Michael Medved says that slavery wasn't so bad after all. No, he really does. And not just in passing, the whole essay is an extensive apologia (NOT an apology) for slavery in the U.S.
I am appalled, but I am not surprised. If you really take the hard-core conservative position seriously then this is where you end up, back in the good old days, when family values were strong, when you could still pray in school, display the Commandments on public property, and lynch those uppity niggers.
There is no reason to believe today’s African-Americans would be better off if their ancestors had remained in Africa.
And to think that some blacks actually want reparations for slavery. Can you imagine? Those ungrateful bastards. Slavery might actually have been good for them and all they can do is complain, complain, complain. Really, we ought to just ship 'em all back to Africa, and those white liberal nigger-lovers along with 'em.
Having read the original article you linked to, I think this is one of those posts where you are true to the title of your blog, in the sense that this is indeed merely a rambling.
ReplyDeleteMichael Medved states his case reasonably and clearly, and does not suggest any of the excessive attitudes you're reading into his post. Instead, your post appears to criticize a fictionalized, grotesquely distorted version of Medved's article that appears to exists only in your mind.
I don't see Michael as saying that slavery was somehow great, I just see him as putting history into perspective to demonstrate that any calls blacks may have for reparations on grounds of slavery 200 years ago are parasitic and unjustified.
The slaves of 200 years ago are dead. If blacks today still manage to be plagued by poverty and crime, this cannot be the consequence of slavery, as slavery was abolished generations ago, and there are immigrants who have come to the United States since then as poor people and are faring better than blacks today. There's affirmative action which discriminates in favor of black people just to help them get ahead, and yet they're not managing.
There are reasons why black people find themselves in the situation they're in, but it has to do more with their choices today than with their ancestors' slavery.
Also, the average IQ of African Americans is 85. Compare the average well being of blacks with the average well being of white groups whose IQ is 85.
Michael Medved ... does not suggest any of the excessive attitudes you're reading into his post.
ReplyDeleteWow, you really drank the cool-aid this time. I'm going to have to answer this in another post. The comment box is too small to do this justice.
"and there are immigrants who have come to the United States since then as poor people and are faring better than blacks today"
ReplyDeleteDenis: Thank you, thank you, thank you for noting this.
The Chinese had it hard; where are the Chinese ghettos today? When was the list time a Pakistani crawled through your window to steal your camera? When was the last time you were mugged by a Pole or a Native American?
Ron, you're clearly a smart guy, but I think you're a little off on this one.
When was the last time you were mugged by a Pole?
ReplyDeleteWhen was the last time a Pole was enslaved? When was the last time a Pole was lynched? When was the last time a Pole was brutally murdered for whistling at a non-Pole? When was the last time a law was passed that meted out harsher punishments targeted specifically at Poles? When was the last time you passed a Pole on the street and could even tell he was a Pole?
The Chinese had it hard
To be sure, but they were never legally enslaved.