I hate the apology culture when a modern politician/statesman/intellectual of any kind makes a solemn speech addressing some “oppressed” “minority” and apologizes for things of the past like slavery.
I think it is silly to argue whether or not prominent figures of the past — for example, George Washington, Alexander Pushkin, Ivan Turgenev, etc. — need to be ousted from their pedestals for being slave or serf-owners.
My dear American friends, It’s funny that you need me, a Russian patriot and in many ways a Soviet person, to remind you that you owe your country to George Washington and other founding fathers (mostly also slaveowners, I guess). In the great scheme of things George Washington was a great person. And the fact that he owned slaves doesn’t mean anything or change anything. Yes, you’ve read it correctly. It doesn’t mean or change anything. Do you want to know why?
Here’s something you keep forgetting: everyone should be judged within their own historical, social, cultural, political and economic context. In that period it was fine for rich people to own slaves. Also, only the [slave]owner class was in a position to change anything, including living conditions and status of the very slaves. And some of them actually were acting. George Washington wasn’t into abolition, true, but he acted to make the USA great again independent. Nation building was his passion. Later generations of US statesmen abolished slavery. At least, on paper.
The thing is, at all times the global economy relied on slavery which I tend to define as labor for the benefit of third parties that is compensated to ensure basic survival and procreation of workers. Honestly, it still exists. I consider myself, an upper-middle class professional in Russia, a modern equivalent of a Roman peculium slave: the compensation I get does create a tiny margin, but I have zero actual power, I must be employed and I have put a huge effort into being where I am. Fortunately, I’m relatively independent, I have no debts. But I’m an exception. Overall, once you fly economy class, have a mortgage and a car or student loan, you are a slave, sorry. Yet, our lives are way better and longer than lives of slaves at sugar, cotton or coffee plantations. Things have changed a lot, let’s not whine.
Let’s consider another thing. Slaves never achieved anything in history. We remember and admire Spartacus, but he failed and perished. I have doubts that Exodus actually happened. Only upper classes made changes and moved the humanity forward. They decide whether to spend the money they were lucky to have to do good or to do bad. Some were patrons of art and artists, some wrote great books or painted themselves, some created philosophical concepts, some supported science and scientists. Even Marx needed Engels a capitalist pig who was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. Lenin’s family wasn’t poor at all. Trotskiy was born in a well-to-do rural Jewish family from modern Ukraine. Many Russian revolutionaries came from aristocratic families. Some were almost poor, but still rich and independent enough to give their children the best possible classical education. They could organize something and somebody. A simple worker could not, and still cannot organize anything because he is busy working. His life revolves around wages and hourly rates. He cannot even think of skipping his shift. It’s too much both financially and mentally.
By the way, education is another major difference between a slave and free person. Only an educated person with some spare time(!) can look around and see that a) the society is sick b) specific changes can make it better c) there are other people with similar views in the right position to make a difference.
Interestingly, modern dependent classes become less and less educated. Soon they will only get some sort of very specific training, a set of skills necessary for their narrow range of operations. Probably, training will be provided by the AI. It’s another form of dependence: ignorance. The USSR did a lot to destroy ignorance and make people more equal as Orwellian as it sounds. It was successful in many ways. Yet, the USSR is no more. The elites(!) made too many mistakes.
I’m not trying to persuade you that slavery is good. It is not. I’m not saying that the situation when only the elites can change anything is good. It sucks, actually. What I’m saying is you should judge people by what they did within the window of opportunity they had in their time. And never forget that probably you personally didn’t do even that much. You probably haven’t even tried.
“Is there anything I can condemn right now then?”, would a disappointed reader ask feeling deprived of his daily condemnation moment. Yes, sure. First and foremost, you can condemn slavery here and now. I’m far from asking too much of you and insisting that you stop being a slave. Still, you can make a proper judgement of the modern elites: do they support arts and sciences or lead us a nuclear war? Is it ok that they take 99.9% of the global income? Fight the living evil, not dead people.
Finally, there is timeless evil. Evil that is always evil, regardless of who and when you are. Humans have always condemned cruelty for the sake of cruelty or fostering of such cruelty. That’s why everybody agrees that Nero, Caligula, Leopold II, authors of the racial pseudoscience, Dr Mengele, Goebbels and Hitler were bad. Stalin wasn’t. He, just like George Washington, was a man of his time.
I kiss you Maria (sorry Ian).
»Fight the living evil, not dead people«
Well said. People love distressed people on the other side of the planet, but hate their neighbours and the people they meet daily. They condemn injustice centuries ago but are undisturbed and unwitting about current injustices.
The odd thing is that all these woke people think they are critical, but at the same time they cannot figure out context; they are ahistorical in their judgments; they lack humor; they lack self-awareness. There was an incident some years ago when the pope gave a speech and quoted an opinion from the 14th century (I think Franciscus). He was roundly condemned by many in the Muslim world who didn’t understand the difference between referring to an opinion from 600 years ago and taking those words into your mouth as your own. There is something in the current state of discourse that lacks any grounding in tangible and personal reality.