A Few Humble Thoughts
American Spectator,
by
Ben Stein
Original Article
Posted By: Pluperfect,
4/21/2019 5:58:49 AM
First of all, about reparations, the notion of paying money to black or partially black Americans for the enslavement of their ancestors from Africa. It’s a beguiling idea. Slavery was so hideous a crime and caused so much pain and suffering that something should be done about it. But we face a lot of problems in the concept of reparations. For one thing, there were a fair number of black people who emancipated themselves through superhumanly hard work, then used their savings to buy slaves. How do we assess their liability? For another, the conditions of slaves varied wildly.
Reply 1 - Posted by:
PChristopher 4/21/2019 6:23:48 AM (No. 40686)
Beguiling? To whom? Certainly not to me. Any sympathy I might have would be reserved for the people that actually suffered under slavery, not their progeny who comport themselves like locusts and termites.
62 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
raspberry 4/21/2019 6:45:39 AM (No. 40701)
Stein said it. Such unreal demands generate votes for Democrats. Period.
28 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
Strike3 4/21/2019 7:15:50 AM (No. 40693)
It´s the natural dream of the majority of people who find themselves at various lower levels of success to suddenly see the prospect of a truckload of free money to elevate their lifestyle out of the average to the affluent as an easy step up but it´s totally unrealistic. Educate yourself and work for it, it will come. Rage and jealousy directed towards others who have earned it will only cause hatred and racism and white man envy. So, NO, make your own danged money. This mad scheme has nothing to do with slavery and everything to do with laziness and greed.
49 people like this.
That butchers bill was paid long ago. Visit any civil war memorial and look at the pictures taken after major battles. Young dead white boys piled up in windrows like fall leaves against a fence. That war was fought to preserve the union and end slavery. It did. Enough.
64 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
MSUDoc 4/21/2019 9:38:52 AM (No. 40682)
The idea of reparations illustrates perfectly the left in general, and blacks in particular. They hate you, they believe you owe them (as they have been told by vote- and money-hustling politicians for a lifetime.
Remember when the country was sold on the idea that electing a black president would finally “unify” the country. Obviously that was a horrible lie. Once elected, it became all about “getting even,” and it has not stopped since.
46 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
jacksin5 4/21/2019 10:40:18 AM (No. 40698)
If we are to pay reparations, At least find offenses that are recent enough that there are actual living victims.
For instance the crimes of the KKK. Create a bill for reparations, and send it to the DNC.
29 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
Philipsonh 4/21/2019 10:59:02 AM (No. 40688)
Reparations to who ? A Black CEO or in upper management, making multiple times the income of an average citizen. A Black Rapper making $ millions. A Black athlete making $ Millions. A Black movie star or singer making $ Millions. or an inner city Black women with 3 children and no husband on every ´benefit´ available. Get the point. Many have already overcome thir ´past´ or have voluntarily put themselves in a position that offers them untold benefits. WHO gets the reparations when we are generations removed from the
activities. Many non-Blacks had grandparents that were subjected to horrible conditions in the U.S.and other Nations many years ago. Where do we go for our ´ reparations ´ ?
It´s all political talking points ! to elicit votes.
31 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
padiva 4/21/2019 11:00:58 AM (No. 40687)
What about the survivors of the Nazi concentration camps? Victims of the sex trade industry? Kidnapped survivors?
23 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
bigfatslob 4/21/2019 11:21:29 AM (No. 40689)
I never owned a slave and you ain´t never picked cotton on a plantation, end of argument.
Move along and on the topic of who owes whom, pay me for that cell phone you carry around, it´s mine.
32 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
Sunhan65 4/21/2019 11:33:20 AM (No. 40685)
My thoughts aren´t humble at all. I´d like to know why only black people get paid off for having been slaves. Every nationality on Earth was enslaved at some point. In fact, more slaves were taken to Africa from the Indo-European peninsula than were ever taken from it.
I saw slaves in Africa with my own eyes. When do they get paid? And who will pay them when there are no deep white pockets around to blackmail for crimes that they themselves did not commit?
And since when do we prosecute intergenerational guilt? Does that mean I can charge OJ´s kids with Nicole Brown Simpson´s murder?
Black Americans don´t need reparations. They need families who raise children who don´t want reparations and demand no charity from others.
34 people like this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
Safari Man 4/21/2019 12:00:16 PM (No. 40699)
The only reparations I support are repatriations.
27 people like this.
