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[QUOTE=isired;2841590]The thing that makes all of that hard to answer is that slaves were not chosen at random - they were usually hand-picked as the best available, from what I know. So you have to wonder how different Africa, or parts of Africa, might be had the slave trade not existed.
Either way, I think the answer to the first premise is decidedly "no" - those that would have been repatriated were not raised in Africa and would have had no 'home' there, they would have been at a disadvantage I would think.
For the second premise, I'd guess that yes, as a whole, the lives of today's American Blacks would be better if slavery never existed. On pure numbers, I don't think the overriding experience of the American Black is a positive one. I may be geographically skewed (as an inner-city resident), but that's my guess.[/QUOTE]
I would definitely agree with you on both counts. Its pretty dubious to try and argue that slavery, in the end, was a positive, which is essentially what question #2 does, just in cloaked terms. If today's African-Americans are better off, and they are here because of slavery, then slavery, in the end, was a net positive. Of course, as you point out isired, its not like that conditional is even true...
Besides, look at the results of Western colonization in post-colonial Africa. The idea that the continent is somehow "better off" from the western influence is frankly laughable...
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