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<blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 9604797" data-attributes="member: 4937">This is the sort of broadbrush ahistorical innuendo which I guess passes for historical rigor on modern society, but which is in fact merely disinformation and dishonesty.&nbsp; The reader of your remark is not left with greater understanding of the situation, but less.&nbsp; The context of his remarks are nothing that you claim, nor are explicable to a modern reader without some context regarding the words and the stakes at debate.&nbsp; The &quot;moral imbecile&quot; in question was a white man, and his race had nothing to do with ERB's feelings on the matter.&nbsp; Indeed, ERB's primary feelings - the substance of the argument being made - was not race or eugenics at all, but rather the insanity defense.&nbsp;&nbsp; ERB was trying to distinguish between people who were insane and therefore pitiable and those who were merely unable to distinguish right from wrong despite otherwise rational modes of thought.&nbsp; Today we might use a term like &quot;sociopath&quot; but ERB doesn't have that language readily at his command, so he's using what in the context of his day was clinical scientific terms not meant as trigger words the way &quot;imbecil&quot; is now after long use on playgrounds in much the same way the &quot;r word&quot; has degraded to a slur.&nbsp; ERB is merely upset at what he sees is dishonest use of the insanity defense by someone who is not actually qualified to receive it despite he admits being not a normal person, in the sense that he doesn't think any normal person would stoop to such immoral behavior.&nbsp; That's the context of the debate he's entering into and the language he's using, not a pretext for racial genocide as you imply.Tarzan and John Carter are subversive superheroes whose beliefs and choices are subtle and sometimes not so subtle attacks on the aristocratic Anglo cultures that they are drawn from.&nbsp;&nbsp; John is a White Virginian who fought for the South, not because ERB is in any way sympathetic to the Lost Cause, but to deliberately undermine that idea of how a Virginian should behave.&nbsp; I'm not in anyway claiming the man is perfect, but you are badly misunderstanding him by going full Godwin's Law on him here.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Celebrim, post: 9604797, member: 4937"] This is the sort of broadbrush ahistorical innuendo which I guess passes for historical rigor on modern society, but which is in fact merely disinformation and dishonesty. The reader of your remark is not left with greater understanding of the situation, but less. The context of his remarks are nothing that you claim, nor are explicable to a modern reader without some context regarding the words and the stakes at debate. The "moral imbecile" in question was a white man, and his race had nothing to do with ERB's feelings on the matter. Indeed, ERB's primary feelings - the substance of the argument being made - was not race or eugenics at all, but rather the insanity defense. ERB was trying to distinguish between people who were insane and therefore pitiable and those who were merely unable to distinguish right from wrong despite otherwise rational modes of thought. Today we might use a term like "sociopath" but ERB doesn't have that language readily at his command, so he's using what in the context of his day was clinical scientific terms not meant as trigger words the way "imbecil" is now after long use on playgrounds in much the same way the "r word" has degraded to a slur. ERB is merely upset at what he sees is dishonest use of the insanity defense by someone who is not actually qualified to receive it despite he admits being not a normal person, in the sense that he doesn't think any normal person would stoop to such immoral behavior. That's the context of the debate he's entering into and the language he's using, not a pretext for racial genocide as you imply. Tarzan and John Carter are subversive superheroes whose beliefs and choices are subtle and sometimes not so subtle attacks on the aristocratic Anglo cultures that they are drawn from. John is a White Virginian who fought for the South, not because ERB is in any way sympathetic to the Lost Cause, but to deliberately undermine that idea of how a Virginian should behave. I'm not in anyway claiming the man is perfect, but you are badly misunderstanding him by going full Godwin's Law on him here. [/QUOTE]

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