An interesting take on some elements of history,
Young-Warrior.
I don't want to say that your points are inaccurate, for the simple reason, if no other, that I wasn't there, so I can't possibly know.
However, there are other interpretations that exist and they are the ones that I've uncovered through my historical studies.
Very few 'races' are more tribally divided than those on the African continent (just look at the atrocities that go on today because of those divisions). As such, with the arrival of White Men on their shores, with much superior weaponry, some tribes took advantage of that military leverage to get rid of their enemies i.e. it wasn't fear for their own that motivated them but politics that would've been readily understood by Machiavelli.
I'm sure that some of those traders were more than unscrupulous enough to take what was offered and then
also take those who they were supposedly dealing with in a sad case of profit margin overriding morality. That's an entirely seperate moral issue, however, and there were cases where other traders were upset with those that operated in such a fashion because it 'queered the pitch' for everyone else.
As to the teaching of English to slaves, I agree that it possibly did serve to create sub-divisions within the slave population (hiearchies will grow in
any social organisation) but it was also an entirely pragmatic process. If you want someone to do something for you, it's much easier if they understand you.
Now, like I said, I'm not gainsaying the 'spin' you put on these facts, just putting an alternative view.
Likewise, to take things a step further, I'm certainly not an apologist for slavery but I do think that overlaying 21st Century, developed world, liberal sensibilities, over events that happened in what amounts to a different socio-political environment, is a mistake. It causes a great deal of ill-feeling and resentful animosity that is very misplaced because we then apply
our moral standards to a time where they
do not apply.
Just to reiterate, in case I wasn't clear enough, I, personally, think that slavery is an abhorence and I wish it were something that Western society had not partaken of.
But, in the period in which it happened, it was not widely seen to be 'wrong'. Dominant cultures had always used slaves and, at the time, it seemed like they always would. It's only the advent of the industrial revolution (and other economic pressures) that meant that the West could have an empire that didn't need slave labour to make it work.
I think that the media hasn't helped in laying to rest the spectre of racism as nothing sells a minor altercation as a news story better than the suggestion that it's racially motivated.
Likewise, the Hollywood dramatisation of the era of slavery in America has also hindered the ability of time to sooth the wounds, so to speak. Even such a good one as "Roots", based on the memories of a man whose family was part of the tale, plays up the deliberate cruelty of the White Southern Slave Owners.
The
economic reality was very different. I'm positive that there were wealthy owners who mistreated their slaves, because there are always small souls who delight in the excercise of absolute power. But most could not
afford to maltreat their labour pool - it made just as little sense as beating your draft horses so badly that they couldn't work.
Research into the actual living standards of the time shows that a significant portion of the poor, white, population was much worse off than the black slaves. Of course, they had the blessing of being 'free' ... but in their case it meant free to starve and free to die of treatable diseases or other maladies caused by the work they had to do (because their traditional niche of agricultural labour had been usurped by the slaves). True, working the cotton plantations was no picnic but it beat sleeping rough and having no food.
Anyhow, wandering off the point again - my apologies. It's typing it all into this tiny window that does it
![Embarrassed :embarrassed: :embarrassed:](/wp-content/themes/gtp16/images/smilies/redface.svg)
. Plus, there's a lot to say and, as I've pointed out in another thread today, the net doesn't lend itself to deep discourse. It tends to devolve into sound-bites and shallow 'truths', very much like politicians talking (and if there's something that history isn't, it's shallow
![Big Grin :D :D](/wp-content/themes/gtp16/images/smilies/biggrin.svg?v=3)
).
Time to eject ...