That's the way cultural change works in America: the rest of us discard a prejudice that the Right still clings to; in the fullness of time, the Right comes around, too, deploying clever rationalizations to forget they ever bore the prejudice in the first place.
Interpretation
Cultural change often involves overcoming prevalent prejudices, which may take time for everyone to recognize and accept.
Rick Perlstein's quote highlights the process of cultural change in America, where societal prejudices are often initially resisted by conservative groups. However, over time, as society evolves, these groups often adapt and rationalize their previous beliefs, ultimately leaving behind their initial biases even if they don't acknowledge their transformation. This reflects a broader trend in which social progress can eventually lead to a collective re-evaluation of outdated views.
In practice
In a discussion about social reforms, this quote could be used to illustrate how societal norms shift over time.
History does not repeat itself. Nor does it unfold in cycles. The real future is contingent, rich beyond imagining, a perennial gobsmack, tragic and glorious in equal measure; the pundits' future, spun of 'conventional wisdom,' is only a sucker punch to that common-sense fact.
You never know when it is going to happen, when you will experience a moment that dramatically transforms your life. When you look back, often years later, you may see how a brief conversation or an insight you read somewhere, changed the entire course of your life.
Just think - guns have a constitutional amendment protecting them and women don't.
Sometimes you got to hurt something to help something. Sometimes you have to plow under one thing in order for something else to grow.
We need a fundamental change of mindset with regards to the way we speak and behave about sex and sexuality. Boys and men have a particularly critical role in this regard, changing the chauvinist and demeaning ways sexuality and women were traditionally dealt with in both our actions and speaking.
Gay TV has been immensely important in transforming American culture in a more gay-positive direction.
Politicians and lawmakers are willing to watch us take us a knee, watch us march, watch us picket and protest - and wait us out. They are willing and prepared to outlast us - and, in most cases, to do absolutely nothing about the problems we highlight and amplify.
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