An imagined comment exchange on EA Forum in 1858 (3 years before the start of the US Civil War):
EA Forum in 1858: “My uncle has slaves— that doesn’t mean I’m bad! You’re lumping us all together.”
Abolitionist: “Are you going to oppose him?”
EAF 1858: “He’s my uncle! You’re saying it’s bad to be in my family but I can’t help it. That’s just who I am!”
Abolitionist: “You can tell him he’s wrong to have slaves and not contribute to his business. You can be part of the abolitionist movement.”
EAF 1858: “You’re so extreme and purist. How am I supposed to have the plantation-running job I want in the abolitionist movement? That’s what I trained for. That’s what my family does.”
Abolitionist: “That entire system is predicated on enslaving people to work the fields. That’s not what an ethical future for you is ever going to look like. You have a chance to free people in chains— there’s so much more honor in that.”
EAF 1858: “Maybe I would have helped you if you didn’t make me feel bad, but since you didn’t follow my plantation etiquette, in which I am a good person (and in which the right to own people is baked in), I’m going to smugly stay here.”
EAs would mostly not have been abolitionists
An imagined comment exchange on EA Forum in 1858 (3 years before the start of the US Civil War):
EA Forum in 1858: “My uncle has slaves— that doesn’t mean I’m bad! You’re lumping us all together.”
Abolitionist: “Are you going to oppose him?”
EAF 1858: “He’s my uncle! You’re saying it’s bad to be in my family but I can’t help it. That’s just who I am!”
Abolitionist: “You can tell him he’s wrong to have slaves and not contribute to his business. You can be part of the abolitionist movement.”
EAF 1858: “You’re so extreme and purist. How am I supposed to have the plantation-running job I want in the abolitionist movement? That’s what I trained for. That’s what my family does.”
Abolitionist: “That entire system is predicated on enslaving people to work the fields. That’s not what an ethical future for you is ever going to look like. You have a chance to free people in chains— there’s so much more honor in that.”
EAF 1858: “Maybe I would have helped you if you didn’t make me feel bad, but since you didn’t follow my plantation etiquette, in which I am a good person (and in which the right to own people is baked in), I’m going to smugly stay here.”
More here: https://x.com/ilex_ulmus/status/2003892377220452412?s=20