BlackGoku03
Member
Let me tell you about it because it's been bothering me all week.
I'm a System Admin at a local hospital in SC and I got ambushed into a political conversation that ended on the subject of slavery... and I had to end it there.
So earlier this week I was ambushed by a wiring contractor here at the hospital. He busted in my office and said "Let's talk politics!" It's pretty laid back here, so talking about politics isn't frowned upon. My boss loves debating and discussing politics as does a lot of other people here.
Well, when the contractor came in to talk, I was busy working on a project. I told him as much but he said, "I have a solution for our health care problem." I rolled my eyes but I had to know what he thought. It basically boiled down to taking the taxes from home owners and flooding it into a national health care system. We argued about it for 30 minutes why this wouldn't work until his real points started coming across.
He said he honestly believes the government shouldn't mandate healthcare, but I argued that the prices of health care in the US are astronomical and most poor people and minorities needed a leg up to get the healthcare they needed. Insurance companies are in it for the money, it's a gamble for them. They need to be told to cover people who need it and not at an exorbitant price. His response is life isn't fair.
Then, out of nowhere, he started talking about slavery!
Contractor: You know, the indentured servants were slaves too. They had it pretty bad.
Me: They weren't slaves. Weren't even close.
Contractor: Are you serious? They couldn't vote, they were discriminated against, they had to do work for free.
Me: Did they breed them to make super slaves?
Contractor: Huh?
Me: Slave owners would take the biggest male slave and the biggest female slave and breed them together to make super slaves.
Contractor: (((Silence)))
My coworkers: (((silence)))
Me: Indentured servants weren't slaves. They weren't stolen from their homes. They weren't split up from their families, never to see them again. Once they served their time, they're done.
He left after that because we had a meeting. But he didn't have anything to say after that. It bothers me that people really believe this shit. They love revisionist history.
I'm one of few black people in the group by the way. So imagine how fun this is for me.
I'm a System Admin at a local hospital in SC and I got ambushed into a political conversation that ended on the subject of slavery... and I had to end it there.
So earlier this week I was ambushed by a wiring contractor here at the hospital. He busted in my office and said "Let's talk politics!" It's pretty laid back here, so talking about politics isn't frowned upon. My boss loves debating and discussing politics as does a lot of other people here.
Well, when the contractor came in to talk, I was busy working on a project. I told him as much but he said, "I have a solution for our health care problem." I rolled my eyes but I had to know what he thought. It basically boiled down to taking the taxes from home owners and flooding it into a national health care system. We argued about it for 30 minutes why this wouldn't work until his real points started coming across.
He said he honestly believes the government shouldn't mandate healthcare, but I argued that the prices of health care in the US are astronomical and most poor people and minorities needed a leg up to get the healthcare they needed. Insurance companies are in it for the money, it's a gamble for them. They need to be told to cover people who need it and not at an exorbitant price. His response is life isn't fair.
Then, out of nowhere, he started talking about slavery!
Contractor: You know, the indentured servants were slaves too. They had it pretty bad.
Me: They weren't slaves. Weren't even close.
Contractor: Are you serious? They couldn't vote, they were discriminated against, they had to do work for free.
Me: Did they breed them to make super slaves?
Contractor: Huh?
Me: Slave owners would take the biggest male slave and the biggest female slave and breed them together to make super slaves.
Contractor: (((Silence)))
My coworkers: (((silence)))
Me: Indentured servants weren't slaves. They weren't stolen from their homes. They weren't split up from their families, never to see them again. Once they served their time, they're done.
He left after that because we had a meeting. But he didn't have anything to say after that. It bothers me that people really believe this shit. They love revisionist history.
I'm one of few black people in the group by the way. So imagine how fun this is for me.