Friday, July 6, 2007
Compensation
Recently, on a message board, the issue of compensation for slavery came up. The arguement put forward was basically that, since us white folk mistreated black folk so much in the past, we should pay them now to get them back on their feet. Let me just say outright that I am violently opposed to the idea.First off, I am assuming that the money would come from the government. Demanding money from the descendents of slaveholders would not only be grotesquely unjust, but fruitless as well, since most of them have deteriorated into trailer trash by now. An irksome part of this is that they would be taking money from the same government I put my money into, and all of my ancestors came here well after the whole slavery thing was settled. I have not profited from slavery in the slightest. Of course, nomatter who my ancestors were, no white people today have gained anything directly from slavery! Why should we be the one's to pay?Some of you might be saying (I can here you from here, I really can) that while nobody today has benifited *directly*, we do in fact benifit a great deal indirectly. Well, guess what? Tough shit. I bet each and every one of us has benifited indirectly from just about everything. My last name happens to be Brunsman (or, de-Anglisized, "Brunsmann"). That means that my forebears were the servants and vassals of the Brunnen dynasty of Dukes in 10th century Saxony. Do I march up to anyone with a last name of "Brunnen" or "Bruno" and demand that they compensate me for my families hardships under their rule? Hell no!! This is a fact of life, but it is impossible to right/avenge/compensate for every wrong that has ever happened. I believe it was Gandhi who said, "An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind."Now I think I hear some of you saying that while I may not have gained anything from slavery, I am still part of a group that oppressed Africans. Again, to that I say "big deal." How about Arabs and other Africans (who are still in Africa) apologize for trading them to us in the first place? How about Mongolia apologize for crushing Asia and eastern Europe? How about Italy apologize to every European nation for the Roman Empire? How about the Moorish people apologize to Spain for trying to conquor them? None of this is going to happen, and do you know why? Because the people who did it are dead!Transfering blame from one century to the next is an act of pure ignorance, and with that mentality, one can only perpectuate hatred.
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2 comments:
The united states government is, in all theories, an "immortal" body, so at the very least, slavery should be apologized for, as it is one of the most horrible practices ever profited from.And not all "white folk" mistreated the "black folk", just the slaveholders, slaves, and the government that allowed it to occur.
Wow. It doesn't sound like we're in much dissagreement here. Sure, I'd be cool with the government apologizing for its (as an entity) previous actions... but one of the proposals that I heard was that every single white person should apologize to every single black person. It's sort of a twisty idea on the government being an immortal entity... exept replace government with white race.Also, from what I've read, slavery was not quite as bad as people think it is. Sure it's a horrible and evil idea; but on the upside, masters were required to take care of their slaves to some extent. They cost money, after all, so running them into the ground with exhaustion is not the most profitable idea. I read a short letter from a former slave-owner after his visit to a factory (I think it was a food packing plant of some sort), and he was appauled by the conditions, hours, and age of the workers! From what I remember, he was bitter that everyone looked down on him for previously owning people when there were other men who were treating their workers worse than he ever did. I'll see if I can find it sometime...
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