In every generation comes some insanity that seems to most intuitively obvious that all subsequent generations see for what it really is--utter lunacy. There are plenty of examples of system that seemed to be the highest of intellectual rigor which turned out to be confused delusions--Existentialism for example. Sigmund Freud would be another example. Not a single thread of his theories has stood up to rigorous testing. [That is even though at the time he was thought to be the equal of Einstein.] [Psychology has yet to prove that it has cured even one single person of any definable disease-despite the trillions of dollars that have been pored into it.] Communism was thought to bring in the golden age --the workers paradise. It was thought to be built not on theory, but rigorous scientific facts. [The odd thing is that even Trotsky saw the Soviet system would produce 100 tractors and only 55 would actually work. ] The natives that Columbus encountered begged him to save them from the Caribbean tribes ("Caribs") that were the most organized group that were eating them. [Not exactly the noble savages in the delusions of Rosseau.] The Native Americans were busy at war with each other and enslaving each other and begging the Europeans for weapons.
But other times things are not so clear to later generations. Steven Dutch pointed out that old insanities arise anew. Time is not the best test.
Why this comes up is that I have been trying to figure out some sort of justification for the Civil War. Let's say for example I have a wife, and one day she wants out. But I say, "Sure you can leave but only if I can keep keep your right arm." Few people would justify that. So the South entered into a voluntary agreement to be one nation with the North. But one day they want out. So we say, "Sure you can go as long as we kill a half a million of your men and leave you impoverished for the next 150 years."--and all for your own good. [Why have I been thinking about this is I have looked at President Grant's justification of the war. All for the good of the South.]
And as far as slavery goes-It started because tribes of men have been at war one with another since the beginning of time. But some people decided that instead of killing the tribe that had been at war with--they would spare their lives. But not leave them so free as to be able again to attack them from the inside. Rather they would enslave them.
Or lets say there is a Mad-Max situation. Civilization has collapsed. And you manage to get around you a group of people that are now just managing to grow crops and start anew. Out of the blue you are attacked. But you win. Do kill them? Or just let them go free to be able to attack you again? Or let them join your group and plot against you from within your gates? Or perhaps the more humane thing is to spare their lives but not give them enough freedom to be able to undermine you and attack you from within.
