6 ms·

Have we? The culture and values that built this country are stained in blood, violence, and subjugation. I feel we are actually losing the enlightenment that ca

Have we? The culture and values that built this country are stained in blood, violence, and subjugation. I feel we are actually losing the enlightenment that came afterwards and regressing back.

unnamed76ri 1y ago
The things you listed have always been with us, sure. What we’ve lost is the ability to see objective truth. And maybe people celebrated senseless killing in the past too and we just didn’t have access to their sick mentality before the internet.
- sporkxrocket 1y ago
  Mobs of white people (including children) used to gather around the town square to hang black people. They would literally have picnics while doing it. I feel like the majority of our population is historically illiterate. On the scale of senseless killings, this doesn't even rank.
  - Whoppertime 1y ago
    It wasn't just black people being lynched. The largest single mass lynching in American history was of Italians https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1891_New_Orleans_lynchings https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1891_New_Orleans_lynchings
    - sporkxrocket 1y ago
      Louisiana has a dark history. > An estimated 62–153 black men were murdered while surrendering to a mob of former Confederate soldiers and members of the Ku Klux Klan. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colfax_massacre https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colfax_massacre
      - edm0nd 1y ago
        [flagged]
  - queenkjuul 1y ago
    [flagged]
deleted 1y ago
[deleted]
maxerickson 1y ago
Jamelle Bouie wrote a piece about this, published this morning. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/10/opinion/lincoln-schmitt-trump-vance-citizenship.html https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/10/opinion/lincoln-schmitt-t...
nis0s 1y ago
This is the kind of rhetoric which seriously undermines the history of American philosophical thought. The things you mentioned are found in the history of every nation. It's important to keep track of what should be improved, while also acknowledging what worked well and why.
- mike_d 1y ago
  [flagged]
  - tomrod 1y ago
    > Fascism has never in history been stopped by scholars. It is uncomfortable to directly acknowledge "what worked well." Your comment maps precisely to: we've had zero network intrusions, why are we paying these cybersecurity professionals? So much fascism and authoritarianism was blocked since WW2 because scholars called it out early. Guess what scholars called out in the US in 2016, but most politicians put party over country? "We scaled back our cybersecurity professionals and saved a ton of budget! On an unrelated note, do we have data breach insurance?" There is certainly room to punch fascists in the face when hostilities are hot. We can't start there and remain a tolerant society dealing with the paradox of tolerance. The first steps are shunning and ceasing support, isolating the infected into appropriately deprived states of resource loss, and not political violence. There is a great case study in Daryl Davis. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daryl_Davis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daryl_Davis
    - mike_d 1y ago
      I agree that civil debate and cooler heads deterred and delayed fascism in many cases. I was referring specifically to when it has taken hold and needs to be stopped. An apt comparison would be instituting mandatory cybersecurity training for employees as a direct response to a breach. That is a great step to take post-cleanup but does basically nothing to address the issue at hand.
- halico_chops 1y ago
  [flagged]
AlexandrB 1y ago
Like every other country and ethnic group on earth. I don't understand what's so notable about American history in this regard.
- komali2 1y ago
  Well only a couple countries participated in the creation of the Atlantic slave trade, and very few in history have engaged in chattel slavery to the scale the USA did.
  - throwaway48476 1y ago
    Slavery in the USA was but a tiny fraction of contemporary slavery not to mention historical slavery.
    - komali2 1y ago
      Per capita you are wrong. The Atlantic slave trade enslaved 12 million people. An astounding volume of unique and unnecessary misery and evil.
      - throwaway48476 1y ago
        Statistically, a drop in the bucket.
  - AlexandrB 1y ago
    Seems like a very Americentric perspective. There's still plenty of chattel slavery out there right now[1]. In that respect, the idea that the US is uniquely bad is like the "evil twin" version of American exceptionalism[2]. [1] https://corpaccountabilitylab.org/calblog/2025/8/7/widespread-chattel-slavery-in-mauritania-a-wake-up-call-for-corporate-due-diligencenbsp https://corpaccountabilitylab.org/calblog/2025/8/7/widesprea... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_exceptionalism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_exceptionalism
    - 1y ago

