• Lushed_Lungfish@lemmy.ca
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    1 day ago

    Genuinely curious, did they have child sex slavery when America was founded or just the normal kind of slavery?

    • JasonDJ@lemmy.zip
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      1 day ago

      Well, the normal kind of slavery usually involved some level of rape, and slave children weren’t uncommon, so…2+2=4…

      They didn’t see people or even children. They saw a n****r. They saw a n****r with a hole. A hole that they owned, and can do with what they please.

      Apologies for resorting to the strong language, but it’s kind of important to impart…we grew up with a very romanticized vision of slavery taught to us by the white American public education system. I made a goddamn diorama of a plantation in the 5th grade (1995). And put a happy little slave working the tobacco fields (my mom even crumbled up a cigarette and glued it to the board. It was a Misty. I can still smell it…)

      Using the hurtful word, in this context, I think is important to remind us of exactly why it’s such a hurtful word. The history has been forgotten by so many.

      I’d gladly use any of Carlin’s 7 Words in most contexts. That word is obfuscated for a reason. It shouldn’t be used anymore, except in this type of context, to remind us of our violent past.

  • switcheroo@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    I wish we had a functioning justice system. Seeing these fuckers marched off to jail would be so great.

      • comfy@lemmy.ml
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        18 hours ago

        It’s a fair point - one of the most important steps in change is understanding the power we have. Not just as individuals, but collectively.

        Don’t wish for a future. Instead, want to build that future. I want to build a functioning justice system.

        • Bloomcole@lemmy.world
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          15 hours ago

          There’s a lot more that needs to be rebuilt, if not most of the US.
          However Americans are the most pacified subservient and meak population I’ve seen.
          The complete opposite of what they think of themselves: heroic warriors of freedom.

  • Not_mikey@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    2 days ago

    Were the Virginia planters keeping sex slaves capitalists though? Most of the capitalists at the time were up north where slavery was illegal by the founding.

  • Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world
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    2 days ago

    ITT: Centrists defending the lesser pedo because they’re perfectly fine with pedophilia as long as there’s at least one person worse than they are. And there isn’t a one of them who won’t immediately revise their position as soon as one of their guys is the worse pedo.

      • davel@lemmy.ml
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        2 days ago

        I don’t know how people can maintain their suspension of disbelief at this point.

        How do people still not see that, as horrendous as a child rape ring is, that’s just the tip of the iceberg. It’s just an entertaining diversion for these people, whose day job is running the imperial core.

        • ☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆@lemmy.mlOP
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          2 days ago

          I think it’s really hard for people to accept that everything they believed in is basically wrong. They don’t live in a democracy, they don’t have a voice, they can’t vote their way out of the hole they’re in. That’s a hard pill to swallow for the crowd that convinced itself that they just need to vote harder and everything will be alright.

          • lemonwood@lemmy.ml
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            1 day ago

            Yeah, I remember a while back I introduced a friend to some simple basic facts about capitalism and it just made him really sad to the point of passivity and not wanting to learn any more. I guess my approach was wrong at the time. I have more success now, but I’m not sure what I do differently. Maybe contradictions have just increased.

            • ☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆@lemmy.mlOP
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              22 hours ago

              I find when you are trying to educate people you know, you kind of have to learn how the person thinks and then tailor the message in terms that will likely resonate with them based on their own values. How you express an idea tends to matter as much as the idea itself.

        • xtr0n@sh.itjust.works
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          2 days ago

          I’m worried about the implications that the child sex ring was a honeypot that was supported by multiple intelligence agencies. My understanding is that Maxwell has ties to Mossad and the US government clearly had knowledge of this shit for decades, yet the few investigations went nowhere. Is it simply because the perpetrators were wealthy and influential? Or was it because the whole operation was viewed as an important intelligence asset? In addition to funding the bombing of schools and refugee camps, are my tax dollars also funding a child sex trafficking rings?

          • davel@lemmy.ml
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            2 days ago

            are my tax dollars also funding a child sex trafficking rings?

            If you’re in the mood for yet another mindfuck today, your federal taxes don’t actually pay for anything. Previously.

      • thermal_shock@lemmy.world
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        15 hours ago

        What? None of them are good. Arrest and charge them all. That’s one big difference, left doesn’t really give a fuck, charge them ALL. The cult will never admit to mistakes by their orange leader, it’s double and triple down, distract, lie, distract, lie more, on and on. Orange leader can do no wrong in their eyes. Anyone with empathy and 3 brain cells says lock them ALL up, NOW, no matter the “side”.

      • agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works
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        2 days ago

        The good ones? You know there’s a difference between “This oligarch is good” and “Both oligarchs are bad, but one is substantially worse”, right?

          • agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works
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            2 days ago

            It’s closer to “cancer is worse than HIV”, but that’s not a terrible analogy. While obviously neither is great, cancer is typically much more difficult to manage. HIV is a single virus which is much easier to mitigate, to the point that with modern treatment most people can live a pretty normal life, while cancer is a whole class of diseases for which treatment is much less reliable and much more invasive.

        • Bloomcole@lemmy.world
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          1 day ago

          Trump is worse to americans because he gives them a small taste of what ALL their oligarchs do to the rest of the world all the time.
          AFAIC that makes him better.

          Clinton was a corrupt mass-murdering scumbag, same as his psycho ghoul wife.

          And even on the perversions I doubt Clinton is less bad.
          Got away with a rape already in university, in between that and Lewinsky I bet there’s plenty of unreported abuse.

          Give me one good objective reason for your statement.

        • Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world
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          2 days ago

          Liberals show no sign whatsoever that they believe the latter instead of the former.

          But please keep being condescending when people don’t like your oligarch.

      • xtr0n@sh.itjust.works
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        2 days ago

        There is a world of room between “good” and “ran a child sex trafficking ring”. Clinton may be a POS for many reasons and he may have visited Epstine island and maybe even raped children (we don’t know at this point but anyone in the flight logs is sus). That is all absolutely terrible but it’s still very different than kidnapping 10’s or hundreds of children to rape and pimp. And the files seem to indicate that Trump was actively involved in this scheme for decades.

        • OBJECTION!@lemmy.ml
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          2 days ago

          maybe even raped children

          but

          I swear, it’s impossible to parody lesser-evilists because you’re all self-parodies at this point.

        • BrainInABox@lemmy.ml
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          2 days ago

          Step back and realise that you’re trying to quibble about levels of evil between child rapists.

        • davel@lemmy.ml
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          2 days ago

          Both Clintons are in the Epstein files hundreds of times. They also both happen to be war criminals.

          • xtr0n@sh.itjust.works
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            2 days ago

            Yeah, the Clintons have done absolutely terrible things. I would never claim otherwise. I don’t remember the Clinton administration very well but I don’t doubt that he’s a war criminal.

            The meme claims that Bill was “keeping child sex slaves” and that isn’t supported by any evidence that I’ve seen.

            Everyone involved should get investigated and tried for any and all crimes.

            • davel@lemmy.ml
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              2 days ago

              Everyone involved should get investigated and tried for any and all crimes.

              Indeed they should, but they won’t, because they’re above the law. They shouldn’t be above the law, but they objectively are. What you’re seeing isn’t some rare exception, it’s a peek behind the curtain of how the United States is actually run, and it’s nothing like how it’s supposed to work on paper.

            • Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world
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              2 days ago

              You don’t need to defend the lesser evil just because it’s lesser.

              Pretend they’re comedians. Pretend you’re comparing Louis CK to Bill Cosby. You don’t need to defend CK just because Cosby is worse.

        • daannii@lemmy.world
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          23 hours ago

          Yeah there is a difference between the pimp and the john.

          And i still think Clinton should go to prison if he had sex with girls or trafficked women.

          But that’s not nearly at the level of punishment I think is fit for Trump , Epstein (assuming he’s still alive) , maxwell, and all the others who raped children and engaged in violence and torture with them. And of course the men who funded Epstein’s enterprise. And shielded him.

          I also think any women who helped him deserves pretty bad punishment. You can be a victim and a predator. So their own victimizing doesn’t get them off.

          They broke an even more sacred pact between women.

          Women believe other women can be trusted. We always have each other. We always look out for each other. Especially from a man trying to hurt us. We warn each other.

          Women need this. We depend on it.

          But they used this against girls and other women to lure them into danger.

          Unforgivable.

          • undeffeined@lemmy.ml
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            2 days ago

            Yes, a thousand times yes.

            Also, alll those people in the files that were in active contact with Epstein after it was public knowlegde he was a child molester deserve no respect and should be investigated as well.

          • xtr0n@sh.itjust.works
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            2 days ago

            Fair. I do think scale is sometime important. A single murder is not a genocide. But I can see your POV.

