Dave wrote: ↑Sat Apr 10, 2021 6:14 pm
Slavery was grand too. Different era.
Slavery was not grand - nor was shooting animals for fun. I have no hesitation in stating that straight up. What I do find hard to do is condemn people for conforming to the attitudes and norms of society for the period in which they lived.
Slavery existed since the beginning of human times - it was not started by a few Europeans sending Africans to Europe and the Americas. Actually, the ones most guilty of that were other Africans selling slaves to the Europeans for transportation, but we're getting off topic here.
As I say, slavery has existed for millennia, but it took until a few hundred years ago for most to change their minds on the morality of that.It took years of re-educating to get to where we are now. Of course some took longer to get there than others - that was often because they stood to lose money by its abolition. Indeed there are still some cultures that don't see too much wrong with slavery.
None of that makes slavery right, but we have the benefit of hindsight and modern ethics to come to that decision. Others in centuries past did not have that and merely conformed to the accepted norm of the time. Does that make it right? No, of course not, but should we condemn them for conforming to accepted practices? I don't think so.