Hacker News Reader

Good example. Only 1,6% of Americans owned slaves at its peak. Hundreds of thousands even died to free slaves. So no, the majority never supported slavery.

On a side note, do you really think opposing same sex marriage is equivalent of supporting slavery or taking self justice? Better bring Godwin straight ahead, so we can end a discussion right now ;)

View on HN

Using statistics to lie shows your weak position. Slaves were the backbone of the southern economy. Saying slavery only was supported by 1.6% of the population is the equivalent of only counting the owners of the church building when discussing whether the south was/is religious.

And yes, I tend to group different forms of discrimination together. You can substitute Jim Crow laws, the Chinese exclusion act, Japanese internment camps, or some other form of discrimination in your head if you like. But its useful to know that if someone says that slavery wasn't so bad and is ok with it, that I am wasting my time with a fully bad person.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com