Civil War Talk Bans Mention of Slavery?!

PatYoung

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Civil War Talk has now banned the discussion of slavery for the month of September. How appropriate for the site to decide that slavery is not part of the Civil War in the month that will mark the 157th Anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation.

Black Confederate discussions have also been banned and my book review of Kevin Levin’s Searching for Black Confederates has been locked. Fortunately the thread had already drawn over 6,000 views in three weeks.

So the only stuff you can talk about are fun and uplifting things like white men killing other white men by the thousands. Yahoo!
 

PatYoung

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From Civil War Talk:

Two topics that we aren’t discussing are SLAVERY AND BLACK CONFEDERATES.

For the month of September we are putting the breaks on any discussions with this as the main topic.

These issues seem to be the hot topic at the moment for some, however if you think there is more to say (we don’t see what else you could possibly say that hasn’t already been said), we feel you can find lots of great venues made for discussing these topics.

We want to get CivilWarTalk back to discussing the Civil War.
 

5fish

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Civil War Talk has now banned the discussion of slavery for the month of September
Remember, I spoke with CWT in PM and CWT wanted a forum just to be about the Civil War and Reconstruction was not part of the Civil War or Antebellum South... maybe he is beginning the purification of his forum... It would not surprise me...
 

Andersonh1

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Yeah, I found that to be a bit of an odd pair of topics to exclude from discussion. I can see where talking about them them often dominates or certainly derails other topics though. Half the people on CWT won't know what to say if they can't talk about slavery!

My newspaper thread is also on hold, but that's fine. I need to work on organization and research related to those articles anyway.
 

jgoodguy

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Yeah, I found that to be a bit of an odd pair of topics to exclude from the discussion. I can see where talking about them they often dominates or certainly derails other topics though. Half the people on CWT won't know what to say if they can't talk about slavery!
We have a separate slavery forum here and it is very active. IMHO let folks discuss what they want; tailor the forums for most discussion and minimal disruption. I have the power to censor 'slavery' to 'term that must be not named' if needed.
 
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dedej

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This decision reminds me of the recent Plantation tours thread -- where some people don't want to learn/hear about the slaves -- and only came for the architecture and to learn about the enslavers family.

Slavery - well the enslaved experience -- and talking about them and/or the "peculiar institution" as a whole -- is not really a welcomed topic on CWT in the first place. Neither is the Black American experience post Emancipation.

Yes, a few members are very helpful, kind and open to the topic. But, many see the discussion topic as "race-baiting"or trying to attack their ancestors or encourage guilt. It's pretty sad.

Unless discussing the sick obsession with "Black Confederates" -- the enslaved are seen as nameless supporting/background extras to the Civil War.

As crazy as this is -- I truly think they should just be open and honest about not wanting CWT to discuss slavery and the Black experience in general.
 
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jgoodguy

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This decision reminds me of the recent Plantation tours thread -- where some people don't want to learn/hear about the slaves -- and only came for the architecture and to learn about the enslavers family.

Slavery - well the enslaved experience -- and talking about them and/or the "peculiar institution" as a whole -- is not really a welcomed topic on CWT in the first place. Neither is the Black American experience post Emancipation.

Yes, a few members are very helpful, kind and open to the topic. But, many see the discussion topic as "race-baiting"or trying to attack their ancestors or encourage guilt. It's pretty sad.

Unless discussing the sick obsession with "Black Confederates" -- the enslaved are seen as nameless supporting/background extras to the Civil War.

As crazy as this is -- I truly think they should just be open and honest about not wanting CWT to discuss slavery and the Black experience in general.
Our set up allows for the full discussion via blog posts, limited conference-style presentation and we can have discussions hidden from all but adult participants.
Slavery is not a welcome topic for me because I look at it in both a present view of its horrors, but also as an acceptable practice in the day. I feel factual discussions of its horrors is sufficient to horrify the audience.

OTOH random interjections of 'but it was about slavery' does not aid debates, IMHO.

Back in April, the Secession and politics and General History forums were downgraded. This latest action is just a continuation of deemphasizing Secession, Slavery, and Politics for IMHO a more market-friendly Civil War History. A number of old-timers were banned for no real reason than they were not in line with this marketing strategy.
 
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Andersonh1

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FWIW most of the newspaper thread is downloaded on my hard drive so if it disappears all but a month or so is safe.
Hopefully that won't be a problem, but it's good to know you've downloaded it. I have all the articles safely organized and filed away as well. I've spent a lot of time digging them up, I'd hate to see them vanish. :)
 

Andersonh1

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This decision reminds me of the recent Plantation tours thread -- where some people don't want to learn/hear about the slaves -- and only came for the architecture and to learn about the enslavers family.

Slavery - well the enslaved experience -- and talking about them and/or the "peculiar institution" as a whole -- is not really a welcomed topic on CWT in the first place. Neither is the Black American experience post Emancipation.

Yes, a few members are very helpful, kind and open to the topic. But, many see the discussion topic as "race-baiting"or trying to attack their ancestors or encourage guilt. It's pretty sad.

Unless discussing the sick obsession with "Black Confederates" -- the enslaved are seen as nameless supporting/background extras to the Civil War.

As crazy as this is -- I truly think they should just be open and honest about not wanting CWT to discuss slavery and the Black experience in general.
I don't think it's a desire to hide slavery so much as the feeling that it's derailing a lot of threads, and the CWT site owners just want a break from that. I don't know that I agree, but I see their point of view.
 

jgoodguy

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Hopefully that won't be a problem, but it's good to know you've downloaded it. I have all the articles safely organized and filed away as well. I've spent a lot of time digging them up, I'd hate to see them vanish. :)
A lot of forums/boards disappear when the owners get tired and just shut it down. Some of the old-timers remember the History Channel board that just shut down, recently another corporate-sponsored board shut down and I have had a board disappear also. All the content disappears.
 

jgoodguy

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I don't think it's a desire to hide slavery so much as the feeling that it's derailing a lot of threads, and the CWT site owners just want a break from that. I don't know that I agree, but I see their point of view.
It is their board to manage as they see fit.
 

jgoodguy

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I may even say a prayer for the moderators as they try to implement the new rules.
 

Al Mackey

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From Civil War Talk:

Two topics that we aren’t discussing are SLAVERY AND BLACK CONFEDERATES.

For the month of September we are putting the breaks on any discussions with this as the main topic.

These issues seem to be the hot topic at the moment for some, however if you think there is more to say (we don’t see what else you could possibly say that hasn’t already been said), we feel you can find lots of great venues made for discussing these topics.

We want to get CivilWarTalk back to discussing the Civil War.
So apparently someone thinks slavery is unrelated to the Civil War?
 

jgoodguy

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When this forum was formed, the founding members decide not to criticize Civil War Talk here.

OTOH that is not true of another forum of mine https://civilwartalkstatistics.home.blog/ for the non-facebook person
and
a FaceBook Page
https://www.facebook.com/cwtstatistics for the facebook person.

It is mostly about the statistics of Civil War Talk, but there are editorials. I post one or two times a week unless there is breaking news.

Mike and Ami post there on occasions, the last one was where Mike bragged that he was rich and making money hand over fist on CWT advertising. There posts are on how this is possible, but not appropriate here.
 

jgoodguy

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If anyone want to start a PM with me about CWT, I will add all interested Parties.
 
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