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naraburns  nihil supernum  1yr ago (text post)   29600 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of February 6, 2023

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I really dislike this sort of pseudo-principled argument for directional dishonesty. Under this justification, why ought not the other side retort that slavery was a net deadweight loss, and that ADoS ought be grateful they ended up here at all, because the alternatives are death or Africa?

I really dislike this sort of pseudo-principled argument for directional dishonesty.

I'm not sure what you mean by this. I don't think people saying "Slavery built America" are deliberately being dishonest; like many political arguments it is of dubious factuality but meant to convey a sentiment (hence the serious-not-literal comparison). Specifically, it is a reaction to people who want to downplay or dismiss black history in the United States. Contra @netstack I do not think it is meant as an attack on the founding fathers; I think it is an attack on a vision of America that does not want to acknowledge black people.

Under this justification, why ought not the other side retort that slavery was a net deadweight loss, and that ADoS ought be grateful they ended up here at all, because the alternatives are death or Africa?

We're not talking about reparations (at least, I wasn't), but about recognition of the role of slavery and black people more generally in American history. Moreover, justifying an injury on the grounds that there are potential counterfactuals that are even worse is not generally considered compelling. Nobody thinks that American Jews should be grateful for pogroms because but for they would have been born in Russia.

We're not talking about reparations (at least, I wasn't)

you may not be but the culture group that this meme belongs to is not exactly shy on this position.

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