@PugJesus Whereas if I had a time machine I'd go far enough back to find the primordial slug that crawled out of the sea and stomp on that thing.
this post was submitted on 03 May 2026
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ShermanPosting
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Where we meme (joking in tone and detail, serious in sentiment) about General Sherman, the Civil War, and how the secesh traitors had it coming.
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No bigotry. The Union, or at least the part of the Union WE support, fought AGAINST that shite. We are anti-racist, anti-sexist, anti-homophobic, anti-transphobic, and in general anti-bigot here, even if not all the lads in Union blue uniforms were.
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No Confederate sympathizing. Anti-democratic racist slaver traitors don't deserve shit.
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"John, buddy: recruit the militia first, then make the announcement."
Lincoln was racist. I doubt the person that said the following would have done things significantly different.
I will say then that I am not, nor ever have been in favor of bringing about in any way the social and political equality of the white and black races—that I am not nor ever have been in favor of making voters or jurors of negroes, nor of qualifying them to hold office, nor to intermarry with white people; and I will say in addition to this that there is a physical difference between the white and black races which I believe will for ever forbid the two races living together on terms of social and political equality. And inasmuch as they cannot so live, while they do remain together there must be the position of superior and inferior, and I as much as any other man am in favor of having the superior position assigned to the white race.
Lincoln was also a noted politician and liar, who made contradictory statements both before and after that speech in 1858. Furthermore, Andrew Johnson was a noted reactionary even by the standards of 1865, and whose conflict with even moderates in the Republican Party was all-consuming.
Is that supposed to make me think that he would have done good? Trump is a politician and a liar, should we believe that he is going to do some great good any day now?
Fucking what.
Lincoln was also a noted politician and liar
Is that supposed to make me think that he would have done good? Trump is a politician and a liar, should we believe that he is going to do some great good any day now?
he would have done good
but the emancipation proclamation
Yes, he was against slavery but did not believe in equality. That is consistent with him being a racist, just not as racist as some people.
Not trying to justify anything here, but if anything is a constant with politicians is that lying is part of that game. I don't agree with it, but it's probably the only way to secure votes from many different types of people simultaneously. More importantly, it completely obscures any actual truth and nullifies the worst bits of most scandals. (The latter being more applicable today.)
Racism and inequality was likely common place back then. Slavery was bad, without a doubt, and being anti-slavery was an easier position to support. Racial and social equality was probably much more difficult to support and probably were still radical concepts. (I can't even imagine what it would have been like to be gay back then, which was still mostly illegal.) Media, for what it was then, could be blatantly racist and sexist. Even through the 1940's, 50's and 60's Disney was still full-bore racist and sexist. (Dumbo and Lady and the Tramp come to mind). Media, for better or for worse, shapes the views of the people.
Fast forward to today, we still have issues: Politicians still campaign on lies, racism and sexism. The bluntness of it all is just just tweaked for current times.
The meat of all of this is that I believe people haven't really changed much. Slavery is gone thankfully, and equality is more of a thing. However, we just use new words and terms for racism or suppression of the people that some believe are "less than human". Today, it's not profitable to throw around the "n word" in media these days. Back then, it was just.. normal. I suspect even more liberal papers weren't immune to talking about "the negros" as a different class of person entirely.
Banning slavery has a huge step forward, but it should have been easy to understand that complete and total integration of everyone into "normal" society was going to take a long time. Like, a fuck ton of time. Does that excuse even "moderate racism" back then? Fuck no it doesn't. Quite literally, people need to die off for some old beliefs and practices to also die off.
Times were different back then and that is about the only justification there is to be had in that regard. It wasn't right, but in context of the times, it wasn't completely wrong either. Any politician must at least seem to hold the values and beliefs of their constituents or they won't get elected. I would like to assume that post-civil was America was a truly a strange time for many people and any equality discussions were still a long way away. It was just too complicated for people to handle.
I was always taught that actions speak louder than words. Was Lincoln an anti-black racist? Maybe yes. Was he the most pro-black POTUS in history? Undeniably.