I don't think this person is trying to say "these are exactly the same". Only the hardest-right people try to diminish the transatlantic slave trade by saying that other groups did it than the white colonial powers. The comment to me seemed more "Huh, today I learned..." than that.
No, that's pretty normal for moderate people to say or believe but of course if you always attack them by claiming they're extremists, they aren't going talk to you about it are they?
The scale thing is irrelevant because the morality of it isn't related to scale. It's just a consequence of larger populations at the time and bigger differences in tech levels. It's clear from history that the Barbary pirates etc weren't saying to themselves, well this much slavery is ok, but that much would be immoral so we won't do it. They were just a few centuries earlier when there were far fewer people around.
Yes, that was my intention… but the comment got downvoted so I learned today also that probably commenting here now is not what it used to be a while ago.
There's a chilling effect at the moment where you can't say "huh, today I learned" about anything that might be a right-wing talking point without risk of being treated as some kind of White supremacist yourself.
It's not so chilling or new - people have been misunderstanding each other for millenia. And here on HN at least, if commenters follow the comment guidelines we should be alright.
> Please respond to the strongest plausible interpretation of what someone says, not a weaker one that's easier to criticize. Assume good faith.
