Quote:
Originally Posted by badrunner
Europeans do get a bad rap for slavery. You're right that it's probably an accident of history that Europeans became the most prolific slavers. But the real reason we care about the transatlantic slave trade more than say the slavery practiced by the Ottomans or the Tehuelche of Patagonia, is more immediate and present - It has had by far the biggest impact on the modern world, and it will continue to have repercussions far into the future. Our entire political culture today, with its deep divisions and acrimony reflects the far reaching legacy of slavery. Even the things we talk about daily in this forum, the growth and decline of cities, poverty, crime all bear the mark of slavery. Some want to put history in a box, bury it or pretend that there is a clean dividing line between the past (when "we could only tolerate so many blacks") and the present (when we suddenly became tolerant?). What people like jtown fail to realize about history is - we are living in it.
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I don't fail to realize that, at all. I don't know where I gave that impression? Maybe it was because I kept letting you know that your modern viewpoints and emotions shouldn't blind you to actual history? You seem hyper-focused on slavery in the Americas(well, actually just in the US) because that is what you have learned and also because as you said, we are living with the leftover impacts of that slavery. I really can't express how much I disagree with your statement, it's actually been something I've wondered about African slaves in SA or in Iraq, how are their descendants doing today? Maybe since I can only read English sources, I haven't found much information about that topic. Maybe its more hushed in those countries(SA ending slavery just in the 1960s) or maybe since Africans could better "blend" into the Arab society than in European society(based on looks alone) the issue is less important? I don't know.