The Behavior of People in Past Eras

The argument that we cannot apply the standards of the present to people in the past does not seem to be resonating with those who believe that George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and hundred others should be painted over, tumbled to earth, or excised from history books. They seem to think that it is perfectly okay to apply their current standards, which anybody who is anybody knows and agrees with.

I therefore burrow one step deeper. Most of us, including the protestors, would have done exactly the same in their shoes. It is rare for anyone to stand apart from his culture and question its basic assumptions.  It occurs mostly in the Anglosphere, and especially America. I suppose the young people adopting this new standard would not want to agree that it is an especially American thing to try and call one's countrymen to account, but it is. The Scandinavians like everyone to march together, quietly smiling.  Mediterraneans will push back against their nation, but only on behalf of their clan or region. Farther east, the matter does not even come up.

So they too would have likely been slavers, or oppressors of women, or violent bigots, or at least done business with those who were.  Because there wasn't any other way to make a living. Modern girls may fantacise that they would have imported their current personalities and attitudes and been just their same precious selves had they lived in Bruges as it was declining in power and people were scrambling to get power and influence and the future looked insecure, but no, they would have been obsessed with finding a husband, just like their friends.  A husband who looked like he might be on his way up, or at least had something stable.  The modern boy might think he too would stand nobly aloof from a degraded age as Columbus set out from Palos, refusing to participate in the expulsion of Jews, or going along with the Spanish version of the Inquisition, or watching slaves be sold in the market.  But he would.  Nearly all of us would, or would put up with it.

Lots of very fashionable clothes and equipment are made in foreign countries under very exploitative conditions now.  When we hear of it or think of it, we wish it were not so.  We wish there were some simple solution that would not make life for those poor people even worse.  But we buy the clothes and equipment. I am betting those protestors buy lots more clothes than I do.  They have a lot of turnover, and the high turnover items are the ones most affected.  Athletic shoes. Yoga pants. Outerwear.

Therefore, they would have gladly done business with slavers, or been slavers themselves had they lived in those days. It's not pretty, but it's a very human thing to do.