Alan Keyes: Slavery "guaranteed shelter, guaranteed clothing"

[alp227]

CNSNews.com reports (h/t Right Wing Watch):

Keyes compared the institution of slavery with liberalism and socialism.

“What did it mean to be a slave?” Keyes asked. “It meant that you actually had guaranteed shelter, guaranteed clothing. Your master guaranteed your food, your clothing, your shelter and a job. “Sounds interesting, doesn’t it?” he said. “That’s exactly what the Obama faction and the leftists and the socialists and the so-called ‘liberals’ want to pretend is what all Americans should aspire to."

Keyes said he grew up wrestling with the heritage of slavery and understanding its true meaning. As a result, he said, "I have seen through that phony promise of socialism, that government-dominated largesse. It simply means that we shall all become slaves on the government’s plantation."

RWW responds: "Did Keyes get that idea from a Texas textbook or something?"

You see what happens when the right wing writes the history books? No wonder Keyes lost to Obama in the 2004 US Senate race in Illinois.

[Ikonoklast]

1. It's amazing that someone that dumb remembers to breathe.

He's a walking bag of stupid.

[TlalocW]

2. It's amazing that he has time to write these opinions

When he should be busy looking for his Illudium Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator.

TlalocW

[Chan790]

3. So, Alan Keyes is a penny-ante self-loathing racist?

Holy shit, there really is nothing new under the sun.

[Mnpaul]

4. The real reason Keyes had no chance of winning

"It's principles that count, and I'm sticking to that even though these honkie redneck Republicans wouldn't vote for a Black man even if he was Jesus Christ himself."

Alan Keyes speaking to cafeteria workers at Bob Jones University.

[Amonester]

5. I guess that dumbf**k never worked at Wallmart & co.

:shrug:

[bbgrunt]

8. there's no guarantees when you are a wage slave--it's more efficient for employers.

[MadMaddie]

6. He is a dumb ass Mother&*&*(_(r

How do people like him actually survive?

He is just looking for attention:

[ismnotwasm]

7. That's bad

Because slavery didn't mean any of those things. It meant you were a slave.


What a total asswipe. It's times like these I understand why the concept of hell was invented, you just want to send this creep there. Perhaps to live the life of a American slave, over and over and over again. See what he compares it to then.

[Crunchy Frog]

9. I wish we had a time machine for him

so he could go back and appreciate the institution up close and personal.

[Vinnie From Indy]

10. Dave Chappelle did a brilliant skit that reflects the idiocy of Alan Keyes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdddwM7ZEco

[Jamastiene]

11. What a grade A Dumbass.

I bet he got an A+ in Dumbass Class.

[Warren DeMontague]

12. Yes, and hell is hot, and so is central heating.

Therefore, Central Heating is of the Devil.

[cherokeeprogressive]

13. As opposed to being hunted for sport like my ancestors were...

One wonders who got fucked worse...

White europeans fucked both the Africans and the North American Indians. The difference is that even though both got fucked in the ass by white europeans, the North American Indians got fucked without the benefit of lube...

[southmost]

25. puleaze, not much sport

in hunting down disease plagued sickly game, that was the euro-invasion's advantage, filth and disease; this competitive edge was used to dominate this continent and to use the spoils to indiscriminately buy off slaves. That period in history should be referred to the first World War, it encompassed nearly every continent and put many countries on the defense of euro-monarch dominance.

[AsahinaKimi]

14. Fail

Time to send his butt back to History class.

[JI7]

15. this guy kicked his own teen daughter out because she is lesbian

[Mac1949]

16. Keyes further stated "And if you're into being chained up

and whipped, as I am, it was heaven!":sarcasm:

[no_hypocrisy]

17. Whom would Keyes choose to be HIS master?

[JVS]

18. I always wondered if there were accounts of slaves being killed for being too old or sick...

to serve the economic interests of their masters. Or would they be set "free" and kicked off of the property to save the master's expense? Whenever libertarians argue that slavery would have ended as it was less efficient than wage labor, I doubt them. I think it would have devolved into working the slaves to death like the Nazis did.

[raccoon]

32. I've heard of old slaves being set "free" so that the former owners wouldn't be burdened with their

care.

[JVS]

34. And what happened to them? Did they die in destitution? Did abolitionist groups...

provide charity? Interesting stuff.

[bring_em_home_bush]

35. Read Frederick Douglass's narrative of his life as a slave

His grandmother was abandoned to die in a shack in the woods far from all her remaining family. A little girl who had her hands burned off in a fire was "freed" to beg on the streets.

It is a relatively brief but incredibly powerful book.

Edited to add this link: http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/Literature/Douglass/Autobiography/

[bigmonkey]

38. Should be required reading in school.

If you ask me. I just read it for the first time last month. Clear, direct, honest, compelling, without exaggeration.