Reply 12 - Posted by:
wsdiego 4/21/2019 12:56:04 PM (No. 40691)
The majority of Southerners were poor back woods subsistence framers! They were to poor to own slaves!
24 people like this.
Reply 13 - Posted by:
seesfarwoman 4/21/2019 2:17:20 PM (No. 40683)
#4 is correct. Our ancestors paid reparations with their blood and with their lives. In today´s US, it is as if the Civil War never happened and slavery still exists today.
21 people like this.
Reply 14 - Posted by:
udanja99 4/22/2019 8:23:11 AM (No. 40696)
Not just the Civil War dead; we have also paid in cold hard cash - to the tune of $23 TRILLION. Enough already!
19 people like this.
Reply 15 - Posted by:
Krause 4/22/2019 9:00:15 AM (No. 40684)
Slavery has been around for hundreds, and maybe thousands of years, and was brought to this new country by European founders. Yet, less than 100 years after it’s founding steps were taken to eliminate it. I think it’s something this country should be proud of.
15 people like this.
Reply 16 - Posted by:
BeatleJeff 4/22/2019 9:17:13 AM (No. 40702)
People with no experience handling money who come into a sudden windfall tend to run through it rather quickly. Most of any monies paid for reparations would be quickly squandered, then we´d be right back at square one. Then what would the Rats promise next?
13 people like this.
Reply 17 - Posted by:
bgarrett 4/22/2019 9:17:57 AM (No. 40703)
The first negro slave sold in North America was bought by another negro. The man who owned the most slaves in Louisiana was a negro. Only 7% of Americans owned a slave. My ancestors came to America after slavery ended. Explain to me why I have to pay reparations. Should Obama´s white half be forced to pay his black half?
21 people like this.
Chappel has the best skit on Reparations. One black guy goes out and buys a whole semi of cigarettes! LOL
10 people like this.
Reply 19 - Posted by:
starboard 4/22/2019 9:46:46 AM (No. 40690)
The Democrats are losing the Black vote. Reparations is their desperate way of trying to herd them back to their plantation of empty promises.
13 people like this.
Reply 20 - Posted by:
felixcat 4/22/2019 10:14:12 AM (No. 40697)
It´s just sad, but not unexpected, that the Dem Party believes that they can still get Blacks to vote for them by trying to buy them off. Doesn´t say much about the majority of black voters in this country. Then again, they always fall for the Dem hack trying to talk black to them.
11 people like this.
Reply 21 - Posted by:
little guy 4/22/2019 12:58:43 PM (No. 40694)
If anyone "owes" anyone anything, it´s the Democrat party! They formed slavery, ran slave states, started the Civil War, instituted Jim Crow and Black Codes (one-eighth black and you couldn´t hold public office), etc.
As soon as I get my reparations from the British for screwing my Irish ancestors and also from the Italians for torturing dad´s side by feeding them to lions, I´ll gladly share my new found wealth with anyone still alive who can prove that they were personally chained up as a slave in America back before Lincoln.
16 people like this.
Reply 22 - Posted by:
coldoc 4/22/2019 1:56:29 PM (No. 40681)
I believe reparations, in many instances would be prudent. The form of payment I of which I would approve is in the form of a one way ticket to their "homeland".
12 people like this.
Reply 23 - Posted by:
dman 4/22/2019 3:01:36 PM (No. 40680)
While Stein is not incorrect, the larger point cannot be missed:
"Slavery" versus "Liberty" relate to what is between one´s ears.
If your well-being depends on others, you are a "Slave". Period. If only someone [or government] would do something for you or give you something, then you will be "free". Then there will be "Justice".
On the other hand, if you simply accept that there is no "Justice" in this world of sin, that "Heaven" will arrive only on the Creator´s timetable, and you must be self-reliant and muscle through until that Great Day: there is "Liberty".
Others cannot "give" you liberty. You must seize it for yourself in this imperfect world - or remain enslaved.
As pointed out in our Declaration: it is not just your right - it is your duty to yourself and your posterity.
6 people like this.
If we agreed to reparations, a one time payment, do you think all the race hustling poverty pimp black "leaders" would agree that the issue was settled, the books closed, and that we could do away with all of the reverse discrimination laws and lawsuits when their bro´s don´t get what they want? Do away with EEOC, affirmative action, voting rights laws, all that stuff that was supposed to address the imbalance?
No, they want it both ways. They want a nice big chunk of "free" $$, and to still be able to whine and moan and demand more of this and that in atonement for our ancestors´ sins.
8 people like this.
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