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Jim Burdo
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Joined: 19 April 2020
Location: United States
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Posted: 29 July 2020 at 1:07am | IP Logged | 1 post reply

 Mark Haslett wrote:
In fact, Britain moved to free the American slaves as a tactic in the war - a
move which helped enflame Revolutionary sentiment throughout the country.
The threat of ending slavery helped push America into that war, so it could win
and end this "threat".

That was a false claim from the debunked "1619 Project" that even the creator had to admit. Their own fact-checker "vigorously disputed" it, calling the Revolutionary War a primary disrupter of slavery.

As for Jefferson, he was instrumental in passage of the Northwest Ordinance of 1987, that forever outlawed slavery in the Northwest Territories, one of the most significant anti-slavery legislation.
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John Byrne
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Posted: 29 July 2020 at 5:17am | IP Logged | 2 post reply

I once heard a supposedly reasonable and mainstream Republicans talk show host explicitly argue that even taking racial injustice into account, America was overall a a better place in the Forties and Fifties, and before.

••

Sure! White men had all the power, women knew their place was in the kitchen, and those pesky black people were pretty much invisible.

Who wouldn't prefer a world like that?

[Sarcasm Off]

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Brennan Voboril
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Posted: 29 July 2020 at 5:29am | IP Logged | 3 post reply

I believe when people say life was better, in the 40s and 50s (or whatever era they pick), they mean there was less crime, less drugs, etc. 
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John Byrne
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Posted: 29 July 2020 at 5:56am | IP Logged | 4 post reply

I believe when people say life was better, in the 40s and 50s (or whatever era they pick), they mean there was less crime, less drugs, etc.

••

More like no 24 hour news cycle that had to be filled.

When local news becomes national news because CNN has time to fill, it suddenly seems like there is SO MUCH MORE bad stuff happening.

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Shawn Kane
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Posted: 29 July 2020 at 6:20am | IP Logged | 5 post reply

JB just summed my biggest problem with being able to trust the news today, even locally. My area gets most of our news from Washington D.C. based channels. A good example of how news has changed is Channel 5. When was a kid, the channel played television reruns, cartoons, and talk shows. They had news at 6 AM, 5 PM, and 10 PM. Now their news goes from 4 AM to 11 AM, 4 PM to 7 PM, and 10 to 11:30 PM. As a result, a much of their news is "fluff" and opinion based discussion. They've adopted the cable news format of 1 minute of news and 7 minutes of opinion in an 8 minute segment.

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John Byrne
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Posted: 29 July 2020 at 6:43am | IP Logged | 6 post reply

Reporters becoming PART of the story is a big problem.
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Michael Penn
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Posted: 29 July 2020 at 6:52am | IP Logged | 7 post reply

I will say that I do miss television stations signing off
for the night. Nostalgia for test patterns instead of
infommercials.
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John Byrne
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Posted: 29 July 2020 at 7:30am | IP Logged | 8 post reply

When I was five, and we got our first TV (it was my "birthday present") the broadcast day began at 4 in the afternoon and ended at, I think, 11pm.

I can remember playing with toys on the living room rug, in front of the TV, waiting for HOWDY DOODY.* That old Indian head test pattern became something of a friend!

_______________________

* There was a Canadian version, licensed, that occasionally featured William Shatner. When I asked, Bill said he had no memory of this.

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Brian Miller
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Posted: 29 July 2020 at 8:49am | IP Logged | 9 post reply

"Bill". Damn you, Byrne!
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John Byrne
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Posted: 29 July 2020 at 9:01am | IP Logged | 10 post reply

Sometimes I walk with the gods!
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Eric Sofer
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Posted: 29 July 2020 at 9:19am | IP Logged | 11 post reply

Let's remember an immortal Billy Joel lyric: "The good old days weren't always good and tomorrow ain't as bad as it seems."

Everyone loves the good ol' days... because our memories do a massive job of editing what we recall. One excellent moment (e.g., a first kiss) can change a whole span of time against that context. Or a first bike. Or the first time. Time changes everything.

======================================================

I have a little different perspective on some recent events, especially pertinent to this topic, because I was in "1776", and I played Edward Rutledge.

Now, I'm not a method actor, i.e., I didn't live as Tevye when I played him in "Fiddler on the Roof." But I try to get into a character's motivations and beliefs; I think it makes a better performance.

To say I was conflicted was an understatement. But I put my heart and soul into South Carolina's representative, and especially "The Triangle Trade" - Molasses to Rum to Slaves.

If you've not seen it, I cannot recommend it enough. But don't expect to like it. The song is utterly painful, and I learned what exquisite anguish meant every night I performed it.

I came out of it with, I think, a little deeper understanding of why the South had slaves (or why anyone had them, really.) And I came to understand how horrible it was even more deeply.

The jigsaw puzzle is a little bit clearer - and shows even more evil. BLM mattered then even more than now - and it's critical right now.
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Mark Haslett
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Posted: 29 July 2020 at 11:21am | IP Logged | 12 post reply

Jim: That was a false claim from the debunked "1619 Project"

**

Locating a dissenting opinion among historians does not make all other
opinions "false claims." Again, unless you're running an agenda. That your
chosen "fact checker" thinks the small number of freed slaves outweighs the
impact of the South joining the cause of independence does not "debunk"
anything (except, maybe, her ability to reason). Pointing out the inner conflict
of men like Jefferson does not remake the war into something it was not.

Your rush to attribute anti-slavery motives to the war not only flies in the face
of every obvious fact of the case, it smacks of trying to deny the
consequences of our nation's embrace of slavery by pretending we didn't
really mean to do it.

Andy professes suddenly to not know what he's arguing about. That I believe.
It sounds like it would apply to you as well.

Anyone who tries to assert the Revolution was fought to disrupt slavery is
engaged in fantasy and ignoring the evidence.

edit: Bothered by the insidious nature of your post, I want to rebuke your "fact
checker" with a quote from the period by Edward Rutledge, a signatory of the
Declaration of Independence and South Carolina delegate to the Continental
Congress, who said: "the British strategy of arming freed slaves tended more
effectively to work an eternal separation between Great Britain and the
colonies than any other expedient could possibly be thought of.’”

Edited by Mark Haslett on 29 July 2020 at 12:23pm
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