YEAH, YOU CAN JUDGE THE PAST

One of my favorite whiny, snot nosed FOXesque nostrums is: you cannot apply the values of today to historical behavior. These are the same profound folks, by the way, that affirm the absolute universal and eternal values of evangelical Christianity.

There is a sly assumption at work in this unexpected appeal to relativism. Not being contemporary with slavery, for example, we ought not to judge it in our own context.

Assumption: slavery existed. It must have been OK.

The majority opinion in the mid 19th Century USA was that slavery was evil. The western world saw it that way as well. One nasty regional group held out. The Confederate States of America. I don’t have to project current values to condemn slavery. I only need to quote contemporary commentary.

So, by nodding one’s head at a status quo ante the idea that that point of view had social, political and moral sanction needs to be examined. If true, ponder relativism. If false, condemn and castigate to your hearts content. 1860. Slavery evil. 2021. The slavery of 1860 was evil. Just ask