My Greek family was enslaved by the Ottomans even more recently than Americans had slaves.
We managed to overcome the lack of education and the denigration experienced by Greeks ( and other Mediterranean people) in two generations. And the reason we were able to do that is because we didn’t call ourselves victims and we were not given handouts that stripped us of our self respect and initiative.
And I bet you don’t celebrate the actual Ottoman slave traders who bought and sold your ancestors. Or support or defend what they did.
Thanks for posting that.
Huh. So if monuments celebrating the brave efforts of the Ottomans to enslave your family were in danger of being taken down, I assume you’d take to the streets with torches?
No one celebrates them for the worst of their deeds… nor for the worst interpretation of their deeds.
But - once again - you are wrong about what I - at least- think about Mustafa Kemal, for example. He was the Turks’ George Washington and Robert E Lee all rolled up into one… a soldier for the Ottoman empire and then a new leader to the new Republic of Turkey after he overthrew that same empire.
His statues and pictures are still all over Turkey. He was leader of his people. His good outweighs his bad. No… no one celebrates the atrocities, but I respect that man. And more importantly, I understand the nationalistic Turks who know of those times and bad deeds but still hold dear the good parts of their heritage. THAT frees me. THAT keeps me from feeling like a victim. THAT is why I can put away hate and revenge and can call Turks my friends, can respect Ataturk, and can build upon the strength of my grandfather and Godparents who lived under the Ottoman rule but broke the yoke and succeeded by virtue of their initiative and will.
You people… you libs… on the other hand just exploit hate, revenge, and perceived victimhood at the expense of two groups of people… the ones you fill with feelings of being victims, and the ones you fill with feelings of guilt for being victimizers.
How would you feel if we put up some statues commemorating the ottoman’s who enslaved your family?
Do you feel the same about Nazi soldiers in WWII?
they are all over Turkey. I have seen many. And because I respect the good that was in the Ottoman empire and the good that was in Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, I respect those statues and pictures and the people who still call themselves Kemalists. I am not immune to the bad either. I have sat outside the Smyrna harbor (now Izmir) and literally felt the horror of the Greeks and Armenians massacred by Araturk’s army. It survives in a spiritual place over the century that separates us now. But we moved on. I love the Turkish culture. I respect but slightly snicker at the now idealized view of the Ottomans. I don’t feel like a victim at all. Everyone pays for their sins and they have and do still. And people like me move forward.
Are they the same as “German soldiers” during ww2?
I didn’t say German soldiers, did I?
dude, they fought a Civil War to continue human trafficking. it’s the same thing that Somali pirates do. people celebrate the confederacy and the confederate army every day.
Nazis of that day were guilty of heinous crimes and should have been punished.
Likewise antebellum and postwar southerners who treated black people like animals should have been punished. (of course, some -like Robert Byrd - were given exalted positions in the Democrat party even after he and his night riders terrorized entire families of Black people. No wonder you Democrats are eaten up by guilt)
“you” Democrats? Cute.
who else would use an avatar of a death skull?
a fan of the band “The Misfits”
why is everyone up in arms about whites owning slaves when blacks owned slaves too
The first legal slave owner was a black tobacco farmer
How many blacks in America lynched other blacks because they felt they were inferior and animals?
MS-13 don’t have a racially based ideology. They are a brutal criminal gang from El Salvador. As the president said, they are pure animals.
Pure animals, like white nationalists are. Different types of gangs, but in the end savages all of them.
I doubt they have no Latin pride, but if you don’t want to call those thugs Latino nationalist you have to admit La Raza is… “Reconquista”…
You have statues in your country honoring George Washington.
There were a few blacks who benefited from slavery and colonialism. In fact, it was not uncommon for whites to employ a black or mixed person as overseer in a plantation.
However, in the end, white authorities would give them the same punishment slaves got if they misbehaved.
