"Slavery was the earliest form of social security in the United States." Where misinfo comes from

[gollygee]

At least one of the places

http://fusion.net/story/164447/this-alabama-high-school-history-book-from-the-1970s-sure-is-something/

Follow link for some more whoppers, such as the reason the Civil War started, and how well enslaved people were taken care of.

[frazzled]

1. Yeah, the way being thrown in prison provides great food and shelter.

Lordy.

[malthaussen]

2. Well, let's play advocatus diaboli.

Until the plantation system was inaugurated and economies of scale kicked in, slavery was really marginal economically, because one did have to provide minimal standards of food, shelter, clothing, etc. And since slaves were not killed off or kicked to the curb once they became useless, injured, etc, they did present a drain on the financial resources of the soi-disant "owner." One of the reasons I think that schadenfreude is a more important component in racial and class hatred than most think, is because it really made no economic sense for a small, dirt-poor farmer to own any slaves, yet they frequently did (although mostly the poor whites in the south didn't have any). Contrasted with the way laborers in factories were treated, and given the conditions in the slums of the 19th century, the case for "social security" is not completely without merit, even if absurd. And this argument was frequently used at the time in defense of slavery. Now, whether the marginal security was worth the baggage that went with it, such as, you know, beating and being separated from family, denied marriage, chains, rape and the odd killing... well, I think most of us would rather have been free anyway.

But it is probably not a completely bad idea to remember that conditions in the North, for most industrial workers and workers in resource production (mining, logging, etc), were pretty exploitive as well, that in general it always is a bad thing to be on the bottom of the food chain, and that it is probably a pretty good idea for government to protect its citizens from the exactions of the rich people, whether land-owning aristocracy or robber baron.

-- Mal

[gollygee]

3. Slavery was worse

I will once again recommend the book The Half Has Never Been Told, which talks about families being intentionally torn apart, and the rape, horrible physical torture, and more of slavery.

Edited to note that you do mention these things, but I think it bears stating specifically, that being enslaved was far, far worse than other exploitation. Yes, other people were exploited as well, and still are, and there's even still slavery of various kinds, but slavery was horrific and the horror of it gets downplayed often (not specifically here at DU) and I just want to explicitly state it.

[malaise]

4. Precisely

+1,000

[treestar]

5. I've heard of some of that

from one Alabama person I know who is a right wing confederate-fan nut-head. The one about security and how the slaves looked on it as their home and thus even fought for it.