Boy, that makes you wonder.

  • mechoman444@lemmy.world
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    14 days ago

    No one is denying that Franklin owned slaves. That is a historical fact, and I never claimed otherwise.

    The problem is that your position is not defensible because it requires pretending the rest of his life never happened. Franklin freed the people he enslaved, became president of the Pennsylvania Abolition Society, and petitioned Congress to take action against slavery. Those are documented historical facts.

    If your argument is that anyone who ever participated in an immoral institution can never later become a genuine reformer, then you’ve adopted an absurd standard that would erase countless people who recognized their wrongdoing and spent the rest of their lives trying to correct it.

    You keep repeating that Franklin benefited from slavery as though it somehow refutes the fact that he became one of America’s earliest and most influential abolitionists. It doesn’t. Those facts are not contradictory. They are precisely what makes his transformation historically significant.

    You accuse others of ignoring history while selectively discarding every fact that undermines your conclusion. That is not an argument. It is just historical cherry-picking.

    • Eheran@lemmy.world
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      14 days ago

      But he did something we know think is wrong! So he is evil!

      This is live on easy mode. Imagine living like that.

        • mechoman444@lemmy.world
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          14 days ago

          I acknowledged absolutely everything in my comment jackass. I acknowledge that Ben Franklin own slaves. I acknowledged that it is morally reprehensible for anyone to own slaves at any point in time.

          What else would you like me to acknowledge sir?

            • mechoman444@lemmy.world
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              13 days ago

              He owned slaves during a time when slavery was legal and socially accepted. Later in life, he recognized how morally wrong it was and worked to correct that mistake. That is what redemption is.

              You’re fixating on the fact that he once owned slaves as though it’s the only fact that matters. As I said before, that’s why you’re being an idiot.

              And once again, I don’t have to acknowledge established facts that weren’t even the subject of the discussion.

              You’re the one who brought it up after I quoted him, as if that alone completely discredits the quote.

              Here’s a comparison. Did you know that Barack Obama authorized more drone strikes than his predecessors and oversaw military operations that killed thousands of people in the Middle East? Did you know his administration also deported record numbers of people? He even received the Nobel Peace Prize despite those actions. Does that automatically make him a bad person? Obama is widely regarded as one of the most consequential presidents of the modern era, yet his record includes decisions that cost many lives. Do we therefore dismiss everything he ever said or did?

      • mechoman444@lemmy.world
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        14 days ago

        You’re not reading or understanding anything that I’m saying to you.

        The fact that Ben Franklin owns slaves is objective verifiable fact.

        There is no need for me to acknowledge that since I’m not contesting that point in any way.

        Moreover, I did acknowledge it in my next comment.

        Just take your bitch slap and move on.

        In fact, I’d be willing to bet you didn’t even know he was an abolitionist to start with.