Scrolling through Facebook, I came across an interesting comment on an article titled “Slavery Repatriations Could Carry a $17 Trillion Price Tag.”
His comment was typical of his style – to the point and with his trademark honesty:
I never owned any slaves, you never picked any cotton.
But hey, let’s actually worsen race relations by demanding whitey pay for shit that he had absolutely nothing to do with in the first place. Slavery happened. It’s inherent to mankind. African slaves were not the first nor the last group to be exploited. Deal with it.
[Clarification: Context matters, and in this case, I initially failed to provide such backstory. Walt is one of the farthest people I know from the “racist” end of the spectrum of opinion. While it may be difficult for some folks to glean that from this comment, it is equally challenging to illustrate that honesty does not always equal malice. This is sort of the point I am making and one of the bigger issues with communication these days… which, if you keep reading, is where I am going with this…]
My thoughts:
Ok… so you directly asked for my two cents on the issue of this article. The problem is not with you asking, but that of unpopular opinions being the reason for social media dogpiles.
For example: I could preemptively state my backround – biracial… black and white, NOT one or the other… which is a huge point of contention for me. I have lost track of how many times I have had to have that stupid conversation with either side; suffice to say that it has been often enough that I risk awakening the Wee Banshee with my aggressive typing…
However, to those with an agenda, that fact would not matter… or if it did, they would try to say that I am favoring/denying whichever identity they want to highlight.
I could address the atrocious rift in our society due to cultural norms, established practices, and/or the “soft racism of low expectations” that is the sweet nectar of social justice crusades; I could spend days, weeks, months, or years in backing such statements with fact upon fact upon fact…
For those who champion the cause du jour, this would not matter either – they believe what they want to believe, think what they want to think, and – most importantly – hear what they want to hear. More on this later.
Taking a look at some of the key statements from the article:
The bill was first introduced in 1989 by former Congressman John Conyers (D-MI). Conyers reintroduced the bill each year until his retirement in 2017 — and each year, the bill languished in Congress.
Wow. 2019-1989 = thirty years of this issue not really becoming a key point (with the exception of a hilarious skit by Dave Chappelle)… to include 8 years of Bill Clinton and 8 years of Barack Obama – presidents (and of a party) favored by most a large majority of minorities and social justice folks.
The bill’s focus was not to pass reparations, but to research the impact slavery had on black Americans and develop proposals for redress.
Ok, so going back to hearing what is desired.
I have studied history as a hobby and as the main focus of my degree. I do not call myself a historian… nor do I call myself an economist, sociologist, or philosopher. I jokingly refer to myself as a “vicious optimist” in that, because of all of the messed-up crap I have read about what we have done to ourselves as a species over the years, I note that we keep truckin’ along and managing to advance beyond what we once were into who we want to be. We have made huge advancements in technology, social cohesion, human rights, and overall action towards collective and individual goals. We still mess up – we always have, and when we do, we often do it big… but we still strive forward with a resilience that is commendable as much as it is sheer lunacy.
…But some folks don’t hear that. Some folks didn’t even make it this far because they were triggered and scrolled on by in a huff.
Some folks only hear what they want to hear and will vote people into power who will tell them what is needed to achieve progressively more and more power… until everyone, in unison, is saying: “That’s not how any of this works!” By then, it is too late. The power is consolidated and the ability to resist is negated.
People hear “reparations” and think of direct payments. Imagine their surprise when that monthly check they think is going to come in, doesn’t. That’s the problem with identity politics – one of them, at least… that concessions made, however justified, are never enough. We are greedy… we always want more.
…
Going through the other articles by the author, she comes across as sensationalist as best: “…cost millions,” “…financial infidelity,” “…ballooning $22 trillion national debt…” and others.
One of the debated causes of the Spanish American War at the end of the 19th century was “yellow journalism” or, plainly put, propaganda. THIS is where journalism has devolved, once again… but on a scope that Pulitzer, Hearst, Lenin, Stalin, or Goebbels never even dreamed of.
Walt, your original point was amazingly succinct: “But hey, let’s actually worsen race relations…” That has been on my mind all day, and I couldn’t agree more… because that is EXACTLY what is the most likely course of action that would follow.
Kristyn followed up with solid points as well: what percentage entitles you to repatriation? I follow this up with one of the most grating aspects of this whole identity issue – what about the “one drop rule?” By that rationale, the pool of recipients increases significantly. Or… what about the relatives of the Irish, Italian, or (as much as I hate generic terms) Asians who endured servitude in one form or another… or does it become a “who suffered more” contest?
Our history is, at times, not a proud one… but we tend to forget – or be selective in our recollection – how we have grown in spite of all the messed-up crap in our past.
Was slavery bad? Absolutely… it always has been, currently is, and always will be. However, I see the benefit of this present chaos in that it opens up the chance for dialogue… as long as people want to listen and just not be told what they are expecting to hear.
[End rant – 906 words]
Well, not really the end of the rant… because there never will be an end to the discussion of the past and what it means in the present path towards the future.
