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

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  • Keld [he/him, any]@hexbear.netEnglish
    13·
    16 days ago

    “Lol the judge is mogging claviicular” “lol the journalist is hotter than clavicular” “lol x person is hot and that owns clsvicular”

    Shut your face you creeps pretending to be journalists, you are literally just proving incels right. What the fuck is this.

      • Keld [he/him, any]@hexbear.netEnglish
        4·
        15 days ago

        Exactly… If we are pointing out who is owned by virtue of looks when clavicular is involved, we are buying into his premise.

        His premise is that looks is one of the primary ways society assigns you value (And that unlike socioeconomic status you can realistically change your looks) not that he is the hottest guy in the universe (In fact he smashed his face with a hammer due to dissatisfaction with his own appearance, tbat’s why you know about him). Looking at him next to someone and deciding that the other guy has owned him by virtue of compararive hotness is just agreeing with him.

        • Le_Wokisme [they/them, undecided]@hexbear.netEnglish
          1·
          15 days ago

          His premise is that looks is one of the primary ways society assigns you value

          that’s kinda true tho? lookism is definitely real and is studied by serious sociologists. incels are wrong because of who they blame and because of the solutions they propose

  • Sasuke [comrade/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
    12·
    15 days ago

    i’m taking some pleasure in knowing that this year’s eurovision has passed us by, and i’ve yet to hear a single snippet of any of the songs or learn any of the artist’s names - and that includes the bargain bin harry style clone the norwegian broadcaster has been shoving in our faces since the national selection

    death to israel

    isntrael

  • hexaflexagonbear [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
    10·
    17 days ago

    I think the John wick series and forza horizon have the most baffling and fascinating lore in all of media. Completely identical in every way to our world but for some reason everything revolves around a not so secretive assassin society / car festival.

  • GalaxyBrain [they/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
    9·
    17 days ago

    Had a smoke break at the same time as a dude im pals with who works at the brewery next door and we communism flirted. I forget the context but we were he joked 'this is why we need communism, equitable distribution of (whatever inane thing we were talking abou, it was something very silly) and I replied ‘you’re preaching to the Red Army Choir.’. There was then a pause as we both kinda realized we both meant it and were testing the waters. So yeah! Found out one of my pals working in the same building is a comrade. I figured he would have guessed when I set up an intra building workers mutual aide network of stealing shit and trading in the hallway. I sneak em food out the back door, they give us free beer out the back door and the bosses dont need to know. Anyway, always nice to know someone you’re friendly with is on the ball, especially as a co-conspirator against the bosses. It’s one thing to be in it for the free food or booze, but quite another to be doing the trades for ideological reasons, I wouldn’t be trading a hilarious amount of pizza for staff 12 packs to split, id be running the scam privately at a lower risk, I am trying to encourage subversion and buy loyalty aside from cutting your work pals in just being the nice thing to do. The best way to promote your ideals is to deliver people the goods,education and stuff is good, but at the end of the day, I dont need everyone on my side to understand my cause, they just need to be loyal to it. Getting my co-workers free booze or letting them out early on a rough day and taking it on the chin solo etc while dropping little tidbits of theory here and there has gotten me way further than trying to give a full education would. As long as they know theyre being ripped off and the communist they work with is softening the blow for them at personal risk, you’re good. In this case it isnt a real risk cause even if I got found out at worst id get chewed out, im way to important to the operation to mess with too much.

  • tocopherol [any]@hexbear.netEnglish
    8·
    15 days ago

    Overheard at my local corner store: “Did you hear gas is supposed to be seven dollars by next week? Some places like New York it’s gonna be ten! Imma get me a horse, bro!”

    The de-carification of Amerikkka will continue sicko-biker

  • hexaflexagonbear [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
    8·
    15 days ago

    IT at my company sent an email about capping copilot usage until they figure out the effects of the pricing change. I think Ed Zitron’s take that this might set off a chain reaction that makes the AI bubble burst is on point. I wouldn’t be shocked if all of our “agentic AI” projects get canned by the end of the month. Like devs seem to be using their salary’s worth of tokens by the new pricing model, and every agentic ai project I’ve seen is significantly more token heavy to run than a dev workflow.

    • blipblip [they/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
      3·
      15 days ago

      The place I work at just put serious restrictions on where copilot can be used, when they usually just roll over and give people whatever they want, and here I thought they’d finally grew a spine…

  • GalaxyBrain [they/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
    8·
    15 days ago

    The first star wars still kicks so much ass. It’s the only thing in the whole franchise I can say I really love. I think empire is really good, and objectively probably better. But that first movie still has a bit of that 70s sci fi stank on it. Everything comes together amazing and if you consider yourself a normal 1977 guy as the audience would be when released, it is weird as fuck and unlike the other movies, it feels like it knows that. I guess the prequels kinda have that, but it an arrogant way

  • GalaxyBrain [they/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
    8·
    16 days ago

    Peeled my fingertips with a peeler at work today. Been a long time since ive taken a slice. I burn myself all the time and barely ever cut myself. Working kitchens makes you a polytheist. I truly believe the fact I burn myself constantly wards off the cuts, the god of fire protects me and I make my due sacrifices. That and I literally dont feel non severe burns elbow down anymore. I grab pizzas out of a 650 degree oven with my hands when I cant be bothered to get the paddle. Cuts always hurt every time.

    Anyway, means I cant cant build my gunpla