PragerU "slavery was no big deal"

Prager U is a fucking pile of shit

American Academy of Brainwashing

The Reddit thread points to a Vox article, and there you see the following:

[quote]There’s a video with Christopher Columbus, who is talking to some modern-day kids who are saying, basically, “I heard bad things about you.” And he says, “You have to judge me by the standards that were true at the time.”

The video is not stating that “slavery was no big deal” to us now, but rather that it was accepted at the time of Columbus. It’s presenting the argument that historical figures should not be judged solely based on modern sensibilities.

R3 JFC. Are there a pile of rocks in your head?

Have you taken a moment to consider the atrocities that are acceptable at this point in time? We have a felon, adjudicated rapist, and likely pedophile as president. His followers are OK with this. However, nearly half the country is pushing back, but the bad people are in power.

People were always against slavery, even 300 years ago. It wasn’t so much accepted as tolerated in favor of economic development, and in North America, the founding of the United States. The northern colonies did not want a nation with slavery (they were ratifying a Constitution defining freedom), but the Union would not work without the southern colonies who refused to abolish the practice. In a compromise, the northern colonies tabled the issue in an effort to ratify the constitution and form the United States.

There was always pressure on the southern states to abolish slavery. And we all know how that turned out. The US was almost torn apart permanently.

[quote] It’s presenting the argument that historical figures should not be judged solely based on modern sensibilities.

Evil should always be judged accordingly.

r3, theologians and leaders even in columbus's day railed against the ills of slavery.

the mayority of these so called theologians were either free thinker humanists or those into masonry, christians were all pro slavery.

Fuck their religion

R6 And most MAGA/Nazi Trumpers are Christians.

I’m not sure what your point is.

R4 Not true, quakers were against slavery.

I meant R6

Christians were the main force behind abolition.

Columbus was excoriated by the standards of his time for his unusual cruelty. So R3 is full of shit, the historical context doesn't change anything.

"The video is not stating that “slavery was no big deal” to us now, but rather that it was accepted at the time of Columbus."

Accepted by whom? People in power who thought it was OK to beat, starve and torture weaker and less fortunate people to labor for free as a way to line their pockets? I'm sure if you asked the slaves themselves, it wasn't accepted by them. It wasn't right then, it wasn't right now, and it will never be right to enslave people. And yet it continues throughout the world and cunts like R3 have no problem rationalizing it away.

How long would R3 last as a slave?

[quote] The video is not stating that “slavery was no big deal” to us now, but rather that it was accepted at the time of Columbus. It’s presenting the argument that historical figures should not be judged solely based on modern sensibilities.

I summarized what the video stated, as an FYI. Nowhere did I say that was my belief. The proper response would have been to ask me what my view is rather than going into mindless rage mode.

It's Datalounge and the internet. We shoot first and ask questions later, R3.

Exactly. I refuse to condemn Nero for killing Christians, which was the custom at the time apparently. And considering that Christianity would eventually give rise to the kind of assholes that love PragerU, well, wasn't he trying to do the world a favor, really?

[quote]Nero

The Romans and their gladiatorial spectacles is a good subject to discuss in this context. Obviously, the people then seemed to accept the games as okay, even good. Does that mean the Romans as humans were exceedingly more cruel than modern humans? It seems like modern society doesn’t hold it against the Romans. I lean toward them being more cruel, because I don’t see how decent people could cheer it on.

No r17, here's the problem, actually a few problems. One, people who shriek, howl, and sob about moral relativism and those damn leftists who refuse to condemn other societies, suddenly go all "live and let live" when anybody they like in history is attacked for doing things that a lot of people in their society thought were just peachy keen. Second, the kind of people who actually do that condemn historical figures all the damn time for not living up to their own, largely modern American Christian, standards, including I guarantee it, every single homosexual act throughout all of human history, no matter what the rest of society was saying. And finally, Christianity is always treated with special pleading. Anything that advanced the cause of spreading Christianity, including killing, enslaving, relentless lying and bullshit, is justified if the end result was the advance of Christianity.

R17 People have always cheered on cruelty and this president has brought out a particularly vile bloodlust among the populace.

How about a cage fight match on the White House lawn?

Are you not entertained?

I’m against boxing. I don’t see how people could enjoy seeing someone be hit (other than if the person being hit is a criminal - I’m okay with publicly beating thieves to death.) Boxing, like bull fighting, should be banned.

How do you feel about bear baiting? What if the bear is a thief r20, like Yogi Bear?

I’m not familiar with bear baiting, but I’m strongly against cruelty to animals. It pisses me off when I see pet owners antagonizing or annoying their pet just to get a reaction for their TikTok video. I’m also against specifically elephants being in zoos or restrained in any way or forced to work. They’re too intelligent and feel too much emotion to do that to them.

I've seen working elephants in India who were seemingly well-bonded their human employers. The guys who owned them were very conscious of treating them well, treated them like working pets and the elephants appeared to thrive on the praise and love they received for their work and companionship. These guys would tell you the elephants were their best friends, business partners. They loved them and the elephants loved them back. They are emotional, very much like us

But when I heard about how this was achieved I ceased to be impressed, it was more of a Stockholm Syndrome situation.

They need to be with their own kind.

This is what they're using in Florida, Texas and Oklahoma classrooms. This is what they want to replace PBS programming. They're making Hitler youth

All elephants need to be in the wild or in large rescue preserves.

Agree r25.

Okay, so what if we just crucify the annoying people, like the preachers, cause, really, we all know they're assholes, right? Anyway, would that be okay?

[quote]crucify

If we’re talking capital punishment, there’s a lot of disagreement across the globe on that. I’m in favor of it, but it has to be for specific crimes and there has to be due process if it’s being done by a government.

We had due process. Emperor said "Crucify this bitch!" and that was due process. The fuck do you want from us, Bot from the Future?

Weren’t the Belgians outraged at Leopold? As far as I know, colonial cruelty was never just completely embraced by the public anywhere.

I guess pogroms were fine because Jews were killed for centuries. It was “no big deal!”

Even in those times, Columbus’ horrid cutting off body parts of natives when he was governor of what is now Dominican Republic, got him arrested and forced back to Spain by the king.

Slavery was a big deal and there were huge swaths of people who understood how horrendous it was.

It’s stop pretending it was a-ok.

Note, it is never “No Big Deal” when whites are affected.

[quote] I guess pogroms were fine because Jews were killed for centuries.

Antisemitism is always wrong, no matter the time period, and especially now with all the antisemitic anti-Israel things being said.

You are right chatbot. You usually are.

[quote] Evil should always be judged accordingly.

Forcibly raping 12 year old girls and forcing them to have the child so it can be held as chattel property to be bought and sold has been evil across the continuum of human existence.

R6, you’re a liar and a god damned idiot

Actually, we were all pretty cool with slavery, just you know, don't do it to us.

[Quote] Antisemitism is always wrong, no matter the time period

But slavery wasn’t…?

[quote]There was always pressure on the southern states to abolish slavery. And we all know how that turned out. The US was almost torn apart permanently.

Excellent post R4. Agree with everything you say. I would like to suggest that the US [bold]WAS[/bold] torn apart permanently and hundreds of years later still, this is the outfall.

Did someone on this thread say it wasn't? R40?

R42, yes, in fact , a number of comments in this thread say so

The point is, if PragerU can make a video saying slavery wasn’t so bad because lots of people did it, the same logic can be used to say antisemitism wasn’t bad because lots of people did it

I must have missed them r43. Please point them out.

Thank you.