On Tue, 19 Apr 2016 15:42:01 -0400, Keyser Söze
wrote:

On 4/19/16 3:37 PM, wrote:
On Tue, 19 Apr 2016 15:23:17 -0400, Keyser Söze
wrote:

On 4/19/16 2:53 PM, wrote:

It is ironic that the university culture is supposed to promote free
thinking and looking at alternate ideas but you folks are the most
conformist people in our society. I just tossed out an idea that there
may have been a better solution than a war that killed 2 % of the
population, destroyed the economy and caused a divisiveness that has
not really waned and your answer is " nope war is the only answer". I
guess Cheney went to the same college system as you.


Actually, universities promote "critical thinking." As a "freethinker,"
you should know it is dangerous to come to conclusions based upon
insufficient evidence. Critical thinking requires more discipline.

Nobody here has given me much more than "that is the way it happened"
for a reason why a more peaceful solution could not have been
achieved. That sounds a lot like our recent (last 50 years) failed
policies when it comes to wars.
If the union had lifted the blockade of Charleston, an act of war, and
tried for other economic sanctions, they could have made a big dent in
the economy of the south in a year. It may have had them seriously
thinking about growing "slave free" cotton before 1865.
At the end of the day, slavery was popular because it was economically
advantageous but, compared to prevailing wages, it wasn't that
advantageous. If you hurt the cotton farmers in the marketplace, they
would be more willing to change.
Maybe I am just looking for 20th century solutions to 19th century
problems but you are trying to put 21st century morality on them.


Gosh, you try so hard to make your points and in this case without
anything to back you up. "If, if, if..."

Slavery is immoral, regardless of the time period. That humanity has
engaged in it over thousands of years doesn't make it right.

You can't talk about anything that did not happen without saying "if".
It is the first word in every debate about the Iraq war, the Vietnam
war or the Korean war.
There are even a lot of "if"s used in discussions about mistakes in
WWII and the holocaust.

I have never said slavery should have survived, I only question if it
was necessary to burn down half of the country to end it. We are the
only western civilization that chose this route and they all got rid
of it.
Maybe it is a symptom of our violent nature that still exists here. We
can't seem to do anything without declaring "war" on it and in some
cases it ends up being an armed conflict, most notably the war on
drugs. That war is on track to kill more Americans than the civil war.
(we are almost half way there) Again, it is a war we did not have to
fight. There was a better way.