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GRRM quotes Frederick Douglass
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Platypus
Jun 13, 2020, 4:38:24 PM6/13/20
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On June 9, 2020. just a few days ago, GRRM posted on his not-a-blog, 2 quotes from Frederick Douglass:
"Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did, and never will."
"Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe."
That's the entire post, except that his avatar was a "sad face"; his "current mood" (complete with fuming alien head) was "angry"; and the tags were "life and death", "politics". Comments, of course, were disabled.
-------x
So what exactly is GRRM trying to say here? Who, exactly, is he angry at? I could guess, with reference to current events that were taking place on-or-before June 9 ... but surely I would guess wrong. Would someone braver than I like to volunteer?
-------X
Perhaps the original context is not relevant. But Frederick Douglass was a famous ex-slave and abolitionist. He was also a Christian; believing therefore in the universal brotherhood of mankind, and the Golden Rule. In the context of such beliefs, any calls to violence required some level of moral justification.
The first quote, above, is from a speech he gave in New York, in 1857, before slavery had been abolished. His point, in that context, was that there is not only a right, but even a duty, for good men to resist, violently if necessary, tyrannical institutions such as slavery. They must be willing to sacrifice their own lives, and, if necessary, the lives of others.
The second quote, is from a speech he gave in 1886, after slavery had been abolished. Here, Douglass was merely saying that the then-observed patterns of criminality had to do with prevailing circumstances, and not with anything inherent in the black race. The comment, in this context, had nothing to do with whether criminal behavior, whether in general or in specific contexts, was justified. He was merely denying that blacks were inherently criminal.
"Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did, and never will."
"Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe."
That's the entire post, except that his avatar was a "sad face"; his "current mood" (complete with fuming alien head) was "angry"; and the tags were "life and death", "politics". Comments, of course, were disabled.
-------x
So what exactly is GRRM trying to say here? Who, exactly, is he angry at? I could guess, with reference to current events that were taking place on-or-before June 9 ... but surely I would guess wrong. Would someone braver than I like to volunteer?
-------X
Perhaps the original context is not relevant. But Frederick Douglass was a famous ex-slave and abolitionist. He was also a Christian; believing therefore in the universal brotherhood of mankind, and the Golden Rule. In the context of such beliefs, any calls to violence required some level of moral justification.
The first quote, above, is from a speech he gave in New York, in 1857, before slavery had been abolished. His point, in that context, was that there is not only a right, but even a duty, for good men to resist, violently if necessary, tyrannical institutions such as slavery. They must be willing to sacrifice their own lives, and, if necessary, the lives of others.
The second quote, is from a speech he gave in 1886, after slavery had been abolished. Here, Douglass was merely saying that the then-observed patterns of criminality had to do with prevailing circumstances, and not with anything inherent in the black race. The comment, in this context, had nothing to do with whether criminal behavior, whether in general or in specific contexts, was justified. He was merely denying that blacks were inherently criminal.
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