Originally Posted by
Palmetto Bug
That's the common, modern idea of how slaves were treated and I have always doubted it. I have never bought into the picture of constant whipping, beating and punishment of slaves. I am in no way trying to justify or soften the horror of men owning men but I just don't think it was normal to treat one's slave workers that way.
Slaves were considered chattel, owned similar to farm animals. Farmers don't treat real chattel that way. It isn't productive to treat animals that way and it wouldn't have been useful or productive to treat captive humans that way either, especially when they were often expected to work unsupervised, prepare food for the owners and they outnumbered the white population by a larger percentage. I have heard and read many more credible stories of almost family bonds and affection between the slaves and owners. That doesn't justify the institution of slavery by any stretch but it also isn't fair to judge others by the modern standards, especially with what are likely inaccurate portrayals of the typical interactions back when a historically accepted practice was finally waning . It is very hard for us to understand how people could have justified slavery but in the not-too-distant future, our descendants might be similarly trying to justify our current animal farming practices. Indeed, the animal rights folks are already making the argument and it seems ludicrous to many of us. Furthermore, if we discovered aliens on some newly discovered planet, would we welcome the inhabitants as equals or evaluate their usefulness as food, pets, or draft animals? If history is any indicator, we have typically gone in the order of food or fuel, draft animal, then pets. In no case have we ever elevated other creatures to our level, no matter how similar they are to us, even on our own planet.
To be fair, I am sure there were plenty of ruthless and cruel slave owners. I can only imagine some of the bosses I have worked under if they had that level of power over another human. I have no doubt that cruelty and unspeakable atrocities happened. I just don't think it was necessarily the norm.
Source and link for your stance?
Btw, you won't hear me apologize often, so you may want to put that in your sigfile. ~Mergie
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