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Would we all be better off if we had never had slaves?

Would we as a country be better of if there had been no slavery here?

  • Yes

    Votes: 16 88.9%
  • No

    Votes: 2 11.1%

  • Total voters
    18
  • Poll closed .
Obama has caucasian in him, he has Kenyan in him, and if the genealogists are right then he has black slave ancestry in him. How you choose to spin that information (and we all know you will) is entirely up to you.

Cool story bro. One thing we can both be sure of, Obama has never spun that information, has he?
 
No, of course not. We have our share of welfare takers here in a county that is less than 2% black. I would venture to say many are multi generational as well. But for as good as they have it, there sure does seem to be a lot of complaining of it not being enough, and that lack of perspective of what life would be like over there doesn't help.

No, it doesn't help. While the slaves were no doubt worse off for having been captured and sold by their fellow villagers, their descendants are much better off than they would have been had they been born in one of the nations of Africa.
 
I believe we would all be better off if the notion of one person owning another had never sprung into existence anywhere on Earth ever.
 
I believe we would all be better off if the notion of one person owning another had never sprung into existence anywhere on Earth ever.

Probably so.
But, the concept has existed for thousands of years and across many different cultures.
 
Historically speaking there's really no reason why that couldn't be true. Slave owners did have sex with their slaves, so the idea that Obama could be related to slave owners is hardly crazy.

Obama's mother was white.
 
Seems I could be a descendant of slaves as well. Most of my family came from Scotland:

A famous history professor stated that history was not a science but a continuing investigation into the past; a person’s conclusion is based on their own bias. This story will offer evidence that the Alba, Scots, Irish and Pics have been the longest race held in slavery. The reader will be responsible for their own bias pertaining to White Slavery.

Faith and begorrah, I had no idea! Bring on those reparations!
 
Obama's mother was white.

...who might have been descended from black slaves in the US.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/30/us/obamas-mother-had-african-forebear-study-suggests.html?_r=1

WASHINGTON — President Obama’s biography — son of a black father from Kenya and a white mother from Kansas — has long suggested that unlike most African-Americans, his roots did not include slavery.

Now a team of genealogists is upending that thinking, saying that Mr. Obama’s mother had, in addition to her European ancestors, at least one African forebear and that the president is most likely descended from one of the first documented African slaves in the United States.

The findings are scheduled to be announced on Monday by Ancestry.com, a genealogy company based in Provo, Utah. Its team, while lacking definitive proof, said it had evidence that “strongly suggests” Mr. Obama’s family tree — on his mother’s side — stretches back nearly four centuries to a slave in colonial Virginia named John Punch.
 
No, it doesn't help. While the slaves were no doubt worse off for having been captured and sold by their fellow villagers, their descendants are much better off than they would have been had they been born in one of the nations of Africa.

And there is the point I was waiting for. For all the complaining about racism that happened someone else's lifetime ago, not even directly affecting those complaining about it, even if they are getting government checks and not working, their lives here are better than they would be in their homeland.
 
And there is the point I was waiting for. For all the complaining about racism that happened someone else's lifetime ago, not even directly affecting those complaining about it, even if they are getting government checks and not working, their lives here are better than they would be in their homeland.

Heh. That reminds me of a conversation during a barbecue a bunch of years ago. Somebody (southern accent, Confederate Flag t-shirt) said, "You know, contrary to what they say, we were pretty good to our slaves."
 
And there is the point I was waiting for. For all the complaining about racism that happened someone else's lifetime ago, not even directly affecting those complaining about it, even if they are getting government checks and not working, their lives here are better than they would be in their homeland.

Now, we're talking racism and not slavery. Institutional racism, the sort that led to segregated restrooms and blacks being required to sit at the back of the bus, was within my lifetime. Refusal to sell houses in certain neighborhoods to blacks and Hispanics happened within my lifetime. "No Japs" was within my lifetime. Racism is less overt now, but still exists, and is still a scourge on society.

And, before you bring it up, yes, I'm aware that racism is directed at whites as well and that guys like Luis Farrakhan and his ilk are still in the news from time to time. It's still racism, and still a scourge.
 
Obama's ancestors weren't slaves. His black half came from Africa.

Not sure how to answer your question. My family didn't own slaves. They were poor white immigrants.

To the second half:

If they were from the South...that doesn't mean much. It was possible to buy a slave like you buy stock now. It was also common from my understanding.
 
I find the fake southern accents very offensive. Hillary too.

Is it safe to assume you found George W. Bush's fake Texas accent offensive?
 
To the second half:

If they were from the South...that doesn't mean much. It was possible to buy a slave like you buy stock now. It was also common from my understanding.

I'm 3rd generation descended from poor German & Irish immigrants. My families didn't own slaves. Not sure what happened before they all got to the USA or what was going on in the south.
 
I'm 3rd generation descended from poor German & Irish immigrants. My families didn't own slaves. Not sure what happened before they all got to the USA or what was going on in the south.

I am descended from Germans and Irish too. But some of my family did own slaves. Some of my family from out west had Indian blood on them (not in them).
 
The poll is closed. But I definitely say yes. Hindsite is 20/20.
 
The poll is closed. But I definitely say yes. Hindsite is 20/20.

Well of course we'd be better off. I'm almost certain that the people arguing that if slavery hadn't happened then we wouldn't have the black people we have today are trolling me. Not people like me. I mean me....personally.

Look at it this way: let's say an asteroid hits the earth today, destroying 95% of life on the planet and all of civilization. However, there are a few human survivors and they go on to procreate. Would humans have been better off if the asteroid had never hit the earth? Hmmm, let me think about that for a secon--YES!!
 
Heh. That reminds me of a conversation during a barbecue a bunch of years ago. Somebody (southern accent, Confederate Flag t-shirt) said, "You know, contrary to what they say, we were pretty good to our slaves."

Its actually true. Slaves were major investments and quite expensive to own.

If you see how slaves around the world have been treated historically, and keep in mind that slaves could not be imported into the country (eventually) its correct.
 
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