4 ms·

To be fair, I'm not entirely sure that humans shouldn't be classified as "wild animal(s)" as well if that's the case.

m463 6y ago
I have more respect for middle school principals nowadays.
Aeolun 6y ago
I guess this was true when we were still practicing slavery? The owner would be held strictly liable for slave inflicted attacks, so humans would be wild animals by that definition.
- lurquer 6y ago
  What do you mean by “we”?
  - solarengineer 6y ago
    Slave suppliers - those at the start of the chain - often sell those from their region. Across centuries, humans from all parts of the world have enslaved each other.
    - lurquer 6y ago
      An infinitesimal fraction of humans have ever owned a slave. I know how the pronoun was intended to be used, and I’m not attributing any ill-intent. It’s perfectly appropriate to use “we” when referring to humans in general; such as “back before we discovered nuclear power” or “back when we discovered antibiotics.” But, for something as recent (and ongoing) as slavery, you may want to think twice before using such a sweeping pronoun. A good portion of the US, for instance, have great-grandparents who literally fought in a war to abolish slavery. More subtly, the use of “we” seems to impute blame or responsibility on those living for actions taken by a very small group of people. It’s neither accurate nor useful.
      - Aeolun 6y ago
        > More subtly, the use of “we” seems to impute blame or responsibility on those living for actions taken by a very small group of people. It’s neither accurate nor useful. Saying that it was a very small number of people sounds a mite ridiculous to me. Multiple cultures throughout history have supported/accepted it. It is also a reminder. These weren’t storybook monsters, they were humans, and we should be reminded of that lest we regress. We’re certainly not to blame, but we are responsible for not going back there.
  - Aeolun 6y ago
    Humanity? I guess given my origins you can also read it as either country or race, but that wasn’t the intent since it isn’t that exclusive. It’s been a fairly consistent theme throughout history somewhere.

m463 6y ago

I have more respect for middle school principals nowadays.

I guess this was true when we were still practicing slavery? The owner would be held strictly liable for slave inflicted attacks, so humans would be wild animals by that definition.

lurquer 6y ago
What do you mean by “we”?
- solarengineer 6y ago
  Slave suppliers - those at the start of the chain - often sell those from their region. Across centuries, humans from all parts of the world have enslaved each other.
  - lurquer 6y ago
    An infinitesimal fraction of humans have ever owned a slave. I know how the pronoun was intended to be used, and I’m not attributing any ill-intent. It’s perfectly appropriate to use “we” when referring to humans in general; such as “back before we discovered nuclear power” or “back when we discovered antibiotics.” But, for something as recent (and ongoing) as slavery, you may want to think twice before using such a sweeping pronoun. A good portion of the US, for instance, have great-grandparents who literally fought in a war to abolish slavery. More subtly, the use of “we” seems to impute blame or responsibility on those living for actions taken by a very small group of people. It’s neither accurate nor useful.
    - Aeolun 6y ago
      > More subtly, the use of “we” seems to impute blame or responsibility on those living for actions taken by a very small group of people. It’s neither accurate nor useful. Saying that it was a very small number of people sounds a mite ridiculous to me. Multiple cultures throughout history have supported/accepted it. It is also a reminder. These weren’t storybook monsters, they were humans, and we should be reminded of that lest we regress. We’re certainly not to blame, but we are responsible for not going back there.
- Aeolun 6y ago
  Humanity? I guess given my origins you can also read it as either country or race, but that wasn’t the intent since it isn’t that exclusive. It’s been a fairly consistent theme throughout history somewhere.