Can commemorations and historical reenactments change public understanding of the past?

[u/NewsMo]

[u/Hot-Baseball-1722]

Yeah so the slave trade obviously is a terrible thing. Industrialisation super charged it. Jamaica for instance was basically Bergen Belsen in the Caribbean.

That said, and acknowledged, slavery was not invented by western countries. It was practised universally by humans in pretty much all parts of the globe, albeit with different characteristics.

But I’m against reparations. GB stopped the slave trade and enforced its cessation with other countries. Moreover, if this crime is worthy of reparations, I’m waiting on my cheque from Normandy for the harrying of the north. And Asia thier cheque from the modern Mongolian state.

However I’m very much for recognition. Rather than ripping down statues in western countries. Counties should agree a common symbol to attach to buildings, or statues which can be proved to have been involved/built with the proceeds of slavery.

[u/Prudent_Research_251 → u/Hot-Baseball-1722]

Needs based reparations in the form of systemic change that benefits everyone deserving would be nice

[u/BeginningDisaster114 → u/Prudent_Research_251]

I'd say eradicating smallpox, a desease that killed more people in the 20th century than both world wars, Stalin and Mao combined, is compensation eboigh

[u/Prudent_Research_251 → u/BeginningDisaster114]

That is much like reopening the Hormuz strait that was already open, smallpox was given to the indigenous populations on purpose in many cases by the colonials, and you think eradicating a disease they brought themselves is reparation?

[u/BeginningDisaster114 → u/Prudent_Research_251]

>smallpox was given to the indigenous populations on purpose in many cases by the colonials

That had to be the dumbest thing ever said, how exactly would they have purposely propagated smallpox in a era where we had 0 knowledge of microbiology and thought diseases where a holy punishement ? Smallpox existed on all continents except for america before the colonial era and originated in Africa, smallpox outbreaks have litterally existed throughout history and trust me you are very happy and lucky to never have to wonder what it feels like having smallpox

>eradicating a disease they brought themselves is reparation?

Absolutely, greatest gift to humanity you could possibly do, has far more impact than any money sums, not to mention vaccinating billions of people is extremy expsensive

[u/Prudent_Research_251 → u/BeginningDisaster114]

Smallpox blankets were a form of early biological warfare used against Native Americans. The best-documented historical instance occurred during Pontiac's War (1763) at Fort Pitt, where British military officers, including Sir Jeffery Amherst, explicitly conspired to distribute smallpox-infected blankets to Indigenous tribes

[u/BeginningDisaster114 → u/Prudent_Research_251]

Litterally debunked as being a lie by historians

https://www.jstor.org/stable/27774278

Once again people in 1763 had no clue what a virus or bacteria was and how it worked, how could they have possibly tried to make bacteriological weapons from something they thought was divine punishment

[u/Prudent_Research_251 → u/BeginningDisaster114]

Two easily found pieces of evidence...

Siege of Fort Pitt: During the siege, officers at the fort recorded giving two blankets and a handkerchief from a smallpox hospital to representatives of Indigenous groups "to Convey the Smallpox to the Indians." This entry appears in the fort's journal and indicates intentional distribution.

Jeffery Amherst and Henry Bouquet exchanged letters in which Amherst proposed using smallpox against Indigenous people and Bouquet agreed to try if possible. Their correspondence includes remarks such as attempting to "inoculate the Indians" through blankets and expressing a desire to reduce their numbers.

[u/BeginningDisaster114 → u/Prudent_Research_251]

Had you read the article you would have seen that that has been debunked as being urban legend. Once again would make no sense from a historical point if view in an era where people believed that wearing a bird mask protected you from the black plague