Those are good cases. Everyone does have a responsibility to educate themselves about someone and what they offer first, that is due diligence.
Yet, whether that is done or not doesn't make what is done any more right. Con artists convince people, they know how to influence minds. Falling for a con man make one a dupe, a fool, but there are clever con men and ponzi schemes like Madoff. Just because one get's conned, one is not "deserving of what they got because they fell for it", which is another thing some people say to justify wrongs hehe.
Ignorance of wrong doing does not abdicate one from the responsibility of that wrong doing. Actions were manifested by an individual. They are responsible, even if it's socially accepted at one time. Slavery was, yet it was never right to do it. Society "absolves" itself in some alchemical solution so as to purify itself from it's past sins done in ignorance or false justification. Ignorance lessens the culpability, due to a lack of willful intent to do that wrong thing compared to someone with the knowledge of right vs. wrong in that situation. Actions make us who we are, with intent or not. The severity of our culpability can factor in the knowledgeable intent or ignorance of what we were doing "forgive them for they know not what they do" as Jesus would say ;)
I can think of an example like someone originally paying more for something out of ignorance, trying to sell it for the similar price later, maybe more or less depending on use or repairing it better, etc., but still doesn't know the "market" value while someone else does and calls them a cheater, scammer, con, etc. That person is not intending to screw someone over, they were being pretty reasonable. If the buyer didn't know either and would have bought it, the seller wouldn't be doing an intentional wrong as he bought it overpriced as well. The action and context matters, but the action was done and still holds accountability, i.e. responsibility on the part of the agent who created that action.
One can even perpetuate injustice and slavery as "justice" in ignorance, but that doesn't absolve one of the actions they actually did. Apologies, redresses and repentance is all possible, people can redeem themselves, whether it's done in ignorance or with knowledge. Everyone can change for the better ;)
It feels like I just did a comprehension test in high school and now I need to answer the questions :D
Very well said. This could be a very strong debating topic for sure! And it's true. Many people are actually in the wrong, but then try and make themselves feel better by justifying how the other person was not as smart.. HAHA!
The thing is, it's also quite a tough topic to deal with, since so many people are on the bad side of this story in some form or another. For example, just look at any billionaire. Name me one billionaire that didn't have a 'Monopoly' mindset. A mental edge. I'm sure each one of them did a ton of good too, but I am very sure they had to rip a few people off at least a few times to get to that level.. And what's funny is you can go and ask any one of them if they did, and they will probably justify themselves :D
I think in conclusion, this is apart of human nature and natural dominance (Survival of the fittest). To an extent of course. Obviously some people are purely wrong with the things they do and that's not at all justifiable, but for the general sense, I would say it's expected to a certain degree.
I think we should make posts about this haha. By the way, let me know what you think of my content. I am interested to know what you think I need to improve in my content :)
Like Mark Zuckerberg says, "You Can't Get To 1 Billion Friends, Without Making A Few Enemies."
Some good points. You mention slavery here as a past event, but that is not something that is only in the past. There are over 1 million slaves presently in the USA.
Sometimes we look at our smartphones and think 'man, we're so advanced!'. Unfortunately, some things are just as barbaric and savage as they've ever been.
Thanks for bringing some of the advances to our attention!
I meant outright overt slavery ;) lol. We have many layers of enslavement from physical to psychological still around. Thanks for the feedback.
I mean outright, overt slavery. Millions of Americans are held in captivity and forced to work under duress. Most are held in government facilities, but many are held in private prisons as well.
Regardless of any justifications supposed to support the captivity and enslavement of Americans, it is indeed overt slavery.
I did not address how taxation is also a form of slavery, or any psychological interpretations, such as wage-slavery, although I agree those are indeed valid infringements.
American laws compel prisoners to work, and that work is clearly and obviously coerced under various overt (and covert as well) threats. While there are token payments made to those slaves, they are clearly but window dressing.
Indeed, payment to slaves does not establish that they are not slaves, as history is replete with slaves being able to purchase their freedom that payment they received for their work enabled.
The payment to American prisoners is far, far less, and completely inadequate to ever be adequate to purchase their freedom, even were such a mechanism legally available. There are however, means of purchasing freedom from such slavery that are available to those who have already got the money to do so, by substituting fines for prison.
Yeah we are coerced into economic survivability as I have called it, because we can't survive freely off the land as we are coerced into paying taxes. The prison system is bad and that is pretty overt with the labor camps. Pay-to-play "justice" system, where the rich can get their way out. If you don't have the dough, in you go. Thanks for the great feedback as usual.
I could not be more grateful for having to have used my brain. That's all you.