I was at an event where one of these was proposed. Thomas Jefferson was a slave owner, which felt deeply wrong to not consider to several of us and we left.
- printed books
- anything government related
- banksAlmost certainly yes - which is very troubling to think about.
Literally walking out of a gathering because a dead person's name was brought up demonstrates deep emotional immaturity, regardless of whatever perceived negatives that word may or may not be associated with.
Since the gathering's goal was to engage in philosophical and intellectual debate; OP's reaction is even more troubling. Since it's TJ, OP's reaction is also very ironic.
Had the concept been referred to by some other name, OP wouldn't have felt the deep desire to signal their "position" on a dead person's name. I believe this is the emotionally "triggered" concept.
"Triggered", when it first entered the popular lexicon, used to refer exclusively to people with PTSD experiencing something that triggered (!) a heightened stress response, panic attack, etc.
Nowadays to be triggered is to be vaguely upset at something.
Never attribute to malice what can be explained by ignorance. Most people (myself included) have no idea of the connections between everyday things and their negative connections due to the lack of knowledge on such a large domain. Some people think the few things they do know about are the only ones or the only important ones and proceed on that basis.
No, this is a serious position, and you have to be trolling by being so dismissive of it. Julian calendar, what kind of argument is that? Don't you know we use the Gregorian....
See how that feels? That wasn't very constructive, was it? Try to assume good faith.
People were capable of understanding that slavery was wrong, it was just an inconvenient truth for most of them(them being the wealthy land owners in America).
I’m not going to go so far as to say it’s a good reason to forget about him, Jefferson was a great thinker, but the whole “product of the times” is kinda BS. People who act shitty don’t deserve forgiveness because they could get away with something immoral through the contemporary legal framework.
I say this because very rarely are people lionized for being ahead of their times in important practical moral ways.
Meaningless.
Placing current societal norms on the past is also meaningless.
Understanding is only achieved through proper context, research, and discussion.
You’ve chosen none of these.
Even at a self-service potluck, someone has to provide the utensils, the drinks, the food refills, and the cleanup. Usually someone volunteers for that role because it's easier for them than making a dish, and it is contributing to the party.