From Chris Rock:
With time standing still, Rock was right. There was slavery in much of the British Colonies, and Independence Day did not end that immediately. It took about 90 years and a civil war to do that, although many slaves gained their freedom in the interim.
In 1776, most of the world was a pretty brutal place, with slavery widely practiced and not just by Europeans.
Yet time didn’t stand still.
The principles recognized in the Declaration of Independence, and then in the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights, laid the foundation for the freedoms gained by free men and women and slaves as well. Those documents stood almost alone in the world in embracing individual liberty and autonomy.
The reality of the world on July 4, 1776, or even on July 5, 1852, doesn’t change the meaning of our national Independence and its founding documents.
Those principles led over time to a country in which someone like Rock could get fabulously wealthy telling jokes and insulting people, and could get away with attacking a cameraman who asked a question Rock didn’t like:
“When you said the Tea Party was insane and racist–” he begins, before getting cut off by Rock. He then attempts the question again, but this time the comic charges back at the camera, wrestling it to the ground.
The majesty of the Declaration of Independence stands in such sharp contrast to Rock’s foul mouth:
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed….
And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
Chris, your freedom to be a jerk and blow-hard stems from that Independence Day.
You’re welcome.
DONATE
Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.
Comments
Idiot Chris forgets that there were free black men in America at the time of the Revolution, and always thereafter.
Such is education and reality in America in the Obamic post-racial nadir.
And that the slavery was part world history for thousands of years, including Africa, and that as contemptible as it was for the period of time white Europeans exploited blacks, it wasn’t invented as a white versus black thing.
I’d like to introduce Chris Rock to William Wilberforce.
Chris would say, “Who??”
http://www.macleans.ca/homepage/magazine/article.jsp?content=20070319_103231_103231
Or this guy, one of the first people killed in the run-up to the Revolution…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crispus_Attucks
There is a bigger lesson, don’t compromise your principles. When the Founding Fathers allowed slavery against what they believed, even for a good cause, it had terrible consequences which are still paying today. Luckily that mistake was rectified but at a terrible cost.
Wonder if Chris Rock has been asked how he feels about Elizabeth Warren’s Cherokee ancestors owning significant numbers of slaves?
If this historical birther had a father, he’d look like Reverend Wright.
Just another elitist entertainer whining about the injustices in America, boo hoo. Just imagine if Chris had made fun of, lets say Putin or Qadaffi while living in those respective countries. It would be pretty hard for him to complain while he is getting tortured or serving a gulag somewhere in Siberia.
Chris bragged to the audience one time about how wealthy he was. He then commented even though he was that wealthy, would any white guy trade places with him. If it means getting in the sack with a bunch of hot babes Chris, I’m sure there is.
Chris Rock , Alex Baldwin , Barak Obama. Same father , differant mothers.
It’s really a weird world we live in when a multi-millionaire black celebrity feels the need to tweet an insult regarding the celebration of the declaration of independence of a government which he supports blacks being dependent upon.
What makes it even more intolerable is it wasn’t even slightly funny.
Chris … you don’t rock.
Nothing more pathetic than a self-hating anything!
Bravo, well said Prof.
What more can be said?
How about a tweet from @iowahawkblog that pretty much sums it up.
America: our harshest critics refuse to leave.
#CelebrateIt
Back in February of 2008, the Freakonomics blog had a contest to find a six-word motto for America.
The winning entry was
Looks to have been officially adopted, then.
1. To paraphrase the poster and commenters at a Leftist blog:
Wingnut racist chauvinists can’t handle it when Chris Rock tells the truth about this oppressive society. Happy Independence Day.
I won’t send the site traffic by linking to it.
2. Independence Day is an occasion to celebrate America’s Founding ideals. It is not the occasion to dwell on our deficiencies, past and present.
Apparently I don’t understand the nuanced intellects and emotional depth of many Leftists: I can’t tell the difference between their celebration of Independence Day and concern trolling.
