Pretending that one can flaunt the social mores of a community and not expect others to take offense, is the sort of material Leftist politics are made of.
** What's wrong with pointing out the obvious issues of the time? The only reason why he was hated so much is because he slept with white women. This would not have been an issue if the women were black. White men could sleep with black women and not face getting arrested or lynched back then. There's nothing leftist about that because it's TRUE. Not everything is a leftist conspiracy.
And I am not objecting to some mention of what happened. It would be impossible to make a truthful biographical picture on Johnson and ignore the subject. That is not my point. It is the phoney sanctimony; the phoney judgmental posturing by the announcers of the events. Tell what happened. There is drama enough in the story, without the sanctimony.
And I, though I have no sympathy with Johnson flaunting society, have genuine admiration for Johnson's ability. The sanctimony only tended to diminish Johnson.
William Flax