The Jones Plantation. Choosing which slave master to work for is not being free.

[truth2power]

Last edited Mon Apr 14, 2014, 05:37 PM - Edit history (1)

12 minutes.

Choose one slave master or another. Still the same ol', same ol'.

[freedom fighter jh]

1. Good parable.

We are not as enslaved as real slaves. But neither are we as free as we are told we are.

[zeemike]

2. K&R

It is the illusion that must be broken.

[HatTrick]

3. Video makes some good points, but......

The video was posted on youtube by "Larken Rose" and at the end he recommends his book "The most dangerous superstition".

I'd recommend some research of Larken Rose.

He makes some good points in this video, but looks pretty extreme when you look at his other videos.

{per Wikipedia} Larken Rose, an adherent of the 861 argument, was sentenced to 15 months in prison for willful failure to file income tax returns in five years in which the government alleged that his income was approximately $500,000. He was released from prison in December 2006

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_protester_history_in_the_United_States#Larken_Rosehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_protester_history_in_the_United_States#Larken_Rose

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_protester_861_argument

The other videos I saw are generally Anti-government, or he would say anti-big government and Anti-gun control.

[IrishAyes]

6. Wise caution.

[truth2power]

13. I would certainly disagree with Larken Rose on the issues you stated..

What stood out for me in the video was this heretical thought ...vote for party A or party B...seems like the outcome is much the same.

[rlegro]

4. It's worthwhile up to a point. However....

... there's a massive illogic in this tale, namely this:

In the real south, among real slaves, the plantation owner scheme to declare them free would have been seen by everyone as total BS, and a lot sooner and more widely than this tale suggests. Black slaves were held back in many ways but they remained intelligent and thoughtful as a group, a situation born of necessity. They'd know very quickliy they were being sold a bill of goods, even if they were taken in very briefly by the first announcement.

Ironically, despite the setting of this parable, blacks and other marginalized citizens of all backgrounds tend to be way ahead of the general populace in perceiving how the game is played, because they and their ancestors have had centuries of experience at being cheated, deprived and abused. This parable thus works better as an indictment of capitalism in general. But you don't have to like the guys behind this little story, or their preferred solutions, to agree with the parameters of that problem. Indeed, if they had their way, they might just end up becoming the next, figurative generation of plantation owners.

Undereducated, underinvolved and underinformed Americans, many of them white, are still encouraged to think their own misfortune is either the fault of imaginary minority "takers" or an imperious government, or evil foreign powers, or all three. But the real takers are America's own wealthy elites who retard social progress and who fight egalitarian laws that prevent exploitation.

[IrishAyes]

5. Your last paragraph really nails the whole situation.

Not that the other comments are lacking; just that that paragraph truly shines.

[blkmusclmachine]

7. ,

,

[DAngelo136]

8. Just my thought

Tommy Douglass's "Mouseland" is far better political fable than this

[libodem]

10. This was very interesting

Thank you.

[truth2power]

14. That is most interesting...

I will leave it at that.

[efhmc]

9. Can you fix the title spelling.

Plantation.

[truth2power]

12. Oops! Must have been a little early in the a.m. Thanks. n/t

[libodem]

11. Wow

How frustrating and upsetting to be treated like this. African Americans have had to endure so much mistreatment and so many lies. What a resilient and forgiving decent slice of humanity to endure and thrive in the face of evil.

I've been reading books lately that focus on slaves and 'the help' to sharpen my empathy and compassion. I've taken it to heart. I don't know if I could have been talked down to and been so acquiescent.