[sakabatou]

19. You want to know what Keyes reminds me of?

[opihimoimoi]

20. he forgets the Masters can also fuck your kids, your wife, and if he really wanted

he could fuck you too...if you were his slave that is

[WinkyDink]

23. There were basically no slave marriages allowed. Anyone could be sold at any time.

Slave children were not kept in the "family unit."

[KamaAina]

43. Only Louisiana allowed slave marriage.

Married couples could still be bought and sold, but they had to be a package deal.

That was the progressive approach. :eyes:

[hobbit709]

21. STOOPID really should be excruciatingly painful.

[surrealAmerican]

22. So, as far as he's concerned, the only people who are truly free ...

... are naked and homeless. Yeah, that makes sense.

[SalmonChantedEvening]

24. Keyes. Always good for a facepalm in the morning.

Whatta dunce.

[WinkyDink]

26. Whippings, attacks by dogs, MAKING those clothes Keyes refers to. READ ACCOUNTS HERE:

http://www.paperlessarchives.com/african-american_slave_testimo.html

The white overseer used a black hand to administer the whippings; Calloway recalls seeing one thirteen-year-old girl whipped almost to death.

Reynolds witnessed brutal beatings, and tells of working in weather so cold that her hands bled. Her master had a number of children with a mulatto slave,

He also recalls the brutal whipping of young girls by his master's sons.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yep, just like what Democrats want to see.
Man, those Republicans cling to Lincoln like a life-raft, don't they?

[kenny blankenship]

27. Guaranteed!

And a chain of your very own.

Money back if you aren't satisfied.

What a freak.

[Brewman_Jax]

28. Rewriting history--again?

Et tu, Alan? I thought that there was a line that even you wouldn't cross, but I see that enough money will change your mind. :puke:

The RW and teabaggers are feeling the pressure since they're trotting out the lawn jockeys. :eyes:

[elehhhhna]

29. SLAVERY: The answer to all that ails the poor and the homeless!

I fully expect to see this on the Republican platform in 2012.

[Liberal In Texas]

30. Typical RW false equivalency from Uncle Alan. n/t

[derby378]

31. ...

[political_Dem]

33. He speaks from what he knows. The GOP has bought him and pulls the puppet strings

in order for this man to say something that asinine.

For the rest of us folks of color? We know the score.

Consciousness-raising on Keyes' part is a waste of time.

[RZM]

36. Don't agree with the headline wording here

I don't think the headline necessarily conveys the right thrust of Keyes' statement. The headline seems to imply that he is defending slavery a la Keith Richburg (who has argued that slavery was a good thing for American blacks since it removed them from Africa and spared them the horrific human rights violations/AIDS/poverty etc. that have characterized life in many parts of Africa in recent history). But all Keyes is really doing is trotting out the lame and yawn-worthy 'socialism = slavery' line that conservatives have unsuccessfully peddled for a long time now. He doesn't seem to be defending slavery at all, but rather trying to harness the emotional and historical power of the word into yet another stock criticism of the Obama administration -- which incidentally reminds me of Hillary Clinton's similar attempt to pander to a black audience when she said that the Bush administration was running things 'like a plantation,' which also represented an irresponsible attempt to harness the power of a loaded word for one's own purposes.

I think the issue of master-slave relations in North America is actually a very interesting and quite nuanced one. The entire slave system was large, complex, and defies simple categorization. In fact, there were plenty of cases of very close bonds developing between masters and slaves and indeed slaves were fed and clothed by their masters (after all, a slave was a valuable investment, especially if you only had a small number of them, which was the case with most slaveholders) -- a really great book that places American slavery in a comparative context is Peter Kolchin's 'Unfree Labor: American Slavery and Russian Serfdom,' which I highly recommend for anyone interested in this topic.

Misuses of history like this are so common now they seem to outnumber responsible uses of history, but I think the best response is to ignore the chumps who make such statements but use the opportunity to actually examine and discuss the historical themes such comments bring up.

[Shining Jack]

37. K&R

I don't know what to say anymore when I read about this kind of nonsense.What a nutcase.

[Xicano]

39. USA vs Scandinavia

@Alen Keyes: Suck it! >> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5nsGbqrVb4

[gulliver]

40. This is how Keys gets guaranteed shelter and clothing.

He's got a brand. He reminds me of that ugly hunchback guy from 300 or the even uglier Dick Morris.

Somehow I doubt slaves had a "guarantee" of much of anything.

[red red red]

41. Interesting!

He said that we will all be living on the 'government's plantation', yet previously he made it sound "interesting - free food, clothing, shelter and a job". So hell, anybody want to buy me? :silly:

[Lucian]

42. What a fucking idiot.

God. :banghead:

And people need to know what the term "socialism" means before spouting it off everywhere. Idiots.