Freepers defend slavery

[Charlie Brown]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1299847/posts

This link is good for some laughs

One comment:

"I don't blame people in the South for being defensive about their history. The libs want a one sided discussion and don't think anyone else has anything to contribute to the discussion."

Another:

"A stong high quality slave was an expensive asset from the perspective of the slave owner. As such a smart business man used those assets wisely in order to maximize his return in his investment. I would suspect that the treatment of slaves was in many cases proportional to their cost to the owner and this owners business acumen."

When a slave owner had particularly dangerous tasks that needed to be done, rather then risk a costly asset, he would sub contract this task out to others, who were less valuable then his own slaves. Much of this type of work fell to new immigrants, many of which were Irish, at this time.

[Deja Q]

1. Well, I wouldn't have guessed they knew how to read.

Usually the bible bangers use the Bible as a cum rag.

And, no, that's not meant to be funny. (I know, atypical for me...)

[Name removed]

33. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Swamp Rat]

35. Tick tock tick tock...

It won't be long. :)

[Kathy in Cambridge]

2. I can't go there. Will you post some of the more disgusting comments?

Thanks!

[mark414]

3. holy shit

"Here, I'll try to explain it. You see, slavery in the south was more benign that folks realize, and would have gone away within a generation or two or three, Civil War or not. Folks just needed to be more patient.

On the other hand, if the city requires a permit to add a wing to your house, or if a cop writes you a seatbelt ticket, or if the city inspector writes you a citation for the junk car in your front yard, well, those are all outrages tantamount to slavery, and cause to take up arms to overthrow the government now if not yesterday.

Does that make it clearer?"

this dude is comparing a seatbelt ticket with slavery???

[sonicx]

14. and yet i still see people say DU is part of the reason Kerry lost

but you look at Free Republic and you see the nuttiest people on the planet...and bunnypants still won.

[EstimatedProphet]

32. Hmmm...I wonder if this is part of the grand scheme

These people are clearly off their meds. You think maybe that's why they passed legislation about restricting drug access-to make it much harder for people to get the meds they need to stay sane and non-Freeper?

[bluestateguy]

4. This one is my favorite

Schools have been hiding the truth about slavery ever since the War Between the States ended. Northerners ran nearly all of the slave trading ships, while a black lady in South Carolina owned the most slaves in the country. Also, approximately 25% of free blacks in the south owned slaves, which is a higher percentage than that of whites.

5 posted on 12/12/2004 12:33:35 PM PST by skutter
< Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies [br />
That urban legendry goes right up there with the often repeated lie that "over 50,000 blacks fought for the Confederacy."

Just another bitter southerner. Bitter that THEY WERE THE FIRST AMERICANS TO LOSE A WAR!

[bvar22]

9. but certainly not the last.

[Nordic]

17. this isn't too far off the mark

actually.

Many of the larger plantations in the South were in fact owned by northerners who sorta kept it secret in their society up north. Family business, family secret, you know, they'd say they were into "agriculture" or whatever.

And there were free blacks who owned slaves, even in the South, usually in the cities.

To say 25% of free blacks in the South owned slaves is kind of silly, since there were almost no free blacks in the South. Just a few. And that number is probably way off.

I've studied slavery quite a bit. I'm fascinated by it because it's so similar to many of the problems we have today. I.E. the propaganda, the lies, that the slaveowners put out, the secrecy they had about it, the economic forces behind it, etc. etc.

[Dickie Flatt]

5. I like this one

Do they also have a booklet to explain "the other side" of the holocaust and how Auschwitz was actually more like a holiday camp?

Not a defense of slavery of course, but this seems like something I might say.

[jobycom]

10. Yeah, to give some of the Freepers due credit, a lot of them didn't

drink the koolaid on this one.