A few years ago, I wanted to address the issue of slavery as a counterpoint to the increase in interest and controversy on the topic. I never got around to it, mostly because I try to avoid topics of inflammatory nature… as well as those which, as I stated in the beginning of my response, are often shaped to fit a popular narrative. Looking at the notes for what was to be that post, my questions are simple:
How old is slavery?
Where did slaves come from?
Who sold slaves?
Who transported them?
Anyone can look up this information; with the wonders of modern technology, one can study a topic and the different perspectives and interpretations of any given point of interest (it is “Rabbit Holes” like this where I am often distracted from my own writing). However, it was a sudden realization of this which soured me on writing completing it: while people can choose to seek understanding through reading, they often chose not to.
When presented with sizeable blocks of text, we tend to skim. I catch myself doing it more than I would like to admit and there have been studies on how we process information on screens versus on paper. What draws me into what is on the screen… what keeps me reading is how I can better understand and share what views I have on a topic.
Again, does it matter to those with a different agenda or minds closed in self-contained loop of reinforcing heuristics and logic?
Nope.
I finished writing my contributions to the Facebook discussion and went back to reading and annotating two PDF reports on something interesting and familiar: Threat Posed by Electromagnetic (EMP) Attack and Report of the Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) Attack. While I am still in the process of searching for a definitive single-cost price tag of reducing our vulnerabilities of such an event happening, one thing is for certain: should repatriations and student debt forgiveness become a financial reality, would it matter if that money spent fails to protect us from such an attack happening?
A quote from “The Matrix” comes to mind:
What good is money, if your country goes bankrupt?
For further reading/consideration:
The Anthem, Football, and Observations
So, to the matter of the bandwagon of controversy, which one is it going to be? Are we living in a land of oppression, or are we living in a land where we have made progress from our tarnished history? For, in order for both of these conditions to be insisted upon as our reality is to show “behavior that does not agree with what someone claims to believe or feel.”
Martin Luther King Jr. Day – Thoughts
However, in following the media (again, traditional and social), I am starting to maintain the opinion that slavery hasn’t really gone away, it just transitioned from one form to another; instead of being physically bound, American society is being intellectually chained. Slavery for the mind, and the media has become the Master.
Today, our slavery is one of spirit and our lack of desire and ambition to be better people, free from the preconceived ideas and attitudes we are encouraged to maintain.
History is like cooking – the end result is flavored by everything added during the process. Once something is added, it can never be taken away. You can add more to counteract too much of one ‘bad’ ingredient, but that original ingredient is still there.
What truly bothers me about this whole debate was the potential of the “pendulum swing” when it comes to things like this that are so passionately viewed by some. My biggest fear in this whole mess is that some idiot, pissed that these statues and memorials were removed, will do something more violent and reprehensible in the name of this controversy.* Completely plausible, and entirely stupid, but this is how people work.
* Point of interest: this post was written on 22 May 2017… before the events in Charlottesville on 12 August 2017.
Thoughts on Charlottesville, VA
[I am] frustrated at the pliability of my fellow Americans when it comes to the subtle and insidious ways they are being shaped by a calculating media. Frustrated that people see what they want to see, and behave as if that is the absolute truth. Frustrated that the reactionary violence due to the exercise of one groups’ First Amendment rights so easily is exacerbated by media (traditional and social) abusing their First Amendment rights of the press, which turns the whole mess into… well… a mess… and a grotesque bastardization of everyone’s First Amendment right to peaceably assemble. Over a statue.
A Conversation with Curtis and Mical
I teach my son as much about history as I can… all of it. Some of it bores him, some of it perplexes him, and some of it he gets… but as long as the interpretation of every bit of history is clear and every effort is made to show how stupid and ridiculous some parts of our past has been, I can only hope that discrimination will never make sense to him and he will be able to elaborate better than I when it comes to addressing the issue when it does come up.
I cannot help but wonder if more and more people are noticing what is going on in the world – the division, the reluctance to listen, the inability – or even subtle discouragement – to critically think about the information being shared and the presentation of that information… I keep thinking to myself: “Is anyone seeing this? Does anyone care?”
Outrage.
Gullibility.
Disinformation.
Distrust.
Apathy.
…
Unfortunately, the list above may prove to be far more influential in the next major war, since they are all components of psychological warfare/information operations.
For me, national will and history could be looked at as a form of social consciousness.
A nation is a collection of individuals just as history is an aggregate of events – this much is obvious. However, they share the problems of perception and interpretation… both which mandates action. Perhaps consciousness is much bigger than is commonly thought, as it takes shape in a variety of forms – from individual initiative to collective national identity to present foreign/domestic policy to a larger understanding of the role of history’s influence in all of these aspects.
However, much like the fictional red shoes, when unregulated by wisdom and encouraged by emotion, the potential for the course established becoming one of unstoppable momentum of good intentions gone bad.
Perhaps this is what is going on in our present-day society: since anger is a relatively cheap and effective emotion to elicit, that emotion is being used to draw more eyeballs to an increasingly competitive media market or scrape up more support for one political party or another.
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