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comment by hootsbox

Why don’t I sense such animosity towards other “slave” traders that go back in history far beyond the “white guys” you allude to. Slavery has been around long before England and the US ever engaged in it to such a large degree (and it is immoral and wrong nonetheless no matter who does it). Some of the earliest were middle eastern which is neither fully “black” or “white”, and the early slave traders were black on black traders selling to the “white” guy (all guilty IMHO). Did “white” guys profit wrongly from slavery; yes, is the resounding answer. Do black guys profit today from slavery, especially in the African continent; yes, is the resounding answer. Why don’t I hear equal indignation over the cruelty, genocide, and brutality commonly practiced there? Where is the outcry from the American pundits over this as well as any wrongs that may occur on our own soil? Let’s not forget that a main proponent that helped end the slave trade in England was William Wilberforce (an English “white” guy) and the likes of John Adams (an English/American “white” guy) and a whole lot of other “white” guys and “black guys” working together to end slavery. What about all those "white" guys who died (by the thousands) bringing an end to slavery in the Civil War (every see the movie Glory)? What about all those "preachers" (the right you allude to as well) who preached against slavery to their own peril?It was also what could be considered those on the “right” (Republicans) who helped pass civil rights legislation and anti-discrimination legislation in the 1950’s and 1960’s. It was a “Republican” who issued the “Emancipation Proclamation”. So all those on the “right” are NOT those who don’t understand and don’t have a “clue” and to allude to that affect only shows one’s own bias and predisposed “judgmentalism” towards those who may differ . Mr. Prager certainly does not represent “all conservative thought” as the title tract alludes to any more than all those on the “left” are immoral or unethical (which is also not true). Bunching all those on the “right” as morons because they differ in opinion is just as mistaken as bunching all those on the “left” as morons because they differ in opinion as well. My concern, in today’s climate, is that civil discourse seems to be a disappearing art, and we seem to be devolving into a factious society where groups are pitted against groups: black against white, rich against poor, male against female, heterosexual against homosexual, young against old, left against right, etc. ad nauseam. It is the Saul Alinsky doctrine of fragmenting people into opposing factions that “war and fight” each other and demand for group rights instead of what is good for the country. We lose the art of discussion and end up with name calling and expletives, name calling and fail to explore both the symptoms (many times mistaken for the root causes) and causes, and then find solutions. It makes me wonder if we could ever arrive at a Constitution in today’s world after reading both the Federalist and Anti-Federalist positions and how they expressed their postulates. I could find just as ludicrous examples of someone on the “left” as well, but it would be a mistake to bundle them up as the whole of the “left” as the first thread title bundles the author of this article as the representative of all “conservative” thought. I heard a whole lot of complaints – not many proposals of solutions.