[gmoney]

6. Sail Away

Sail Away by Randy Newman

In America you'll get food to eat
Won't have to run through the jungle
And scuff up your feet
You'll just sing about Jesus and drink wine all day
It's great to be an American

Ain't no lions or tigers ain't no mamba snake
Just the sweet watermelon and the buckwheat cake
Ev'rybody is as happy as a man can be
Climb aboard little wog sail away with me

CHORUS
Sail away sail away
We will cross the mighty ocean into Charleston Bay
Sail away-sail away
We will cross the mighty ocean into Charleston Bay

In America every man is free
To take care of his home and his family
You'll be as happy as a monkey in a monkey tree
You're all gonna be an American

[RandomKoolzip]

37. I'm glad someone posted this.

In certain moods, "Sail Away" hits me like the saddest song ever written.


I wonder if these turdballs ever heard Randy Newman's song "Rednecks" before? To them, "Political Science (Let's Drop the Big One)" isn't ironic at all.

[The Traveler]

7. Slavery is abomination

regardless of what the Bible may say. It is wrong. Period. Paragraph. End of discussion.

And this is one of the few issues worth killing over.

[jobycom]

8. Damn, you could almost smell the smoke as them Freepers were

trying to think!

Funny stuff.

As someone who has studied slavery, a little, I can attest that the idea that not all slaves were mistreated is quite true, and there was certainly a bond of affection between some slaves and slaveowners, but that in no way excuses a system which did not allow those who weren't so fortunate the freedom and dignity to leave. Just because, for instance, it was rare for a slaveowner to kill his valuable piece of property, it did not make the fact that he had the right to any less reprehensible.

[mark414]

12. right on

it's also true that most southerners didn't own slaves, as they were very expensive, but that doesn't excuse shit.

the best explanation i've ever heard regarding slavery is this:

(slavery was) "a foul contagion of human nature that fostered a form of human parasitism, in which individuals and groups used intellectual and bodily powers of others to secure their own ease and pleasure, in virtue of superior power, that is recognized and sanctioned by holders and communities and assures the slave's existence as one without power, honor, and natality"

[sonicx]

11. please post more comments. i refuse to click freeper links.

[buddysmellgood]

13. That is priceless. It looks like one lone voice is making a feeble stab

at slamming the racists. Has anyone else seen the movie "The Yes Men?" It's great. In an extreme parody set up, these guys explain how the Civil War was a huge mistake because it was the least profitable war in America's history. They go on to explain that the market would have ended slavery in the United States because industry would have found it much cheaper just to set up low-wage factories in third world countries.
They basically show how slavery is alive today. We just call it cheap labor.

[Charlie Brown]

15. This post stands out:

"Why are these people driven into a frenzy by claims that slaves were treated pretty well here or there, when we've already agreed that slavery is wrong? What end is served by a refusal to acknowledge historical reality, other than demonizing the South?"

LOL!

[mark414]

16. another gem:

"Slavery was evil but most have no clue why therefore they are at risk for falling for the same evil but not in the form of slavery. (Everyone should be thinking socialism right about now)"

[Nordic]

19. what an idiot

Yeah, Canada's social system is tantamount to slavery. :eyes:

[mark414]

18. "Slavery was a Democrat institution"

"as was Jim Crow repression for the century following it.

Republicans should never let themselves be put in the position of defending the indefensible. Let Democrats defend Democrat history. We're Republicans. We are the party founded to end slavery, we ended it, and we should never apologize for it.

American conservatism isn't the traditionalist conservatism of the rest of the world, it is the simple John Lockean, Jeffersonian belief in limited government, individual liberty, individual responsibility. That is the tradition we seek to "conserve". We should never be put in the position of defending a culture that only imperfectly manifests our ideals, but understand that we are in a fight to the end to transform that culture. To defend it when it merits defending, and to transform it as it falls short.

You can tell me all day long that there were noble men who lived in the South and fought for its cause, and I will tell you that this only proves one of history's most tragic truths. The greatest evils are not committed by evil men, as we all know who they are and can defend ourselves against them. The greatest evils are committed by good men who don't see the damage they do. The greatest evils are committed by people who put clan loyalty ahead of moral right. The noble southerners who died in that war, died themselves for a cause that was not worthy of their sacrifice, and they died to defend men who were themselves not worthy.

It is true that we are talking about another time, when people did not understand things in the way they do now, and you would be right. But the fact remains that some men did understand, some men did find the courage to stand up against evil, many of these men paid the price for it, and it is these men whose lives and deaths we should celebrate.

