Unpaid Internships (or How to Spot an Apologist for Slavery)

apologist |əˈpäləjist|
noun

a person who offers an argument in defense of something controversial : an enthusiastic apologist for fascism in the 1920s.

ORIGIN mid 17th cent.: from French apologiste, from Greek apologizesthai ‘give an account’ (see apologize ).

Thesaurus
apologist
noun

one of Eisenhower’s better-known apologists defender, supporter, upholder, advocate, proponent, exponent, propagandist, champion, campaigner; informal cheerleader.

antonym critic.

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slave labor
noun

labor that is coerced and inadequately rewarded, or the people who perform such labor :
most of production is carried out by slave labor | they treat us like slave labor.

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From What Was Life Like Under Slavery?:

“Prior to the Civil War, abolitionists charged that slaves were overworked, poorly clad, inadequately housed, and cruelly punished; that slavery was a highly profitable investment; and that far from being content, slaves longed for freedom. Apologists for slavery, in turn, accused abolitionists of exaggerating slavery’s evils, asserting that slaves were rarely whipped, that marriages were seldom broken by sale, and that most slaves were able to maintain stable family lives. They maintained that paternalism and public opinion protected slaves from cruelty; that slave insurrections were rare because most slaves were contented with bondage; that slavery was an economic burden that planters bore out of a sense of responsibility; and that slaves enjoyed a higher standard of living, a better diet, superior housing, and a greater life expectancy than many free urban workers in the North and in Europe.”

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From More on Slavery Apologists:

“Even after slavery ended, it was replaced by its surrogate sharecropping. This was followed by White racist violence, rapid disfranchisement of Black men, and the establishment of Jim Crow segregation. Let’s not pretend this didn’t happen. While a select few Whites did engage in the abolitionist movement, the majority of Whites sat idly by or actively participated in slavery, and nobody should be grateful for that.”

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I suppose slaves were actually treated better than unpaid interns
because they were actually given food and a place to sleep..?

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