For example, students must understand the Declaration of Independence and why it remains a seminal visionary document. But they must also be exposed to history's complexity and contradictions, including that Thomas Jefferson, while declaring all men are created equal, enslaved more than 600 people in his lifetime.No, Jefferson did not enslave anyone. He did own slaves, but they were mostly inherited, and already slaves when he inherited them.
The dictionary definition of "enslave" is as a one-time act of forcing a free person into bondage, and that is how the term has been used since 1605.
As a result of Barack Obama, George Floyd, The National Park Service, and various woke historians, terminilogy has been changed to place greater blame on White slave owners.
I asked AI whether Jefferson enslaved 600 people. Google Gemini AI said yes, based on evolved word usage by historians. Grok AI said no.
I do see moral distinctions between (1) subjugating free people into slaves; (2) the trans-atlantic slave trade; and (3) continuing to participate in an economic system that relied on slaves. Men saw these distinctions 200 years ago, as enslaving people and importing slaves were banned long before banning ownership of slaves.
Here someone on NPR says "students must understand" something that is a deliberate distortion of history. It is just more anti-White propaganda.
2 comments:
So if one substituted "owned" for "enslaved" in the last sentence quoted, presumably that would be okay. Seems a little finicky though.
There is no big deal about slavery except in the minds of people who only think about it selectively for current racial/political purposes that have little to do with the actual historical practice. If one was to actually study the practice through out human history they would discover that there is no one group or racial type that has not been enslaved, at one time or another, every racial/ethnic group has been someone else's bitch....er...property, some treated somewhat better, some far worse...so everyone living has some ancestor or other that was someone else's property. Every country in existence over a couple of hundred years old has had one form or another of COERCED UNPAID to poorly paid LABOR (i.e. slavery).
To be somewhat obnoxious, everyone in the U.K. and Canada should please shut the hell up and stop clutching their moral pearls about the United States history with slavery, as they literally have no historical grounds to stand on...considering the British have an utter class and servitude fixation fetish since time immemorial. Slavery has been practiced in various forms and flavors in England from even before the arrival of the Roman Empire, as they were very enthusiastic about finding excuses to enslave and abolish cultures of various groups of emigrants from the mainland (I'm looking at you Anglo Saxons) and very much enjoyed looking down on anyone that wasn't them (I'm looking at you Ireland and Scotland). Every English subject that wasn't at least minor nobility was technically a serf until quite recently, and a serf has no identifying differences between it and slavery, being that they are the same thing under a different label...except that serfs were SUPPOSEDLY tied to the land and had some pretense of protection from their lord, though that is arguably laughable by most historical examples of how the serfs were actually treated. Identured servants are also on the table of consideration as an only quasi form of slavery which for all intents and purposes is just slavery with a token pretense at salary (a more family friendly economically tasteful sugar coating to continue the practice). I'm also going to mention CONSCRIPTION which is an utter bullshit term used by everyone and their grandmother to gloss over enslaving someone against their will for 'super important purposes' usually pertaining to the military or navy.
In short, everyone alive in human existence is a byproduct of some kind of past slavery. If you want to use it as grounds for bitching, everyone is going to be at each other's throats until the end of time. Good luck with that.
Post a Comment