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But African slavery!
Jul. 29th, 2023 08:57 pm"Don't criticize American slavery exclusively - there was African slavery too!"
That's an argument that is pretty popular nowdays. A knee-jerk reaction is to toss it aside as classical both-side-ism (and I don't think that this reaction is a wrong one).
However, this argument deserves to be looked at more closely. Indeed, there WAS African slavery - so this argument is basically saying:
- When it comes to slavery, the United States' foundational ethics and morals were not better that the ones of African tribes and early feudal states.
Not exactly a compliment. As you keep adding context, and remember things like:
- chattel slavery,
- race as the basis for slavery,
- institutional decisions like "3/5 of a person"
- and others
...you cannot help but rephrase this conclusion:
- When it comes to slavery, the United States' foundational ethics and morals were noticeably worse that the ones of African tribes and early feudal states.
That's an argument that is pretty popular nowdays. A knee-jerk reaction is to toss it aside as classical both-side-ism (and I don't think that this reaction is a wrong one).
However, this argument deserves to be looked at more closely. Indeed, there WAS African slavery - so this argument is basically saying:
- When it comes to slavery, the United States' foundational ethics and morals were not better that the ones of African tribes and early feudal states.
Not exactly a compliment. As you keep adding context, and remember things like:
- chattel slavery,
- race as the basis for slavery,
- institutional decisions like "3/5 of a person"
- and others
...you cannot help but rephrase this conclusion:
- When it comes to slavery, the United States' foundational ethics and morals were noticeably worse that the ones of African tribes and early feudal states.