jim - // Whether or not slavery was a genocide is, perhaps, only a matter of pedantry. // I suggest not. Pedantry is fussing over small details - there are no small details involved in the difference between genocide and slavery, only a massive gap, because the two are entirely unrelated. Large loss of life may have been a by-product of slavery but not its main...
Slaves were merchandise and had no retail value if they died. So the aim was not to kill them but made money selling them. but many thousands died.
About 10% of slaves died on route. Estimates vary between 10 and 20 Million Africans were transported. That means that deaths were as high as 2 million people.
so Genocide: "the deliberate killing of a large group of people, especially those of a particular nation or ethnic group." - this was not that, many died but that was not the intention QED not genocide.
I think anyone would agree that slavery was not genocide, for the reasons stated here - death is not good business when you are trading in people.
Mr Starkey's error was referring to 'so many damned blacks ... ' which is an utterly crass and offensive observation and unfitting of a man of his intelligence and reputation.
That's why he is 'getting a kicking' and he thoroughly deserves it.
Throwing cargo overboard was never profitable in the short term, but was frequently done in order to save a ship from foundering. The black people chained up on board were considered as cargo, not as human beings. Their loss was considered regrettable but, unfortunately, necessary. Greed and ignorance lead to some awful events.
I don't know the definition of genocide, but the fact that there are a lot of black people in USA now is surely not a sound argument; the whole human race may have descended from a bottleneck of a few hundred, many thousands of years ago - people do tend to multiply.
//Slavery was not genocide, otherwise there wouldn’t be so many damn blacks in Africa or in Britain would there?//
I look forward to hearing what you have to say when someone announces “The holocaust was not genocide, otherwise there wouldn’t be so many damn Jews in America or in Britain would there?
I agree with David Olusoga, a man I have great respect for.
The broadcaster and historian David Olusoga said: “This is truly disgusting. And by the same ridiculous, twisted logic the Holocaust would not be counted as a genocide.”
jno: "I look forward to hearing what you have to say when someone announces “The holocaust was not genocide, otherwise there wouldn’t be so many damn Jews in America or in Britain would there? " - apples and oranges me old china, the holocaust was an attempt at genocide, slavery was not.
TTT perhaps you should change your mind to Tora Pedant. Perhaps you could tell us what you think of Starkey's words. Do you admire and agree with him? Or do you think he spoke insensitively?
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