tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304928500646903522.post770626060362316221..comments2024-03-28T18:32:05.933-04:00Comments on bensozia: Haiti on the Eve of RevolutionJohnhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01037215533094998996noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304928500646903522.post-40545416827808888162021-01-05T13:28:58.371-05:002021-01-05T13:28:58.371-05:00@David
Agreed. It's far too easy, and insidio...@David<br /><br />Agreed. It's far too easy, and insidiously dangerous, to adopt a "Moral Universe" kind of argument where we ascribe fitting consequences to every human act.<br /><br />The Haitian Revolution was bloody and full of awful things, but that doesn't mean that the European powers that conspired for centuries to prevent it from recovering economically were justified in doing so. It also doesn't mean that the awfulness of the revolution itself wasn't justified, since the alternative would have been perpetuating what John admits was one of the most brutal societies ever to exist.<br /><br />If anything, I feel the Haitian Revolution emphasizes how easy it is for people to be turned against each other to maintain an unjust status quo. Every single group was trained and encouraged to hate the others, because it made it easier for the people at the top of the society to control things - right until it all fell apart. Free Blacks and mulattoes were encouraged to look down upon enslaved and African descended blacks, because that prevented a solidarity forming.<br /><br />The whites were ALWAYS a tiny minority in Haiti, and they knew that they needed the Free Blacks and the mulattoes to buy into the system of oppression - because if they instead united with the other non-whites in a single cause and purpose, the entire system would fall apart overnight. To maintain control, they had to play their "lessers" off each other, and teach some of them to view themselves as "superior" to others. It's the oldest trick in the book. Divide and conquer. And it works today.G. Verlorennoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304928500646903522.post-33157265700289290182021-01-05T13:20:49.001-05:002021-01-05T13:20:49.001-05:00"Because of disease and the brutal conditions..."Because of disease and the brutal conditions life expectancies were short for everyone, even the rich whites."<br /><br />Same was true in Virginia the first 50 years or so. Malaria, typhoid, dysentery, and brackish drinking water took their toll. For a while the colony couldn't replace the dead and dying fast enough. Shadowhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05353532874773316117noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8304928500646903522.post-46938229420431570612021-01-05T09:49:10.232-05:002021-01-05T09:49:10.232-05:00I don't think that last sentence is really tru...I don't think that last sentence is really true. In fact, in history, sometimes evil follows from evil, and sometimes there's really not much price to be paid for brutality. And sometimes there's a price to be paid for doing the right thing ("no good deed goes unpunished"). Morality is not immanent in historical consequences. Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14456987412710878404noreply@blogger.com