Divine or not, a seizure's a seizure.

Feb. 12, 2012 at 8:28am with 9 notes

Three different photographs of Peter, a slave from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, ca. 1863. The scars are a result of a whipping by his overseer Artayou Carrier, who was subsequently fired by the master. It took two months to recover from the beating. These photographs were widely distributed in the North during the war. Also called “Gordon”, Peter later enlisted in the Union Army.

It’s hard to avoid all the vitriol and propaganda this year. Between health care reform, the Republican primaries, and a tumultuous economy, the politicos are bombarding us constantly. This morning I’ve been sifting through Civil War photographs and articles, trying to understand better—if only by analogy—the nature of these divisions we encounter today. It is a mess of simple truths and complex realities. History is complicated and confusing because it is a record of our own lives. I’m sure that in future generations, the history of the early 21st century will be expressed in sweeping, broad, moralizing terms which gloss over the day to day absurdities, atrocities, and insecurities of our lives.

Three different photographs of Peter, a slave from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, ca. 1863. The scars are a result of a whipping by his overseer Artayou Carrier, who was subsequently fired by the master. It took two months to recover from the beating. These photographs were widely distributed in the North during the war. Also called “Gordon”, Peter later enlisted in the Union Army.

It’s hard to avoid all the vitriol and propaganda this year. Between health care reform, the Republican primaries, and a tumultuous economy, the politicos are bombarding us constantly. This morning I’ve been sifting through Civil War photographs and articles, trying to understand better—if only by analogy—the nature of these divisions we encounter today. It is a mess of simple truths and complex realities. History is complicated and confusing because it is a record of our own lives. I’m sure that in future generations, the history of the early 21st century will be expressed in sweeping, broad, moralizing terms which gloss over the day to day absurdities, atrocities, and insecurities of our lives.