The Excellent Articles Thread

[John Galt]

[exploited]

The article addresses your objection directly, which is why I'm now convinced you have yet to read it.

It is not a payout to every black person, since not every black person is a descendant of slaves. The iteration of reparations that the article specifically addresses - and links to - is for payment to be made to those who can prove lineage with a slave. It is intended to affect an increase in generational wealth by paying for the labour that was not paid for.

Describing reparations as "immoral and unjustifiable as the institution of slavery itself" is insane, my dude. Literally the most nonsensical thing you've ever said. The federal government spending money on reparations, inevitably a fraction of what it would spend on warplanes over any kind of time span, is as immoral as holding tens of thousands of human beings in captivity and forcing them to work, separating them from their families, denying them basic human rights, and beating and/or killing them? Have you absolutely lost your mind?

Furthermore, you have once again gone back to this idea that the government wasn't responsible, without addressing a single one of the points I've made. This is not a good faith discussion. This is you ranting incoherently and refusing to engage with any of my points, or the points made in the article you didn't read.

And, yes, as happens all the time, the federal government should be held responsible for the gross abuse of power and ruination of lives. This isn't a "whites versus blacks" thing, which is why you talking about how blacks enslaved blacks and whites could be enslaved is yet another completely irrational thing.

Honestly, you aren't dumb. I know for a fact you aren't dumb. And yet everything you've said about this issue is either dogshit insane, or stupid. Why? You've performed so poorly in this thread that I am now actually more convinced reparations are needed, because it is clear that Americans have absolutely not taken responsibility for these crimes, and are still denying that responsibility to this day. At least if your insane reaction is commonplace.

[Spider]

Reparations would need to be paid in large part by the governments of Britain and Spain...also France somewhat, since it was of course they who instituted slavery in North America, long before the US even existed. Portugal should pay out the nose to Brazilian descendants for their centuries of slave driving as well, but that's between Portugal and Brazil. Though I'm sure the Portuguese, as heavily invested in the slave trade as they were, should cough up some billions considering the scale of transporting they did to British America over the years.

Slavery was begun here in the 1500's by the Spanish, well before even Jamestown, which is traditionally cited as the arrival point of the first shipment of slaves. A little historical perspective is important if we're going to start forcing people to cough up for the sins of their great great etc grandfathers.

Would only be fair as well to prove genealogies on those being asked to pay. Since the vast majority of immigration to the US happened long after slavery had been abolished, it makes little sense to apply sins of the father to people who's ancestors had nothing to do with it. In order to make any sense, you'd almost have to find the people who can be shown to have descended from slave owners and levy a tax specifically against them. Or maybe because of intermarriage over the years there would need to be established tiers or percentages of liability or something?

Also, is modern Italy, Iran, and Greece for example on the hook for their ancestors' literal millennia of slave driving? Where do you even begin proving who's greatX grandpappy was enslave by who's greatx grandpappy in which millenium?

Fun mental gymnastics required, trying to make something like this in any way simple or equitable. To simply do it along racial lines is of course, outrageously and definitively racist.

I was just thinking of what the Chinese-descended branch of my family in Cali would say at being asked to pay reparations for slavery. lol. Having been very nearly enslaved themselves chiseling railroads out of mountains, that is.

[exploited]

Awwww, little bitch boy wants to give his opinion.

Unblock me little bitch boy, maybe I'll take the time to make you look like a fool.

Hard to believe you are still so bad at this after twenty years! Nothing if not consistent!

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[John Galt]

the article was trash and spider rightly pointed out some of the things it was missing: almost all slaves were imported under european rule.

[exploited]

Then the federal government can sue the Europeans to recoup their losses, as is standard practice when liability is confused or complex.

These denials of responsibility are extremely telling though.

"I freed them didn't I???" -Man complaining about being charged with kidnapping

Also, you disagreeing with the article doesn't make it trash.

[John Galt]

no the article is trash. firstly in form, it's horrendous to try and read it because it's "interactive" but whatever place i looked at it from I remember it was terrible to scroll through it but I can't even look at it again because I do not subscribe to the NYTimes. honestly that was my first clue that you were trolling with the name "excellent articles thread". but secondly, the veryu idea of reparations are trash. you're talking about people who were not themselves harmed, nor their parents, nor their parents parents suing people who didn't harm them, nor their parents, nor their parents parents. why should i (which is what it is, if we are taking tax dollars) be charged with kidnapping when i can show my entire lineage back to the 1400s at least had nothing to do with slavery?

the entire south is poor. it's not jsut black people, it's white people too. its why the "southern heritage" mythos about the confederacy exists. that's literally the only thing they can be proud of, that they stood up to washington. of course, why they did, they don't want to talk about, they want to claim it was state's rights or whatever bullshit. but the entire south is such trash that is all they can point to. maybe we should just be fixing that, fixing issues with poverty all together instead of trying to inflame racial tensions which is all reparations accomplish, putting people into groups as meaningless as skin color and doling out money based on that

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