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There is some correlation, but less than you'd think. Many of the most fiery defenses of individual liberty were written by people who simultaneously enslaved o
by lukev 6y ago
There is some correlation, but less than you'd think. Many of the most fiery defenses of individual liberty were written by people who simultaneously enslaved others.
Understanding how and why that can happen is important for historical context of these movements, and understanding what is happening in our country now.
- AnthonyMouse 6y ago> Many of the most fiery defenses of individual liberty were written by people who simultaneously enslaved others. Many of the most fiery defenses of abolition were written by people who simultaneously enslaved others, e.g. Jefferson. Something something banality of evil. You can know something is wrong, but if you're a farmer and the competing farmers are using slave labor, your primary options are to do the same thing or be uncompetitive in the market and starve to death. You can argue that they should have chosen starvation over doing the wrong thing even while pushing for the systemic change that would allow them to do the right thing without self-destruction, but that level of unpragmatic selflessness is a lot to expect from real-life imperfect humans.