            Regardless, Clinton is awful but IDK what he did on the island. If he did rape kids then I hope they throw his ass in jail.

            • Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world
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              2 days ago

              I do think scale is sometime important. A single murder is not a genocide.

              Yeah, the clinton wing of the party would never support just one murder.

            • lobut@lemmy.ca
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              2 days ago

              I want a worse fate for him if so, however, I don’t want it to be a distraction from the existing Pedo in Chief and their ilk.

          • auraithx@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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            2 days ago

            There’s no evidence he did anything inappropriate with kids.

            Trump, however, has been accused by multiple Epstein victims.

            • RiverRock@lemmy.ml
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              2 days ago

              “There’s no evidence this longtime Epstein associate who flew multiple times on a plane called the Lolita Express did anything inappropriate with kids”

              • auraithx@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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                2 days ago

                Correct. Epstein had connections to his charities. Was for humanitarian work.

                You think Trump released the files with more evidence of him fucking kids than Clinton if there was any other option?

                • RiverRock@lemmy.ml
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                  2 days ago

                  Yeah man the president of the united states totally needed the funding and connections of a known pedophile in order to do some vague, nondescript “social work”.

              • quarkquasar@lemmy.world
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                2 days ago

                Well?

                You’re implying that there is.

                So where is it? You’re setting expectations extremely high for yourself.

                Gonna need that evidence.

                • Bloomcole@lemmy.world
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                  1 day ago

                  The scumbag was accused decades before this came out by plenty women even during his university years.
                  He got away with it because of his position.
                  And once a rapist always a rapist.
                  You can delude yourself all you want if you think he didn’t go to Epstein Island to rape kids.
                  disgusting

                • RiverRock@lemmy.ml
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                  2 days ago

                  You know things are going well for your wealthy rapist of choice when you’re reduced to saying “Well can you prove that he was doing the things that everyone around him was also doing?”

        • Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world
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          2 days ago

          There is a world of room between “good” and “ran a child sex trafficking ring”.

          We keep being told to not let the perfect be the enemy of the good. There is no good on offer. Just varying levels of reprehensible shit.

          • xtr0n@sh.itjust.works
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            22 hours ago

            That’s kinda the point I was making. The meme says “these guys kept child sex slaves”. Someone responds that Clinton didn’t have the same level of involvement as Trump and Epstein. Someone else responded “they want to believe their guy is good”. My response is basically “saying that he isn’t a pimp isn’t saying that he’s good”.

            There are different levels of evil. All should be dealt with. Maybe the worst (the pimps, traffickers, ringleaders and financiers) should get priority, especially if they pose a greater threat to everyone else? Pointing that out is in no way excusing the lesser evil.

            I haven’t seen anyone in this thread saying anything positive about Clinton. At most, a few folks have pointed out that we haven’t seen any rape accusations against Clinton in the files. I doubt that you’ll find anyone here who doesn’t want this whole mess properly investigated and for all of the guilty parties to get appropriate punishment.

            I feel like I could have this same argument with a Trump supporter: Trumpie: “Well, Clinton’s in the files too” Me: ”I haven’t seen anyone tangible accusations, but if he committed crimes then lock him up” T: “You just want to defend your guy” Me: “Um, I really don’t. And please refrain from calling him ’my guy’”

            • Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world
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              21 hours ago

              I haven’t seen anyone in this thread saying anything positive about Clinton.

              I’ve seen a lot of proactive defense of him from the same people who demanded unquestioning worship of the second worst genocide supporter. This is the same garbage.

      • Bloomcole@lemmy.world
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        1 day ago

        their cult can do no wrong.
        so fanatic they want to defend this pedo.
        As if mass-murdering wasn’t enough.

      • I_Has_A_Hat@lemmy.world
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        20 hours ago

        Why wouldn’t he be as dirty as the man mentioned in the redacted Epstein files 38,000 times? Why wouldn’t he be as dirty as the man who is literally running underage sex clubs? Do you know that Mar A Lago still employs 16 year olds as masseuses and cocktail waitresses? That never actually stopped. That’s still going on. Underage girls giving gross old men full body massages. Clinton is a sonofabitch, but there is an ocean of difference between him and Trump.

        • Bloomcole@lemmy.world
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          13 hours ago

          I know they’re both disgusting mass-murderers and rapists.
          I’m not going to make a distinction between them.
          Plenty of whitewashing from the Blue MAGA cult dogmatically defending their own.
          That says a lot about them.