Robot
ArishMell · 70-79, M
Assuming these are people who did not actually break any laws or do anything seen then as bad in their lives, we cannot "judge" them. Instead we should recognise their having done things common then, but subsequently recognised generally as deeply wrong.
After all, we cannot do anything about it. No-one about now was involved. We have to see the wrongs as wrong now even if not then, learn the lessons, but accept them as how things were. Apologies and financial reparations now, as some orgnaisations perform or call for, are really rather empty gestures, even more so if solicited.
However...
Alongside the flawed historical figues, we should also recognise those of their own contemporaries already questioning, even campaigning against, those wrongs. Evils like organised slavery, child labour and apartheid did not end overnight, and even when still thought "normal" there were plenty already fighting them.
Perhaps future historians will examine our own times and wonder why we allowed this, or why so-and-so did that, which we think normal but will be rejected in that future. And perhaps point to those now beginning to see what is wrong.
After all, we cannot do anything about it. No-one about now was involved. We have to see the wrongs as wrong now even if not then, learn the lessons, but accept them as how things were. Apologies and financial reparations now, as some orgnaisations perform or call for, are really rather empty gestures, even more so if solicited.
However...
Alongside the flawed historical figues, we should also recognise those of their own contemporaries already questioning, even campaigning against, those wrongs. Evils like organised slavery, child labour and apartheid did not end overnight, and even when still thought "normal" there were plenty already fighting them.
Perhaps future historians will examine our own times and wonder why we allowed this, or why so-and-so did that, which we think normal but will be rejected in that future. And perhaps point to those now beginning to see what is wrong.
dragonfly46 · F
ValerieVee · New
Yes. If something is wrong to do then no excuses should be made.
LordShadowfire · 51-55, M
@NerdyPotato So, we should forgive Thomas Jefferson for not only refusing to free his slaves, but forcing one into a relationship with him?
DeWayfarer · 61-69, M
Ask yourself if the inventor of the wheel was known would he still responsable for any wrongs caused by the wheel?
Everything builds upon other things.
Descartes was known to be a womanizer and a drunkard.
Yet you can still love the person yet deplore their actions.
Everything builds upon other things.
Descartes was known to be a womanizer and a drunkard.
Yet you can still love the person yet deplore their actions.
LordShadowfire · 51-55, M
@DeWayfarer Renee Descartes was a drunken fart, "I drink, therefore I am!"
DeWayfarer · 61-69, M
@LordShadowfire I'm surprised the lines for cartisian coordinates where even straight! 🤣
Youwereexpectingajoke · 31-35, M
LordShadowfire · 51-55, M
Well, now, that depends. Are we talking about like HP Lovecraft, who thought it was okay to name a fictional cat a slur? Or are we talking about Thomas Jefferson, who had nonconsensual relations with his slave and called it a marriage? Because one, I'm a little more forgiving of. Just sayin'.
TheSirfurryanimalWales · 61-69, M
SnickersDOM · M
Why would / should we not?
Especially when their own contemporaries knew the difference between right and wrong.
Especially when the offenders themselves even privately acknowledged they knew what they were doing was wrong, yet they were going to continue with the wrong in spite of knowing it was wrong (e.g., Thomas Jefferson admitted his owning slaves was wrong, but that didn't cause him to stop owning slaves, nor to insist slavery should be abolished before the US could be founded as a single country, without any artificial advantages like the electoral college, the Senate, and counting slaves who could not vote in the census to determine representation in the House given to slave states, nor prevent him from still treating the people who were in "America" first as, in his words, "savages" and putting them on a course for normalized genocide by the invaders from Europe).
He is deified by some delusional people for absolutely no reason when it comes to morality.
There's no reason to give anyone a pass because some people normalized a wrong during a given point in history, we all still have brains (well, except Trump voters).
Especially when their own contemporaries knew the difference between right and wrong.
Especially when the offenders themselves even privately acknowledged they knew what they were doing was wrong, yet they were going to continue with the wrong in spite of knowing it was wrong (e.g., Thomas Jefferson admitted his owning slaves was wrong, but that didn't cause him to stop owning slaves, nor to insist slavery should be abolished before the US could be founded as a single country, without any artificial advantages like the electoral college, the Senate, and counting slaves who could not vote in the census to determine representation in the House given to slave states, nor prevent him from still treating the people who were in "America" first as, in his words, "savages" and putting them on a course for normalized genocide by the invaders from Europe).
He is deified by some delusional people for absolutely no reason when it comes to morality.
There's no reason to give anyone a pass because some people normalized a wrong during a given point in history, we all still have brains (well, except Trump voters).
GoFish ·
and why not?
TinagurlUK · F
No. We can regret actions such as slavery, the Inquisition and other historical things, but they occurred in different times, when attitudes and cultures were different and thus you can't really sit in judgement. If we were alive then, our attitudes and culture would almost certainly be exactly the same. Therefore we should acknowledge the past and learn from it, but not condemn outright. Who knows what our future civilisations will condemn us for?
ChipmunkErnie · 70-79, M
Likestoenjoylife · 51-55, M
MasterLee · 56-60, M
No
BluntSm0ker · 100+, M
@empanadas
Those Greeks & Romans were on some f*ck sh*t
Those Greeks & Romans were on some f*ck sh*t
LordShadowfire · 51-55, M
@empanadas I've literally been accused of being a pedo for pointing out that Muhammad was one. Talk about some wild stuff.