Friday, December 10, 2004
The Just Plain Fucked Up Institution
Apparently, when conservative Christians express a desire to go back to the ways of the '50s, some of them mean the 1850s. While the rest of the world has come to the agreement that yeah, treating people as property to be bought and sold is kinda bad, a North Carolina school includes in its currciulum a packet that says, in effect, "Slavery was neat."
Now I'll argue that the school's rationale of offering up a counterpoint to Uncle Tom's Cabin is, while lame, a good intention. While it's not a very PC view, there were slaveowners who treated their slaves well, and allowed them to work to buy their own freedom. Still. There were many slaveowners who treated people like chattel, split up families for profit, and whipped and beat people they took on to their property. And as stated above, treating a person like something to be bought and sold is inherently despicable. No one can rationalize it. Especially not some backwards dipshit who thinks the South should rise again.
Now I'll argue that the school's rationale of offering up a counterpoint to Uncle Tom's Cabin is, while lame, a good intention. While it's not a very PC view, there were slaveowners who treated their slaves well, and allowed them to work to buy their own freedom. Still. There were many slaveowners who treated people like chattel, split up families for profit, and whipped and beat people they took on to their property. And as stated above, treating a person like something to be bought and sold is inherently despicable. No one can rationalize it. Especially not some backwards dipshit who thinks the South should rise again.
