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I was really excited about referencing this, until the racist part. 1921 you old dog.
by SerLava 10y ago
I was really excited about referencing this, until the racist part. 1921 you old dog.
- schoen 10y agoAlso note the original (pre-Mencken) version's reference to "merciless Indian Savages".
- grossvogel 10y agoThat section struck me like a brick when I heard them reciting the Declaration on NPR yesterday morning. Later I saw this NYT opinion piece: "Did a Fear of Slave Revolts Drive American Independence" [1]. The article doesn't quite support the sensationalist headline, but it's interesting nonetheless. [1] http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/04/opinion/did-a-fear-of-slave-revolts-drive-american-independence.html?_r=0 http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/04/opinion/did-a-fear-of-slav...
- GregBuchholz 10y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_and_Indian_War https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_and_Indian_War
- B1FF_PSUVM 10y ago> until the racist part This one? "He stirred up the Indians, and give them arms and ammunition, and told them to go to it, and they have killed men, women and children, and don't care which." That translates to "The King was protecting the Indians too much." Which was probably true.
- SerLava 10y agoThe first racist part was about South Americans and "coons".
- B1FF_PSUVM 10y agoSaw that later. Bah, the code words have now changed, the feeling is still there. When you get to call the Southern European countries literally PIGS in print, without apology or consequences ...
- azernik 10y agoWhich I think accurately preserves some of the sentiments of the original, just in more direct terms.
- scrumper 10y agoAlso the bit where he talks about "wops" and "kikes" not being able to come over when they want to. (Which, as an aside, is using epithets that Trump would likely never say out loud to express a sentiment he's actively opposed to.)
- schoen 10y agoYeah, it's interesting to see that that part is explicitly pro-immigration by the people it refers to with the slurs, and complaining that the King is keeping them out. The original: > He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands. (So the original Declaration did complain, in a fashion, that the King was obstructing immigration.)