2609: Have a Pepsi and a Smile

[KOUNTRY]

Originally Posted by Curt

Only about 6% of white southerners owned slaves in the south prior to the Civil War which is part of what made so many poor white non-slave owners fighting to keep slavery around completely ridiculous. The "free" labor slave owners got made it harder for non-slave owners in the American South to make money. It would be like people making minimum wage today fighting a war so that the Kochs, Waltons and Mercers can keep their corporations.

Since slave owners made up such a small portion of Americans in the mid-19th century (1.5% of all Americans in both the North and the South owned slaves) its not a stretch to believe you could be white, have family that was here then and didn't have connection to slave ownership.

Caveats to keep from getting in trouble. No, this does not absolve the US, especially the South, of any culpability. Slavery was never a good thing and bringing people here against their will can never be justified. Reparations are still required.

This is all to say that along with slavery being a crime against humanity it was also a issue of class struggle.

If I had to guess I would guess pride was the cause. SOUTHERN PRIDE hell american pride is very real, but being around Texas and Oklahoma and Kentucky where my dads side of the family settled southern pride is huge. They don't like anyone telling them what they can and can't do. I am not giving merit to fighting and dying for something that does not effect you over pride, but I think pride is the cause of a lot of problems here now here then and everywhere in the world. Nine times out of ten you tell someone there way of doing things is shit, and they haven't came to that conclusion on there own you will get a middle finger.

[ThePinkSuperhero]

I looked up VGB, and found more info on the drain covers. What an amazing woman, to channel her grief in a way that protects other children. As a mother, I'm really touched.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EISA_Title_14:_Virginia_Graeme_Baker_Pool_and_Spa_ Safety_Act

[Enunciated Piffle]

I'm thinking about the last election. Is it possible that ALL the planets were Mercury. ALL of them in retrograde?!

I also think Mercury in Retrograde could be the new euphemism for constipation.

[Mermaid]

Originally Posted by KOUNTRY

If I had to guess I would guess pride was the cause. SOUTHERN PRIDE hell american pride is very real, but being around Texas and Oklahoma and Kentucky where my dads side of the family settled southern pride is huge. They don't like anyone telling them what they can and can't do. I am not giving merit to fighting and dying for something that does not effect you over pride, but I think pride is the cause of a lot of problems here now here then and everywhere in the world. Nine times out of ten you tell someone there way of doing things is shit, and they haven't came to that conclusion on there own you will get a middle finger.

I think two reasons.

One, although only a few wealthy southern whites owned enslaved Americans, a ton depended on the system of slavery for jobs and to keep the southern economy afloat. If you make your living being an overseer, a slave catcher, a fabric maker, a store owner, etc then your livelihood depended on free labor. Being a landowner was a sign of wealth, so i doubt most poor whites were self-sufficient farmers.

Two, if you free the enslaved Americans what makes them any different than poor whites? Now they are gonna get paid to tend the fields just like them. Nope. They couldn't have them niggers thinking they are just as good.

[Sparrow]

^this. the whole of our region made sure to keep black folk at the bottom of the totem pole. the idea that the poorest white was better than the wealthiest black wasn't an exclusively genteel viewpoint.