5 thoughts on “Won’t you remember the days of slavery?”
A 03-Apr-2010 e-mail response to this post: “… in regards to your latest post about slavery: what do you really know about slavery? You’re a spoiled, white male: you get everything you want.”
You are right – I know nothing about slavery and I am a spoiled, white male.
What qualifications does one need to speak/think credibly on a topic such as slavery? and what should be the qualifications of the authority that decides that this is so? and what ….
Hm, tricky this.
And surely, too, that never having lived as a minority in a lower socioeconomic class has no bearing whatsoever on knowledge of what that’s really like, and how such people see and understand the world.
And that surely, being a man doesn’t in any way interfere with one’s ability to understand what it’s like being a woman in a male-dominated society, a society at least still basically structured entirely on its being male-dominated, even though lots of people don’t believe women should be so restricted anymore.
And that being a Westerner in a first-world, industrialized country doesn’t at all have any bearing on knowledge of what it’s like in a third world country with a very non-Western culture, and that one could surely still understand how those people see and understand the world.
Surely, not being oneself disabled in any way, one could still understand what it’s like for a disabled person.
Surely, in all of these cases, one doesn’t at all need to know what it’s like being that person in order to, say, reason with them about what they should believe and what they should do, how they should see the world and how they should live their lives.
A 03-Apr-2010 e-mail response to this post: “… in regards to your latest post about slavery: what do you really know about slavery? You’re a spoiled, white male: you get everything you want.”
You are right – I know nothing about slavery and I am a spoiled, white male.
What qualifications does one need to speak/think credibly on a topic such as slavery? and what should be the qualifications of the authority that decides that this is so? and what ….
Hm, tricky this.
Surely race, spoiled, and gender have little bearing on knowledge of slavery…..
And surely, too, that never having lived as a minority in a lower socioeconomic class has no bearing whatsoever on knowledge of what that’s really like, and how such people see and understand the world.
And that surely, being a man doesn’t in any way interfere with one’s ability to understand what it’s like being a woman in a male-dominated society, a society at least still basically structured entirely on its being male-dominated, even though lots of people don’t believe women should be so restricted anymore.
And that being a Westerner in a first-world, industrialized country doesn’t at all have any bearing on knowledge of what it’s like in a third world country with a very non-Western culture, and that one could surely still understand how those people see and understand the world.
Surely, not being oneself disabled in any way, one could still understand what it’s like for a disabled person.
Surely, in all of these cases, one doesn’t at all need to know what it’s like being that person in order to, say, reason with them about what they should believe and what they should do, how they should see the world and how they should live their lives.
Where can I buy a slave this days? Please answer me – I need few to work.