Have we? The culture and values that built this country are stained in blood, violence, and subjugation. I feel we are actually losing the enlightenment that came afterwards and regressing back.

unnamed76ri 1y ago

The things you listed have always been with us, sure. What we’ve lost is the ability to see objective truth. And maybe people celebrated senseless killing in the past too and we just didn’t have access to their sick mentality before the internet.

sporkxrocket 1y ago
Mobs of white people (including children) used to gather around the town square to hang black people. They would literally have picnics while doing it. I feel like the majority of our population is historically illiterate. On the scale of senseless killings, this doesn't even rank.
- Whoppertime 1y ago
  It wasn't just black people being lynched. The largest single mass lynching in American history was of Italians https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1891_New_Orleans_lynchings https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1891_New_Orleans_lynchings
  - sporkxrocket 1y ago
    Louisiana has a dark history. > An estimated 62–153 black men were murdered while surrendering to a mob of former Confederate soldiers and members of the Ku Klux Klan. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colfax_massacre https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colfax_massacre
    - edm0nd 1y ago
      [flagged]
- queenkjuul 1y ago
  [flagged]

deleted 1y ago

[deleted]

maxerickson 1y ago

Jamelle Bouie wrote a piece about this, published this morning. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/10/opinion/lincoln-schmitt-trump-vance-citizenship.html https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/10/opinion/lincoln-schmitt-t...

nis0s 1y ago

This is the kind of rhetoric which seriously undermines the history of American philosophical thought. The things you mentioned are found in the history of every nation. It's important to keep track of what should be improved, while also acknowledging what worked well and why.

mike_d 1y ago
[flagged]
- tomrod 1y ago
  > Fascism has never in history been stopped by scholars. It is uncomfortable to directly acknowledge "what worked well." Your comment maps precisely to: we've had zero network intrusions, why are we paying these cybersecurity professionals? So much fascism and authoritarianism was blocked since WW2 because scholars called it out early. Guess what scholars called out in the US in 2016, but most politicians put party over country? "We scaled back our cybersecurity professionals and saved a ton of budget! On an unrelated note, do we have data breach insurance?" There is certainly room to punch fascists in the face when hostilities are hot. We can't start there and remain a tolerant society dealing with the paradox of tolerance. The first steps are shunning and ceasing support, isolating the infected into appropriately deprived states of resource loss, and not political violence. There is a great case study in Daryl Davis. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daryl_Davis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daryl_Davis
  - mike_d 1y ago
    I agree that civil debate and cooler heads deterred and delayed fascism in many cases. I was referring specifically to when it has taken hold and needs to be stopped. An apt comparison would be instituting mandatory cybersecurity training for employees as a direct response to a breach. That is a great step to take post-cleanup but does basically nothing to address the issue at hand.
halico_chops 1y ago
[flagged]

AlexandrB 1y ago

Like every other country and ethnic group on earth. I don't understand what's so notable about American history in this regard.

komali2 1y ago
Well only a couple countries participated in the creation of the Atlantic slave trade, and very few in history have engaged in chattel slavery to the scale the USA did.
- throwaway48476 1y ago
  Slavery in the USA was but a tiny fraction of contemporary slavery not to mention historical slavery.
  - komali2 1y ago
    Per capita you are wrong. The Atlantic slave trade enslaved 12 million people. An astounding volume of unique and unnecessary misery and evil.
    - throwaway48476 1y ago
      Statistically, a drop in the bucket.
- AlexandrB 1y ago
  Seems like a very Americentric perspective. There's still plenty of chattel slavery out there right now[1]. In that respect, the idea that the US is uniquely bad is like the "evil twin" version of American exceptionalism[2]. [1] https://corpaccountabilitylab.org/calblog/2025/8/7/widespread-chattel-slavery-in-mauritania-a-wake-up-call-for-corporate-due-diligencenbsp https://corpaccountabilitylab.org/calblog/2025/8/7/widesprea... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_exceptionalism https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_exceptionalism
  - 1y ago