3. I am aware, thank you, of the point that some scoundrels take refuge in patriotism. I am also aware that this point does not delegitimize patriotism. I am also aware that some people are very insistent on making this point on the very day least suited to it.
Ah yes, Chris Pebble. The mouth that bored. About 15 years past his “best used by” date.
Add to @ gs‘s point #3, there are also professionals who support themselves by incessantly repeating this point. Apparently too stupid to earn an honest living would be my guess.
Once upon a time I liked Betty White, Tony Benette, and Chris Rock but then the bottom fell out.
Their utterances revealed non tolerance race baiting practices that should offend all hard working folks and voting taxpayers. Anyone with a couple of neurons to rub together could make more of the chaos that they believe in.
Another nail in the coffin of common sense…
Socialized education at work.
I wonder if it’s ever occurred to Af/Ams that if it weren’t for white people they might still be slaves.
Barack Obama’s open disdain for America has made it easier for a lot of people to show theirs. His own racism has fostered more racism in the public. His own intolerance has generated a huge amount of intolerance. His own incivility to opponents is responsible for the increasingly physical attacks on those of who disagree with him. Chris Rock? An ungrateful worm, he will never ask himself in what other country would a foul mouthed loudmouth like himself become a millionaire. If, somehow he does, he will immediately lament that the green didn’t change the color of his skin and cops still harass him.
Chris Rock…now there’s a character with very little content.
Who?
People like Washington and Jefferson were born into a society that practiced slavery. Slavery then was as old as the bible. Indeed, both were born into slave owning families. Slavery was a fact of life just like abortions on demand are today.
To hear the liberals talk, you would think that the founders went and invented slavery. What people like Rock lack is any kind of historical context. I believe that both Washington and Jefferson saw the evils of slavery, but exactly how were they personally supposed to end it?
It’s just idiotic to sit here safely in the 21st century and say that a historical figure’s accomplishments deserve no respect because you find this person has violated some moral of this century.
It’s like people who look back on WWII and say that the atom bomb shouldn’t have been dropped or that the those who interned the Japanese were immoral. We can learn from those things, but we can’t possible place our selves in those times.
Africans were largely sold into slavery by Africans and Arabs. That is one of the “dirty little secrets” that people seem intent on obfuscating. They want us to believe that slavery was an institution peculiar to America and Americans which is of course nonsensical.
Furthermore, I’d like to point out that the very fact that slavery was allowed to continue in America past the ratification of the Constitution was because men who knew better reached across the aisle and compromised their principles on freedom with advocates of slavery. This is one of the first and most significant examples of the evil that results when men of principle compromise those principles and engage in “bi-partisan” deals.
Keep that in mind when some IDIOT Democrat urges a little more “bi-partisan” spirit in Washington…
You are right.
People often fail to recognize that the Constitution would never have been ratified by the Southern states had slavery been abolished from the outset. Several compromises were negotiated to get the South to buy into the Constitution. One was that both the North and the South agreed that trading in slaves (distinguished from slavery itself) could not be outlawed until 20 years after ratification, or 1808. The other compromise concerned apportionment in the House of Representatives. The North argued that if slaves were human chattel, or property, then slaves ought not be counted as people for apportionment purposes. The goal was to dilute the political power of the Southern states in Congress. The Southern states, fully aware of what the North was trying to do, demanded that slaves be counted as people. The infamous compromise is that slaves were counted as 3/5 of a person.
Without these compromises, it’s arguable the Constitution would never have been ratified by all 13 colonies, and the southern colonies very well may have formed their own country from the outset. It can also be argued, correctly I believe, that those compromises led directly to the Civil War. For had the North and the South been two separate countries from the start, by definition they could not have engaged in civil war.
Had those compromises not been made at the Constitutional Convention, history as we know it now would be far different.