Let Democrats defend Democrat history."

[Nordic]

Well that's a gem of wisdom hidden in there ---

<<The greatest evils are committed by people who put clan loyalty ahead of moral right>>

Yeah, no shit, that exactly describes the GOP Bush-backers today!!

[mark414]

23. ha i thought that was hilarious

that's why i put it in bold

[Nordic]

29. bold, ironic type

:)

Funny how a freeper could say something totally inadvertently true

[ThoughtCriminal]

34. He must have fallen asleep

and not noticed that ALL the Dixiecrats are Republicans now.

[Charlie Brown]

20. This one deserves its own thread:

"You call slavery unspeakably evil, yet the Bible doesn't go that far. The Bible clearly condemns witchcraft and homosexuality, but then tells masters to be good to their slaves.

If it was so unspeakably evil, why didn't it make the Top Ten list?"

[Nordic]

22. Ah yes, that's the Bible quote used back then!

to defend slavery. They'd pick it out and show that one off to rationalize what they were doing.

Right-wingers haven't changed much in the last 150 years, have they?

[mark414]

25. they used a lot from the old testament

leviticus specifically, if my memory serves me correctly

and then we got brilliance like walker's appeal shoving that shit right back in their faces

[Art_from_Ark]

40. So why were the Israelites so eager to escape from their Egyptian masters?

Or is it a matter of "owning slaves-- good; being a slave, bad"?

:crazy:

[girl gone mad]

21. Hopefully some minority freepers..

will have their eyes opened.

I wonder if Condi Rice or Colin Powell ever bother to see what the Republican minions really think about non-whites.

[Still_Loves_John]

24. I love how

Everything is black and white to them, and that liberals are working for evil with their talk about "understanding other cultures," but once you bring up the civil war they become masters of nuance and moral relativism.

[mark414]

26. couldn't have said it better

good job

[vpigrad]

27. Do farmers beat their tractors?

No, they take good care of them just as they do anything else expensive. Like all "big lies" there's a kernel of truth to the lie.

[Skittles]

28. or make them bear their children?

:puke:

freepers are truly sick bastards

[Nordic]

30. hey nothing compared to them dusky maidens who'll do what you want

simply for the price of a good meal or preferential treatment for their chilluns.

[Blue_Tires]

31. did you really expect anything less from FR???

[Undercover Owl]

36. finally found out what a freeper is

I've been on the DU for hours now (and you can see I'm a newbie). Somebody posted that any newbie was under suspicion of being a freeper. I asked what a freeper was and nobody answered me. At the time I thought, no biggie, probably means a lurker or a harmless perv or something silly.

Yikes. So that's what it means.
Have a lot of secret "Freepers" been exposed recently?

[m berst]

38. welcome to DU

"Have a lot of secret 'Freepers' been exposed recently?"

No, pay no attention to that nonsense. People use it as a way to whip up hysteria and suspicions when they are losing an argument. No "freeper" would ever be exposed by that idiocy in any case.

A smart infiltrator would go overboard with gung-ho rah rah Democrats, of course, and would easily fool everyone here if they wanted to. So I would say avoid casting suspicions on others and avoid paying attention to the insinuations and innuendo from others.

Welcome aboard.

[Undercover Owl]

39. Thanks!

I know the post wasn't specific about me, but then when nobody told me what it meant, I got a little sensitive. I wouldn't want anybody even wondering if I'm one of...THEM.
ugh!

I bet the freepers lurk A LOT, though!!! Their eyes get red and their blood pressure goes up when they read posts from all these darn liberals!

[imenja]

41. Much of that post is accurate

But what it reveals is the extent to which even free labor was degraded in a slave society. Economically minded slave owners did view bondspeople as valuable material assets, but some were sadistic. Moreover, slavery was not simply an economic institution. It's forms of exploitation were many: cultural and ideological as well as economic. Families could and were broken up at any time. Racism emerged as a fully articulated and pseudo-scientifically based ideology to justify bondage.
How strange they should feel a need to rehabilitate slavery. Anyone can take a few facts by themselves and interpret them out of context. That masters viewed slaves as a valuable commodity does not mean the institution was anything less than horrific.