Re:3D model of slave ship brings harrowing history to life
by xwdv on Saturday July 27, 2019 @08:28AM
(#20541715)
It’s funny because “concentration camp” itself in the WW2 sense is a euphemism for death camps. A concentration camp is nothing more than a place where you concentrate individuals that you don’t want to allow to freely walk around at large but don’t want to put into individual prison cells either. Inherently, there is nothing wrong with a concentration camp.
Re:3D model of slave ship brings harrowing history to life
by LocalH on Saturday July 27, 2019 @09:43AM
(#20541984)
At this point, the whole term "concentration camp" has a negative connotation and implies that the people being placed in the camp are being placed there for innate traits such as race or nationality, instead of based on their actions (in which case we just call it "jail" or "prison". Many people do think of "death camps" when they hear the term, only because of the notoriety of the Nazi camps.
The US ran their own concentration camps during WW2, to house Japanese Americans. Sure, the US didn't go to the depths of the Nazi concentration camps, but that doesn't make it any less deplorable to round people up purely based on their race or nationality (or any other now-protected status).
Re:3D model of slave ship brings harrowing history to life
by sfkdjf9j3j on Saturday July 27, 2019 @08:27AM
(#20541710)
I think you're reading a little too much into the word "sensitive". Nothing in the article suggests the historian is trying to whitewash or downplay the horrors of slavery.
What does being sensitive to issues about slavery mean? Is it historical accurate or not? There should be no positivity. Only accuracy. It's not like anyone truly imagines these days that any slavery from any time period was a summer camp get-away. If someone can't handle the historical reality, don't read about it to begin with. Bad things happened in the past. Get over it, but learn from it so we don't make the same mistakes. Putting your head in the sand doesn't change it. What's next, concentration camps will be downgraded to just weight loss centers because people's sensitivities can't handle "people were tortured and died in these places".