"and then everyone will claim that they did oppose it and were heroes in the struggle for liberation."

The great great grandchildren of slavers say, "if I'd been around at the time, I would have denounced slavery," despite the stats which show that dissent from the norms are rare.

Oftentimes the dissenters don't arrive at dissent by accident, they arrive by questioning the legitimacy of other institutions and norms too.

This makes it more likely that the person who questions the status quo on multiple fronts is likely more correct in the long run than the person who manages to support the Status Quo at all times and all ways ( excepting of course the outrageously unjust speed limits. )

OTOH, the party who rejects EVERYTHING just because it is widely believed is just a reactionary. "The White House said that breathing is good. Therefore breathing must be bad."

But Ethan's inability to comprehend the hows and whys of previous civil rights struggles ( and only laud the results ) suggests to me that his great great grandchildren will be disclaiming his position on the AoC too.

Dante