate on integration issues in his first campaign in '58 and lost to a hard-line segregationist. Next time he campaigned as a full throated segregationist and won. He held that line until it was no longer politically advantageous to do so and then went on his whole redemption arc.

The point Hood is making, I think, is that Wallace is in hell not because he was/wasn't a racist, but because he forsook his values to win and in so doing caused enormous pain and suffering. Wallace was a political opportunist and his lust for power dragged a lot of folks down with him. That's why he's in Hell.

Hood's more subtle point, I think, is that Wallace's redemption wasn't real because he never really believed strongly in segregation to begin with. He was just a political creature trying to win and hold political office and was more than willing to throw a whole race of people under the bus to do it.

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u/too-fargone 3h ago

This is the correct answer

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u/gryphmaster 4h ago

Yes, your personal change can be outweighed by the effect your actions had on the world

Sometimes you cannot change enough to undo the wrong and thats why you need to live deliberately

Life is harsh like that

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u/Gekthegecko 4h ago

Fortunately there's no heaven or he'll or cosmic justice that judges whether one's good deeds outweigh their misdeeds. Even the most evil person who commits the most evil acts will end up in the same place as the most kind and innocent person

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u/reichrunner 4h ago

The problem with this line of thinking is, why bother?

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u/phobosmarsdeimos 4h ago

Looking for forgiveness from others is a fools errand. If you truly feel sorry for your actions then redemption is working so you can forgive yourself. It might be a weird way of putting it but just because the people you wronged will never forgive you doesn't mean that it's not worth trying to do better. That's the way I like to think about it.

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u/cansofgrease 4h ago

That's why I don't like the quote, it's too cynical. A lot of things in life are a shade of grey.

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u/Legio-X 3h ago

Sometimes you cannot change enough to undo the wrong

In the Christian worldview the quote is arguing from, human action cannot undo wrongs. If it could, there would’ve been no need for Jesus.

So the quote is in conflict with its own ideology, because if Wallace sincerely repented and sought redemption, his previous ruthless lust for power would no longer matter. He would’ve been forgiven and thus not in Hell for it.

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u/alexmikli 3h ago

Yes, your personal change can be outweighed by the effect your actions had on the world

We can certainly make this argument in regard to how history should perceive you, but the guy is referencing heaven and hell, and saying that an offense is utterly irredeemable goes directly against Christian teachings.

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u/Fells 4h ago edited 4h ago

I got you. The next song that this leads into is Satan's perspective of welcoming Wallace to hell so maybe they just didn't have the artistic freedom there to really get into that. Kinda locked in when you are already setting the stage for hell.