- This topic has 7 voices and 25 replies.
-
Posts
-
I think the Civil War, JFK's assassination, and Vietnam more than atoned for the sins of slavery and Jim Crow.
Just curious...what is the relation between slavery and JFK or Vietnam?
JFK was the first President to openly call for Civil Rights legislation, and Vietnam had nothing to do with slavery. I just included it as one of those historical events that served to atone for our nation's previous historical sins. Not very academic I know, just an opinion.
First we have to accept the current moralist rationale that our nations past actions were sinful in nature. A muslim with four wives is not sinning by his own code even though we in the west think it is so. By the same token, until the 1862 Emancipation Proclamation, slavery itself was legal in the US. Its morality was debated but it's legal staus was one of the main rationales for the war in the first place. I think the Sacrifice of several hundred thousand Union soldiers was all the atonement the US needed to make for slavery.The Civil Rights battles were a response to the failure to fully embrace people of color into national life. Blacks were not the only ethnic minorities discriminated against either. Everyone seems to forget the treatment of Hispanics, indians, and orientals in nineteenth century America. It is almost as though the only worthwhile sufferers are former slaves. That is one of the main reasons I think we should refuse to apologize as a society, it opens a door that we may find difficult to close.
The slave trade? Yeah, sorry about that.
Can you expand on your thoughts please? Short answers don't make for very good debate.
The slave trade? Yeah, sorry about that.
Can you expand on your thoughts please? Short answers don't make for very good debate.
I was trying to illustrate how pointless an apology is by making it short. Irony doesn't really work on the net does it.The problems with apologies for historical events are many and manifest. Who should apologise to who and for what. Should the British apologise for their role in the slave trade. And to Africa where the slaves were taken from or to Brazil, the West Indies and the US where they were taken to? And should anyone thank the British for being the first country to take positive action to halt the trade? Again, who should thank them? Where does it all end?
When Clinton went to Africa years ago the apology was just part… he made an extravagant claim about getting computers for all the children in Africa to help them catch up with the rest of the world. One of my students was flabbergasted: “They don't even have electricity and he wants to give them computers… what about schools here?” This casts a bit of light on several issues.1) Yes, the kid missed the point that not all of Africa is still in Tarzan and Jane mode...2) But Clinton missed the point that much of Africa is still far too "third world" to benefit from the technology he was offering...3) ... also that just giving them the technology isn't going to change the mind set w/in the culture.4) Yes... what about schools here? If the idea is so good why weren't we doing it?5) How does giving computers atone for something that happened 200 years ago that they were a party to as well?Just an observation based on too much classroom time. 😮
More apologies for … gonorrhoea and the Tuskegee experiment … :-http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-11457552
That is modern culture. Apologize for everything, we all know that if we say we are sorry that makes it OK right? I mean, it works in kindergarten. 😉
That is modern culture. Apologize for everything, we all know that if we say we are sorry that makes it OK right? I mean, it works in kindergarten. 😉
Indeed ! ;D
That is modern culture. Apologize for everything, we all know that if we say we are sorry that makes it OK right? I mean, it works in kindergarten. 😉
I think you should apologise for this post. After all, its not my fault we live in a blame culture.
That is modern culture. Apologize for everything, we all know that if we say we are sorry that makes it OK right? I mean, it works in kindergarten. 😉
I think you should apologise for this post. After all, its not my fault we live in a blame culture.
I would except for the fact that I don't buy into many aspects of modern culture. ;D Sometimes I feel like Vegetius must have when he warned of the decay in Roman Military methods.
