, 7 tweets, 2 min read Read on Twitter
That Frederick Douglass quote I just RT'd is deservedly known, but the entire "West India Emancipation speech" is a worth a read, as is usually the case with him. rbscp.lib.rochester.edu/4398 His remarks on technological progress (in 1857) are notable, too.
It risks appearing to distract from his greater message or your own by invoking Douglass to talk about the falseness of technotopianism. But he points out that all the amazing "steam and lightning" inventions of the age did not guarantee spiritual or national salvation.
I revisited this Douglass speech with @Kasparov63 to possibly include these elements in Deep Thinking, since there's a resurgence of technophilia in an era of moral calamity. Didn't make it in, but it's remarkable and powerful.
This clip contrasts this earlier part reassuring his audience that rich inventors would be fine before delivering the bread alone hammer. "There is not the slightest danger that those who contribute directly to the world's wealth and ease will ever be forgotten by the world."
As with so much of Douglass, he saw clearly what many still do not see today, that new technology won't save our souls, or our societies, unless the people using it get better, too.
Also enjoy and feel free to take for today's president Douglass's spectacular phrasing here: "Senator Toombs with a show of truth, lyingly said in Boston a year or two ago in defence of the slavery of the black race..."
As a speechwriter, I'd say "with a show of truth, lyingly said" would mark the career high point of a lesser writer and speaker.
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