Notable Quote - Professor Thomas Sowell - Granite Grok

Notable Quote – Professor Thomas Sowell

Quotes

Everyone hated the idea of being a slave but few had any qualms about enslaving others. Slavery was just not an issue, not even among intellectuals, much less among political leaders, until the 18th century – and then it was an issue only in Western civilization. Among those who turned against slavery in the 18th century were George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry and other American leaders. You could research all of the 18th century Africa or Asia or the Middle East without finding any comparable rejection of slavery there. But who is singled out for scathing criticism today? American leaders of the 18th century.

Deciding that slavery was wrong was much easier than deciding what to do with millions of people from another continent, of another race, and without any historical preparation for living as free citizens in a society like that of the United States, where they were 20 percent of the population.

It is clear from the private correspondence of Washington, Jefferson, and many others that their moral rejection of slavery was unambiguous, but the practical question of what to do now had them baffled. That would remain so for more than half a century.

-Professor Thomas Sowell (Ph.D., Economics)

And then we fought a war, costing over 620,000 lives, that backed up a practical answer (the Emancipation Proclamation by Lincoln) to the baffling practical question.  The answer, the only answer, was orchestrated war by two sides in which extreme violence solved a problem.

Which should be a lesson to those that lazily say that violence solves nothing. It actually solves lots of problems.

In high school, I was picked on but I let it go – too far, as I look back today.  Finally, when one of my antagonists started in on my way home from school, I decided to end it.  He thought it would be a fistfight – wrong as “victims” also get a vote in this and I was no longer willing to let him think I was his victim.

It was over rather quickly – he took a swing, I sidestepped it and slapped on a headlock.  He kept talking smack thinking he could outtalk and out-wait me.  Meanwhile, I had already moved to transition to that old-time wrestling hold – a Full Nelson.  Lifting him up into the air and tightening the hold, I just listened to him also transition – from smack talk to a crying jag. Held it for a while – and then dropped him flat on his face.  He just laid there, his crew just stood there silent.

Limited use of violence solved that problem as nobody bugged me afterward; a “look” was all it took to stop others from even thinking about it.

And now the Left, with all kinds of forms of violence (from speech to outright physical violence) directed against those that don’t share their Socialist/Statist ways, are the same as my bullies.  They believe themselves to be the bullies that can never be challenged.

Just like the Old South and the Democrats that ran it. They haven’t learned from History.

Go ahead, sport, keep thinking that.

(H/T: Instapundit)

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