I suppose that it would be politically incorrect to point out that white people were the first to start abolishing slavery in their societies, and that it continues to this day in parts of Africa — Sudan, Niger, Congo…
Slavery continues wherever you have Muslims. The African slave states all have majority Muslim populations. The Christian states have no slavery.
As is pointing out that lifetime black slavery was introduced to the colonies at the demand of Anthony Johnson, a black man.
New Black Panther leader Malik Shabazz threatens to burn Detroit down
http://www.examiner.com/article/new-black-panther-leader-malik-shabazz-threatens-to-burn-detroit-down
Run the city into the ground and burn it.
Wait a minute. Strike that. Reverse it. ie 67′ riot
Every time Detroit chapter of National Action Network and Malik Shabazz open their mouth they get lead story on the local news … old news.
Wouldn’t burning down large sections of Detroit be an improvement on much of what is there now? Doesn’t the city of Detroit want many houses and buildings demolished? Then they don’t have to provide police and fire protection for those areas.
One third of the city, about 50sq miles has already reverted back to its natural state, Detroit prairie land.
City of Detroit is the largest owner of slum properties, about 10,000 plus.
Its a process, the city raises taxes (again) to better provide “services” which never appears, people can’t pay their taxes and they get tax foreclosed…
After it becomes dilapidated, crime infested and then it mysteriously burns… that way they don’t have to remove the lead paint and asbestos, then it gets torn down.
White people gave Black people freedom at a tremendous cost to the White people. In pre-Civil War New Orleans, the percentage of free Blacks who owned slaves was higher than the percentage of Whites who owned slaves.
Isn’t indentured servitude a form of slavery? Plenty of Whites were indentured servants. Slavery is still practiced in countries in Africa, mostly countries with significant Muslim influence.
I’ve seen some things Chris Rock did that I thought were really funny and well done. He has an excellent demonstration on how to avoid getting your ass beat by the police. But I would prefer that all of my entertainers remember that I want to be entertained. They can keep their opinions to themselves. So I have decided to stop frequenting movies, and buying DVDs of actors who insist on spouting political opinions I find too liberal which means too idiotic.
You are NOT supposed to point out historical facts like this.
Read a biography about Benjamin Franklin and you will understand a lot about indentured servitude and apprenticeship. It is not possible to really understand how tenuous things were back then. Franklin arrived at his apprenticeship after a harrowing journey with only a few crumbs in his pocket. Rock does not realize how many more privileges he has compared to even the most elite citizens of those days.
The generation that founded this country lived hand to mouth but were rich in liberties that they won the hard way. Rock is rich in resources but he has squandered the inheritance of liberty that was so hard won by those who came before… and those he so despises. As we complete the transition to the post-constitutional phase of the American experiment it is a good time to reflect on all that we have lost and how people like Rock have always been at the forefront in calling for us all to revert back to little more than government chattel.
We shall not forget those like Rock or Justice Roberts who would have us revert to the tyranny which this country was founded as a protest against. It is important that they be confronted and reminded that we know them for what they are at every opportunity lest they become deluded that their behavior is free of consequence. We have to win back the culture and win back our institutions before we can win back our liberty.
Let us remember that both White and Black individuals were free. Let us also remember that both White and Black individuals were slaves. While we should appreciate the burden of slavery for the ancestors of Black Americans, we should also appreciate that Whites — in the millions — also suffered under involuntary exploitation and restricted liberty. Nor was it merely about indentured servitude, but slavery in the same class as many Blacks suffered.
It is incumbent upon individuals of dignity to reject exchanging their liberty for submission with benefits. The dysfunction this breeds is progressive and marks some of the worst human rights abuses throughout history.
I wonder if Rock knows that Obama’s Luo ancestors likely collaborated with Islamic slavers in order to capture and sell their fellow Black Africans. The “Tutsi slaughter Hutu slaughter Tutsi” cycles are vicious, indeed.
