• grue@lemmy.worldEnglish
    967·
    3 months ago

    Why are abolishing slavery and establishing the Federal Reserve being treated as if they’re equivalently bad when they are very much not? This meme is subtly pushing a gold bug/crypto bro agenda.

  • ahal@lemmy.ca
    701·
    3 months ago

    Aww, lay off Jonathan. He’s a pioneer for gay rights, which is much more than can be said for any of you lot.

    Due to his advanced age, Jonathan spends his days doing almost everything with his mate, including eating, sleeping and mating… The sex of Frederica, … his companion since 1991, was cast into doubt in 2017 when island veterinarian Catherine Man indicated that due to a deformity of its plastron its sex could not be verified,[4] and is now known to be male, being renamed Frederik.

    • Blackout@fedia.io
      201·
      3 months ago

      Slavery is still the best way to make money if you own slaves. Elon Musk knows this.

    • merc@sh.itjust.works
      71·
      2 months ago

      No, it abolished slavery with an exception carved out for punishment for crime.

      The difference is important. Saying it was “made a punishment” suggests that before the amendment that option didn’t exist. It did. The 13th amendment just clarified that that use was allowed to continue.

      But, it’s also worth noting that in the late 1700s and early 1800s imprisonment was uncommon, and a lot of crimes just carried the death penalty. In England, pickpocketing more than the modern equivalent of about $40 could result in a death penalty. Same with cutting down trees, or stealing from a rabbit warren. For less serious crimes there were the stocks, whipping, and fines. England had an option that wasn’t available to the US: transportation. Australia was originally a penal colony, and the people sent there were forced to labour until their sentences were up.

      Prisons (along with their work programs) were seen as a new, progressive idea that could potentially reform a prisoner, rather than just killing / punishing them.

  • Varyk@sh.itjust.works
    41·
    3 months ago

    wikipedia:

    “His age is estimated because he was “fully mature” when brought to Saint Helena in 1882. “Fully mature” means at least 50 years old, giving him a hatching date no later than 1832.[8] A photograph featuring Jonathan originally thought to date from 1902 actually dates from 1886,[2] showing Jonathan four years after his arrival on Saint Helena. Measurements taken from the photograph show that he was fully mature in 1886.[citation needed]”

      • Varyk@sh.itjust.works
        17·
        3 months ago

        In December 2015, the St Helena vet Joe Hollins said that Jonathan was “alive and well […] He’s blind from cataracts, has lost his sense of smell, and so cannot detect food (his fellow giants mug him and can detect the tiniest morsel dropped on the ground), but he has retained excellent hearing.”[1]

    • callouscomic@lemm.eeEnglish
      17·
      2 months ago

      I take it you’ve never gotten in an argument with a libertarian?

      Imagine a libertarian in economics school. Yikes.

      • HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.worldEnglish
        10·
        2 months ago

        When I was in economics school we would go to the libertarian convention for shits and giggles. We were told by our professors explicitly not to heckle, just to giggle and treat it like a wildlife expedition. They were fun evenings.

  • 𝕸𝖔𝖘𝖘@infosec.pubEnglish
    9·
    2 months ago

    That’s not true. He did try to abolish slavery and stop the creation of the reserve, but tortoises move a little slower than humans do, and he just didn’t get there in time. But not for lack of trying.

    • callouscomic@lemm.eeEnglish
      6·
      2 months ago

      Well the Confederacy barely made it to 4 years old. Which explains why conservatives are creepily obsessed with it.