John Brown, born on this day in 1800, was a militant abolitionist who advocated for and practiced armed insurrection to overthrow the system of slavery in the U.S. He became the first American executed for treason after raiding Harpers Ferry.
Brown first gained national attention when he led small groups of volunteers during the Bleeding Kansas crisis of 1856. He was dissatisfied with the pacifism of the organized abolitionist movement, stating "These men are all talk. What we need is action - action!"
In October 1859, Brown led a raid on the federal armory at Harpers Ferry, Virginia (modern day West Virginia), intending to start a liberation movement that would spread south through the mountainous regions of Virginia and North Carolina.
Although Brown's group successfully seized the armory at first, his raid was defeated by a combination of volunteer militia and state forces led by Robert E. Lee, who later commanded the Confederate States Army. Seven people were killed, two of whom were Brown's sons Oliver and Watson, and at least ten more were injured.
Brown had intended to arm enslaved people with weapons from the armory, but only a small number of locals were willing to join him, possibly due to an unfamiliarity with firearms. Within 36 hours, those of Brown's men who had not fled were killed or captured by local farmers, militiamen, or U.S. Marines.
Brown was hastily tried for treason against the Commonwealth of Virginia, the murder of five men, and inciting a slave insurrection. He was found guilty on all counts and was hanged, becoming the first person executed for treason in the history of the United States.
"I, John Brown, am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land can never be purged away but with blood. I had, as I now think, vainly flattered myself that without very much bloodshed, it might be done."
- John Brown
Megathreads and spaces to hang out:
- 🐻 Link to all Hexbear comms https://hexbear.net/post/1403966
- 🐼 Hexbear Matrix Chat https://matrix.to/#/#Hexbear:matrix.org
- 📀 Come listen to music and Watch movies with your fellow Hexbears nerd, in Cy.tube](https://live.hexbear.net/c/movies
- 🔥 Read and talk about a current topics in the News Megathread https://hexbear.net/post/8026521
- ⚔ Come talk in the New Weekly PoC thread https://hexbear.net/post/8030647
- 🏳️⚧️ Talk with fellow Trans comrades in the New Weekly Trans thread https://hexbear.net/post/8034428
- 👊 New Weekly Improvement thread https://hexbear.net/post/8027723
- 🧡 Disabled comm megathread https://hexbear.net/post/7886148
- ☕ Parenting Chat https://hexbear.net/post/8025314
- 🐉 Anime & Manga discussion thread https://hexbear.net/post/7546692
- 🎩Fashion megathread https://hexbear.net/post/7228810
- 🎨 Art & Drawings megathread https://hexbear.net/post/8070591
reminders:
- 💚 You nerds can join specific comms to see posts about all sorts of topics
- 💙 Hexbear’s algorithm prioritizes comments over upbears
- 💜 Sorting by new you nerd
- 🐶 Join the unofficial Hexbear-adjacent Mastodon instance toots.matapacos.dog
Links To Resources (Aid and Theory):
Aid:
Theory:
Financial Support to the Bearsite
The biggest issue is that it's elective. I'm all for getting necessary surgeries and medications (though I'd personally have to think about the pig hearts, etc, I'd feel really weird about that). I can just choose to keep wearing glasses forever and it works fine, they just get in the way a lot. My prescription is just getting worse to the point that glasses don't seem to help as much, but I'm not impaired to where I can't work or something. I took up birding and using binoculars with them is really annoying.
It's a really cool technology since it's reversible and doesn't seem to have the same downsides as the frankly scummy seeming LASIK industry that pushes a potentially life changing (or ruining) procedure on everyone. I just don't think that humans at this point in our technological development should keep using animals to improve our own lives and to a certain extent don't deserve to if we can't come up with an alternative.
Everyone else I know will say I'm being a freak for even re-considering due to this, tbh. I don't know a lot of vegans or people that especially care about animals irl.
I'm just frustrated that stuff like this still happens where I'm betting they could have a non-animal alternative to this and they just don't due to cost. Like how they don't have to keep using horseshoe crab blood for medicine because I think a Japanese researcher already figured out a synthetic version that works like a decade ago but nobody cares.
Thats fair, it makes sense to draw the line there because you could keep wearing glasses - vision is important but it doesnt sound like its hitting anything negative for your day to day life except needing new prescription every onxe in a while. It may be an optional part that if pig parts weren't as proliferate wouldnt actually be cheaper than synthetic or vegan components - but because of animal agriculture they are (for now).