Lets take a deep breath, look up just a little history and find out about slavery. It has been part of civilization as long as prostitution. It is only in the last 170 years that it has not been practiced in the US. It is still alive and well elsewhere. Slavery in the US was not that as depicted by Stowe. Slaves had rights, benefits, cradle to grave care, food, clothes and were treated in a decent manner. In fact, much of what the current liberal movement is what the slaves had.
Now, the War Of Northern Aggression had nothing at all to do with slaves. The separation of the south from north incorporated concepts of slavery, but that in the coming years, when the south once again leaves the union, it will not be because of racism. That will be the charge if the north wins again, not likely. Lincoln defined the war as he attempted to invade and subdue Charleston. He was fired upon. Same technique Hitler used with Poland. Lincoln then tried to invade Virginia with 70,000 men and they had not fired on him at all. Lincoln’s speech justifying his war indicted that it was over taxes, not slavery. In fact, Lincoln wanted passage of the 13th amendment which in its original form would have us with slaves to this date. Lincoln did not free a single slave under his control.
Now, the major slave port in the US was—–NEW YORK CITY, not New Orleans, not any other southern city. The north bought the slaves from African chiefs, transported them to the US, insured them, financed the operation and owned them in most states. The north was a slave nation after the south left the union. In other states in the north, blacks were not allowed to live.
So, slavery was not the institution you think it was, the north had as much blood on its hands as the south, Lincoln and the Republican (now Democrats) were very bad people, and slavery still exist. Then the word slavery is a derriative of slav, who are white and were owned by Africans. We will have a return of slavery in the coming future.
“It is only in the last 170 years that it has not been practiced in the US.”
Slavery ended in 1842? Typo?
What are you depending on for this version of American history?
I am not sure where david7134 gets his details on the “Peculiar Institution” but his description doesn’t quite match the real historical facts of the institution. Virtually all of his “factoids” are simply incorrect.
Slavery was not quite the “Uncle Remus” story david7134 appears to have accepted. Slavery was a brutal, inhuman institution that should never have been permitted in the American Republic.
BEWARE THE TROLL!
The Emancipation Proclamation freed slaves in rebel states only. That left states such as Maryland, Deleware and Kentucky. Although Maryland was a slave state, it ended slavery before the end of the war.
Your summary of what the “Emancipation Proclamation” did is much too vague and imprecise. In fact, it did not emancipate all slaves in all states then “in rebellion” against the federal government. Go back and read the proclamation and a summary of what it did and didn’t do…
A good place to start would be http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emancipation_Proclamation.
I stand corrected.
As is noted in a display at Ellis Island, 75% of colonists who came from the British Isles came as indentured servants, referred to at the time as “Bond Slaves”. One of the most foolish mistakes we in the 21st century can make is to view the world of three centuries and more through modern eyes.
Thee is a Harridan out there threatening China & Russia & promoting Afghanistan to your major Non Nato Ally group .
Thank you on behalf of Israel NZ South Korea & Japan. We are now F**ckin equal in your eyes to 7th century freaks.
FFS.
Afghanistan will have to make considerable progress to make it to the level of “7th century freaks.”
Unfortunately, there are those who use Independence Day undermine to undermine our understanding of what America stands for (and has stood for). See my comment above. Their motives can variously be mistaken, foolish, crazy, unsavory, or evil.
It mortifies me to acknowledge that there are also those who use the occasion to whitewash uncreditable—uncreditable even when no better alternatives were available—parts of our history. Their motives can variously be mistaken, foolish, crazy, unsavory, or evil.
Independence Day is a day of celebration, gratitude, and hope. It is not a Day of Atonement. It also is not a Day of Denial.
To the person who ticked the dislike. Do you know what is has been like to be an ally of the USA & be treated like S&t? For 3 !/2 years any country that was friendly to GW Bush has been ostracized by the Obama admin.
You have your new Muslim buddies. Go enjoy them.
And how is Chris Rock any different than the two best race hustlers Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton?
