If you’ve ever wondered why some people seem allergic to national healing, follow the incentives.
Misery has an economy.
Outrage has a payroll.
Victimhood has consultants, influencers, nonprofits, DEI departments, university bureaucracies, political campaigns, media personalities, and professional activists whose careers depend on convincing us that America’s original sins are not history—they’re yesterday’s weather report.
Welcome to the Racial Industrial Complex.
Now let’s compare that to something history conveniently forgets.
When the Spanish arrived in the Americas under Hernán Cortés and later Francisco Pizarro, the conquest wasn’t a polite disagreement over zoning permits.
Entire cities were destroyed.
The Aztec Empire collapsed after siege, warfare, and disease devastated the population. The Inca Empire was shattered after its emperor was captured, held for an enormous ransom in gold and silver, and then executed anyway. Indigenous populations were subjected to forced labor through systems such as the encomienda. Countless temples were demolished, churches built atop sacred sites, and millions died over the following century from a combination of war, famine, forced labor, and Old World diseases.
By any honest measure, it was one of history’s greatest civilizational upheavals.
And yet…
Mexico speaks Spanish.
Peru speaks Spanish.
Colombia speaks Spanish.
Argentina speaks Spanish.
The legal systems, city layouts, universities, architecture, and countless churches all trace their roots to the Spanish colonial era. Many colonial monuments still stand. Some statues have been removed in recent years, but no serious movement proposes bulldozing every cathedral, outlawing the Spanish language, or pretending four centuries never happened.
History became part of their identity—not something to be deleted every election cycle.
America, meanwhile, sometimes behaves like the ink on history never dries.
Every year, another monument.
Another mascot.
Another place name.
Another apology.
Another mandatory seminar.
Another consultant explaining that your barbecue, your vocabulary, your grandparents, and probably your Labrador Retriever are participating in “unconscious systemic bias.”
The Racial Industrial Complex doesn’t profit when neighbors reconcile.
It profits when neighbors stay suspicious.
It doesn’t sell unity.
It sells subscriptions to outrage.
The irony is almost poetic. If healing actually occurred—if Americans broadly agreed that our history includes both terrible injustices and remarkable progress—an entire ecosystem would have to find honest work.
Imagine the tragedy.
Thousands of grievance consultants forced into productive employment.
Activists having to discover hobbies.
Cable news producers covering potholes instead of outrage.
University administrators explaining why tuition still costs as much as a new pickup without another mandatory “lived experience” workshop.
Civilizations don’t become stronger by pretending they were never flawed.
But they also don’t become healthier by turning every historical scar into a fresh wound.
A scar reminds you where you’ve been.
A scab that gets ripped off every year never lets you move forward.
Perhaps that’s why some people seem determined to keep picking.
If you enjoyed this article, then please REPOST or SHARE with others; encourage them to follow AFNN. If you’d like to become a citizen contributor for AFNN, contact us at managingeditor@afnn.us Help keep us ad-free by donating here.
Substack: American Free News Network Substack
Truth Social: @AFNN_USA
Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/afnnusa
Telegram: https://t.me/joinchat/2_-GAzcXmIRjODNh
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AfnnUsa
GETTR: https://gettr.com/user/AFNN_USA
CloutHub: @AFNN_USA