That twit excusing slavery because of cultural or class "context" and then blaming it all on colonialism anyway (slavery in the Philippines is ancient and far predates the arrival of the white debils) encapsulates in one little tweet all that is wrong with regressive left thinking.

I have been thinking about it a great deal and I have concluded that I will not run for Mayor. It has not been an easy decision and many many many people have asked me to enter the fray. But I think I have many more comments to make on SLOG and must continue with my work here. Thank you again for your support.

@2: Darn.

This is absolutely brilliant:

School House Rock - The President's Lie

Just curious. Why the editorial "What the actual fuck" on the link about the group "Our Revolution" potentially making an endorsement in the mayor's race? The group is grassroots, with many members in the Seattle area. So what's the problem?

@5 You tell us Ken. It is your ilk who are generally for indentured servitude for the poor, yes?

@4
Yup
It's s tough job being a commenter on SLOG - but someone has to do it.
You, sir, could easily run for mayor.

@1 I don't know how you drew that conclusion unless you didn't actually read the whole article, or you're just reading into it what you want to (because everything has to be about librul hipocrisy, right?). He's not excusing slavery at all. He begins by giving some context (slavery is an old institution in the Philippines) and then describes his own realization of how wrong it was, despite his parents conditioning him to think it was normal. It's full of regret that he didn't do more for Lola, and the tragedy that by the time he took real steps to try to give her a better life, it was too late.

@1 Not to mention, Tizon drops no hints in the article about his political orientation. He could easily be a registered Republican.

@10 & 11. I was not referring to the Atlantic article (it is worth a read). I was referring to this tweet; "Cultural context is important-but so is class context. The Phils is one of the most unequal countries in Asia due to its colonial past".

@2: The only campaigning I've run was here on Slog, and let me tell you, it is brutal. So many babies that I had to kiss. So many votes to earn. So palms to grease. It's just not worth it.

Someone wrote a fantastic, deeply emotional article about a person who he cares about deeply, and a bunch of talentless twitter hacks fart out half-assed "take downs" in response. News at 11.

@15 Well, that is the major pitfall of twitter, isn't it? Impossible to say anything sensible in 140 characters. One reason it's a good policy to ignore tweets altogether. I got to remember that. But she did mention there was a "context" in which the slavery took place. What "cultural context" would make a system of slavery understandable, if not actually ok? In your estimation.

As an aside, colonialism did not create a highly stratified society. All human societies are stratified. In many places colonialism certainly changed the players and probably even re-jiggered the strata. But to pretend that, prior to the arrive of the white devils, Phillippinos were somehow different than the rest of humanity is a bit insulting. It infantilizes of them.

It is also flatly wrong that prior to the arrival of the white devils that slavery and human trafficking weren't commonplace in the Philippines - or anywhere else on earth. It still goes on today but in places and by people we're not allowed to mention.

@14. "he should have centered his own complicity" which of course would have drawn criticism for making it about him rather than the victim. Left Internet is nearly indistinguishable from the online-right, it's just people who've found a way to feel better about themselves by raging at someone else without having to think they're a jerk for it.

#17: Yeah, pretty much anything thoughtfully written these days will invariably bring down the hammer of the moralizing, judgmental, holier-than-thou hordes of commentators. Any article, movie, show or book worth taking about seems to come pre-packaged with a mini-moral panic.