Yeah, sorry if I came off harsh Dave, you're probably catching the tail end of my frustration with the fact that I have some version of this conversation literally every time I write the word "slavery" in an article.

It's just that, as I said, I've yet to see anybody feel the need to do this when talking about any other atrocities. Ethnic cleansing, genocide, war crimes, there's never any relativism when talking about these things. If I wrote about how evil Hiroshima was, I don't think I'd have anybody talking about napalm in Vietnam, or even Pearl Harbour, in the comments. But without fail, it happens when I talk about slavery.

So I'm frustrated by the conversation, but I'm also frustrated by what I can't help but see as the motivation behind it. Given the regularity with which it happens, I really struggle to believe that it has nothing to do with defensiveness bought on by racial guilt.

And let me be clear, I understand where this would come from. With all of the "all white people are complicit in everything that happened in America since 1619 forever" rhetoric, it's inevitable that after a while there's an instinctive feeling of defensiveness when people talk about racist actions carried out by white people in the past.

So every time I have this conversation, as well as being irritated by the conversation itself, I'm irritated by the people spreading this dogma that inevitably makes conversation about race that little bit harder and more frustrating. Again, sorry if I took that frustration out on you.