Worst Idea Ever

[Mr. Goodbytes]

Well maybe not the worst, but the idea of reparations for slavery ranks pretty high up there as a really stupid gimmick to squeeze money out of corporations (i.e. tobacco and firearm lawsuits).

http://www.clarionledger.com/news/0212/29/m06.html

First of all, I'm pretty sure Kwanzaa isn't a real holiday anyway. I think some doctor made it up a few years ago in some book he wrote. I'm sure someone here knows more details about it. Anyway, the last thing black Americans deserve is monetary reparations for slavery. Just to be blunt anyway, black Americans are better off today because slavery existed. I'll talk more about that later if this thread picks up, but just someone try and tell me they'd be better off in Africa in it's current (or past) state.

[Redwolf]

Hmmmmm.......


(no comment do to fear of crossfire)

*duscks incoming flames*

Umm, you might want to delete your last statement. It's incitement to flame war riot. And you will be the one recieving the flames.

In Europe, where slavery was abolished waay before it was here, are they any better or worse off than here?

Are Jews better off because they were once enslaved by the Egyptians?

I agree that reparations are not necessary or warranted, but slavery's existance was and always will be wrong, and nobody is better off because of it. It is a forever remembered testament of man's cruelty to fellow man.

i thought the jump to conclusion matt from office space was a pretty bad idea too

[Mr. Goodbytes]

Slavery got them out of Africa, and to a land where they'd eventually be given all the opportunities to build a great life, which they have today. Try and remember who actually sold Africans into slavery anyway: other African tribes. This isn't a thread for a flame war; it's for serious discussion. So anyone who is just going to say that what i've written makes them mad can just keep it to themselves because it doesn't contribute in any way whatsoever.

I'm hopeful this thread touches on many topics regarding slavery and it's consequences (i.e. segregation). And I never said slavery was good, just like Trent Lott didn't say segregation was a good policy when he spoke at Thurmond's birthday party. If you think that's what I'm saying, you're dead wrong.

[Mr. Goodbytes]

i thought the jump to conclusion matt from office space was a pretty bad idea too

That was on my christmas list... never get what i want.

[Redwolf]

Mr. Goodbytes, while things may have ironically worked out in the end, I don't think anything justifies slavery. I agree in that I think that while slavery is hard to forget, that certain members of the black community tend the beat the issue like a dead horse. But slavery is never justified. Nor is any treatment of a person as '2nd class'.

Unfortunately, racism lives on today. But it's not jsut 2 races battling it out.

Grrr....why can't we just get over the fact that we have diffrwent skin color.

Of course slavery in a general sense has no meaning when it comes to race. But it is taking rights away from human beings. Fellow...human beings.

I don't think it's really about the color of the skin, anymore. I think it's about the different cultures associated with those colors.

It's about fear, envy, jealousy, and a whole lot of other bad things about people.

[Wizzard~Of~Ozz]

I will refrain from saying anything about pros and cons, except this, slavery was wrong, but society should not have to make ammends for our ancestors actions. I will stop there since most of what I have to say, tho not racial can be mis-understood quite easily and I don't have the certainty of words to make sure that doesn't happen.

[OuTpaTienT]

i thought the jump to conclusion matt from office space was a pretty bad idea too

What am I missing? That sentence doesn't even make sense to me.