The vast majority of whites are descended from people who suffered as serfs for several hundred years. In our time of abundance, we often forget how short and brutal life used to be. Christopher Martin, in his book “Louis XIV”, describes it thus:
… The peasantry still formed the bulk of the population. Dressed in course cloth, with wooden clogs, living in thatched hovels, they lived simply at the best of times, on a meatless diet of bread and dripping, and porridge. As much as half the value of their crops might go to the landlord in rent; or if, as was common in Southern France, they owned their own smallholding, it was often too tiny to keep them above the level of starvation. The periodic scourges were famine, plague and war. Not surprisingly the peasant’s expectation of life at birth was only twenty-five years.
During the Middle Ages, some 90% of Europeans were serfs. These “Middle Ages” persisted, in some places, until the 19th century. Once born a serf, it was almost impossible to escape to a higher station in life; one’s status was determined by lineage. Education was rudimentary at best and was typically limited to religious instruction. Illiteracy was the norm.
Peasants were viewed as an inferior breed of human, relegated by divine providence to serve the noble class:
Certain wild creatures, male and female, are to be seen about the countryside, grimy, livid, burnt black by the sun, as though tethered to the soil which they dig and till with unconquerable tenacity… When they stand upright, they show a human face; they are, in fact, men. At night they creep back into dens, where they live on black bread, water and roots; they spare other men the trouble of sowing, ploughing, and reaping in order to live, and they deserve not to go short of that bread which they have sown…” (La Bruye’re on the peasants, in “Characters”). Also from “Louis XIV”.
While most white people today are descendants of those “wild creatures”, it is certainly working class/blue collar whites who are their true heirs. What long-term cultural and genetic legacies did those centuries of slavery inflict upon the the descendants of serfs?
Among large-scale movements, the rise of Marxism in Eastern Europe was clearly built upon class resentment – though it ended up destroying the very downtrodden it was supposed to rescue.
I would argue that the prevalence of alcoholism in certain European countries is an outgrowth of serfdom. After all, in a life of abysmal misery, it is only natural that people availed themselves of the temporary escape from reality that alcohol provided. Who can blame them?
In a feudal society, peasants lacked freedom. They needed their lord’s permission to marry or even to leave his property. Over generations, people would have grown accustomed to their rulers making important decisions for them. Today, their descendants are accustomed to government making decisions for them. There was a smooth continuity of subservience – the lord gave way to other, more modern, forms of subjugation. The serf has always had “authorities” to answer to even to this day.
Despite all the above, I do not believe that any white society pities itself and lives in the shadow of any historical persecution. As Guywhite eloquently put it, in his open letter to Eric Holder and Michelle Obama:
What proof is there that black people still suffer from slavery 150 years ago besides your claims? Do Russians still suffer from the legacy of serfdom? If so, why did Russia get rapidly wealthier after the fall of the Soviet Union and the people of Moscow are now wealthier than most Americans? If blacks still suffer from the legacy of segregation into the black ghetto, does that mean that Jews must still suffer from the legacy of the Jewish ghetto? If so, then why are Jews the wealthiest people in the United States and every other country? Why do they score the highest on academic and IQ tests?
In the Western world, what is it that distinguishes successful people from failures? Failures are enslaved by their legacies. Successful people rise above their legacies.
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Failures are enslaved by their legacies. Successful people rise above their legacies.
Black people seem to think that they’re the only ones who have ever been enslaved or have had it rough, aside from sympathetic “people of color” who agree with them.
Little do most people know that near the emancipation proclamation, serfdom in Russia had just been abolished.
This is why I also don’t tolerate this whole “whites have never suffered and never have to work for what they get, while black have to be twice as good just to get half the reward” BS.
Also, one should note that anti-racists frequently love to point out how everything was so much better before modernity and the coming of the white race (which they see as purely a social construct).
So basically, anti-racists want us to go back to the days of serfdom and toil. Extreme interpretation? I think not, considering that they revile the rise of the middle class and industrialization.
So I guess blacks having to suffer is bad, but Europeans suffering as serfs is just cool.
The claims about blacks still suffering from slavery and other BS like that is obviously just to get whites to dance to their tune. And most whites are stupid enough to go along with this sad rubbish and they get the privileges… so it works! And as long as it works they’ll keep on saying it.
***they get the privileges***
You don’t understand, they have to do this to combat ‘white privilege’.
forum discussion about white US
More Critical Race Theory mumbo jumbo.
Nothing more.
Pearle-
If whites benefit from “white privilege” then why does the white standard of living usually go up when there are fewer blacks and the black standard of living usually go down when there are fewer whites?
Bizarre but true: leftists consider intact families, low crime rates and higher academic standards “white privilege”. According to them, even inhabitants of remote Scandinavian villages have “white privilege”.
What do you people mean when they say privilege with regards to “white privilege”. Its such a vague term. Are people meaning something specific? Does privilege mean money? In the thread which Pearle linked to someone says this, quote:
“We actually read this in class the other day, everyone thought it was pretty good but it does ignore that Obama hasn’t done poo poo either, and that he was elected because a majority of whites did vote for him. Which doesn’t really change anything but I’d say white folks are flipping out less because of outright racism and more because they’re scared as poo poo of losing privilege, and that fear is being played on by the right (and a lot on the left). The conditions are perfect because the economy is going to poo poo so they can make it look like it’s this “new” group (Blacks, Mexicans)’s fault.”
http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3353723#post382780589
This poster says she thinks whites are “flipping out” due to being scared of losing privilege. It’s such an awful word to use because it doesnt specifically mean anything and it could mean lots of things. Does privilege mean money?
To Critical Race Theorists and those on the far left in general, “privilege” simply means a lack of disadvantage.
So whites not having to worry about getting racially profiled by the cops is a “privilege,” because blacks do.
They see everything in zero sum terms. If a black person faces any inconvenience or frustration, then automatically that’s a “privilege” for a white person. They see “privilege” in very RELATIVE terms.
Hence, “hetero privilege,” “able bodied privilege,” etc.
As has been pointed out by far better people than me, these types simply adopt a rhetorical Marxist outlook, but substitute race, gender, etc for class.
What’s taught in Sociology and African American studies courses is little more than Racial/Cultural Marxism.