[Vision2020] The crazy side of the line

[keely emerinemix]

Two points, Kai --

First, the civilizations you mentioned were not thought of as Christian 
nations, nor did they refer to themselves as such, unlike the South.

Second, the things you wrote about happened elsewhere, not in the United 
States, where "all men are created equal, endowed by their Creator with 
certain inalienable rights . . . "  -- or at lest we said so, no matter how 
little we apparently meant it in the beginning.

All history is intriguing and no more or less so because of slaveowning or 
other reprehensible practices, but "intriguing" and "respectable" are 
different characteristics, and labeling them as one or the other says 
entirely different things.

keely

From: "Kai Eiselein, LatahEagle Editor" <editor at lataheagle.com>
To: <vision2020 at moscow.com>
Subject: [Vision2020] The crazy side of the line
Date: Mon, 28 Nov 2005 17:14:50 -0800

"In response to Keely, Michael wrote: "And I'm not sure why
you should be allowed dogmatism about all the evils of the culture of the
South if I'm not allowed to think there was something respectable about it."

"Now we have finally hit on the main frickin' point. The reason we can be
dogmatic about the moral benefits of contemporary society over the
pre-Civil War south (or north, for that matter) is SLAVERY! Slavery is a
line in the sand, Michael, and you cannot justify it without standing on
the crazy side of that line."

Joe

Soooooooo, does the fact that the Greeks and Romans owned slaves make
Aristotle and Cicero preclude the fact they great philosophers?
Does the fact that slaves were used to build the great pyramids, make them
any less a wonder of engineering?
Is the history of the Toltecs, Aztecs or Mayans any less intriguing because
they, too, owned slaves?
Why does it have any bearing on the fact that Robert E. Lee was by most
accounts honest to a fault, loyal to his troops and brilliant miltary
strategist?
If slavery is the "line in the sand", perhaps all of the writings of the
ancient philosophers should not be taught. Perhaps the pyramids of Egypt and
America along with the Parthenon and the Coluseum should be razed.
There is no difference, slavery is slavery. It was and is evil in all its
forms. To hold one's banner saying "Lee was evil" while saying "Aristotle
was great" is hypocrisy.
History is written in black and white, life is lived in shades of grey.

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