Re: Olga, Lee, and the Lurkers Miscommunicate Big Time

From: Party of Citizens (citizens@vcn.bc.ca)
Date: Sat Jul 28 2001 - 18:08:59 MDT


Can anyone confirm what one discussant on our BCPOLITICS list said last
year...That slavery in the US is not illegal, even today?
POC

On Sat, 28 Jul 2001, Lee Corbin wrote:

> > Olga writes
> >>>> Remember - whites profited from UNPAID slave
> >>>> labor for hundreds of years. When a tourist
> >>>> goes to visit the White House, it is rarely
> >>>> mentioned - if at all - that it was built
> >>>> with unpaid slave labor. How shameful - both
> >>>> this historic fact, and the fact that not
> >>>> many people are aware of this.
>
> :-) This is getting comical, the miscommunication,
> I mean! Get a load of the following:
>
> Okay, so I responded to the above with
>
> >> You are quite wrong. I don't think I've ever
> >> met anyone so ignorant of history as to be
> >> unaware of slavery.
>
> and first off, someone took this to mean that I
> denied that slavery was implemented by white people,
> or that I was defending it, or that I myself denied
> that it existed. Good grief.
>
> Now Olga comes back with
>
> > You never met anyone so ignorant of history?
> > Moi?
>
> Oh no! Even though *she* was the one to bring up
> the evils of slavery, she thinks that **I** am
> talking about *her*!? Wow! When, of course,
> I was merely responding to
>
> >>>> and the fact that not many
> >>>> people are aware of this.
>
> (because, of course, everyone does know this, i.e.,
> that "whites profited from UNPAID slave labor
> for hundreds of years"). Duh! Well what does
> slavery mean? (Gee! I hope that that isn't
> misunderstood too!) For the last #!*%$ time,
> the quoted phrase is %100 percent true (not that
> it was Olga who was doubting that I knew it, but
> I just have to protect myself from the 800 lurkers
> on this list).
>
> You think I'm exaggerating? No! She really
> concluded from the above, that I was saying that
> she was ignorant of the history (of course
> that makes zero sense, since it was she who
> described all that about who built the White
> House, etc.).
>
> She continues
>
> > Lee, dearest, do you remember just a
> > couple of days ago, when you were telling
> > me that "It really would be best for all
> > concerned to avoid personal references
> > like this.
>
> Olga, can you believe that I wasn't, really,
> really, really, wasn't referring to you???
>
> > You also wrote about the importance of
> > "confin[ing] oneself to careful argument."
> >
> > And you didn't do that, either. Dear,
> > oh dear - what am I going to do with you?
>
> Ah, but I did. You (for some unknown reason
> took personally what clearly did not apply to
> you).
>
> >You wrote:
>
> >> It's usually put forth as the reason that the
> >> Civil War was fought, "to free the slaves".
> >> Abraham Lincoln is probably best known "for
> >> freeing the slaves." Okay :-) maybe you
> >> didn't hear this growing up because you
> >> weren't here.
>
> What I meant, was literal (as usual). Namely
> that although you undoubtedly learned the
> historical facts a long time ago (or have done
> a very good job recently), you perhaps didn't
> understand that everyone learns about Abraham
> Lincoln in elementary school here. And in
> middle school. And in high school.
>
> You probably thought that this was yet another
> slam: that I was implying (I am not) that you
> simply didn't know about this period.
>
> >>> If Thomas Sowell says that racism doesn't exist in the U.S.,
> >>> he's lying ... if that's what he says ...).
> >
> >> By no means does he say such a thing!
> >
> > Lee, I didn't say Sowell says such a thing.
>
> But it's customary to clear any innocent third
> party's name in these discussions. To make it
> **perfectly** clear to any other reader the
> true nature of some prominent person's views.
>
> > That's why I wrote the word
> > "IF" up there a couple of times.
>
> Don't be so sensitive. Again, you were reading
> implications where they did not belong. I know
> exactly what "IF" means. (Maybe I should have
> said, "For your information, Thomas Sowell...
> etc.") But no, there is a way to mis-read that
> too. I give up.
>
> Lee
>
>



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