In 1854 a political party was formed with the end of slavery as one of its goals. It accomplished this goal in 9 years. This party is still around today, but I suspect Chris Rock does not think highly of it.
Hey, Rock. GFY OK?
Give it a rest, already. You were never a slave. The only people alive today who are related to slave owners are Democrats. Enough.
Including Obama.
“Let me tell you something. Do you know that you have been deceived and cheated? You have been told that this government was intended from the beginning for white men, and for white men exclusively; that the men who formed the Union and framed the Constitution designed the permanent exclusion of the colored people from the benefits of those institutions. Davis, Taney and Yancey, traitors at the south, have propagated this statement, while their copperhead echoes at the north have repeated the same. There never was a bolder or more wicked perversion of the truth of history. So far from this purpose was the mind and heart of your fathers, that they desired and expected the abolition of slavery. They framed the Constitution plainly with a view to the speedy downfall of slavery. They carefully excluded from the Constitution any and every word which could lead to the belief that they meant it for persons of only one complexion.
The Constitution, in its language and in its spirit, welcomes the black man to all the rights which it was intended to guarantee to any class of the American people. Its preamble tells us for whom and for what it was made.”
http://teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=777
Hate to break it to ole’ Chris but my great grandfather and his wife’s two brothers served in the 81st Illinois from 1861-65 fighting for his freedom. My grandfather died 16 years after the war when his facial wounds became cancerous. His wife received 16 dollars a month soldiers pension to raise my grandmother and her brothers and sisters. This was a small price paid compared to many brave women and men who paid a greater price for breaking slavery. Yeah, you can rewrite history and say it was fought over states rights etc. but the fact remains slaves were freed and a price was paid. Thank God they paid it.
wareagle,
Read a book. Don’t read the internet. Then apply logic. Why would I abuse my property? I don’t go out an beat my car. I don’t abuse my dog. So why would anyone abuse a slave? Yes they were beat, the same as American military members were beat, the same as northern factory workers were beat. In fact, the work conditions for slaves were far better than northern work conditions.
As to being a troll or whatever that is, if someone has a different opinion from you or dares to question the propaganda put out by the US, they are not a troll.
Hawk,
The war had nothing to do with freeing slaves or states rights. It had to do with a region of the US that desired to express its God given right of self-determination. When the South left the north, slavery could have been eliminated in the existing US. If the war was over freeing slaves, why didn’t the US attack Brazil? Why don’t we currently attack Africa? Why did a reporter named Charles Dickens describe the conflict as one of a fight over power?
It is amazing that of all the wars we have fought, the only one we really know the reason for is the War of Northern Aggression? In WWII, over 50% of service men had no idea why they were fighting, in Vietnam no one knew, in WWI no one knew. Yet for the War of Northern Aggression, we are sure it was slavery. Now consider this, if it wasn’t over slavery, the US sure comes out looking bad. In fact they look worse than they do over the extermination of the Indians.
david7314, we note that you are in the “pro-slavery” camp. Thanks for clarifying your incredible, massive lack of knowledge on the history of slavery in America and the meaning of the word “troll.”
And the freedom to secede from the Union was in fact a part of the concept of “States Rights.”
Put down your “graphic novels” and read a book with fewer pictures before you decide to conduct class. But at this point, logic is wasted on you…
wareagle,
A southern saying, “oh you poor thing”.
Hold your horses there, champ! Don’t give me that nonsense! I can see expecting accurate, thoughtful posts from you is going to be a lot like looking for hen’s teeth. You can regale us with the supposed “wonders of slavery” but that dog won’t hunt.
I was born and educated in the south and am a proud Southerner. If you want to go spouting racist nonsense, go ahead but don’t expect to get away without getting called out as a what you obviously are. I suspect most of the sheets in your house hang in the closet rather than adorn the beds there.
Ignorance can be cured but stupid is forever. It appears you are beyond cure at this point. I suspect you will demonstrate that categorically before too long.