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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  • Inui [comrade/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
    10·
    15 days ago

    I found this awesome new eye surgery I was considering getting called ICL where they put a little lens in your eye that is removable, so it doesn’t permanently damage your eye like a laser. The product they use though is made with 0.2% pig collagen. I was so excited looking into it and now it feels like I got punched. I just want good eyes. sadness

    • TerminalEncounter [she/her]@hexbear.netEnglish
      4·
      14 days ago

      Look, it sucks, its unfair and not strictly vegan.

      Many vaccines are also not strictly vegan. A lot are grown in chicken eggs, theres a lot of useage of chinese hanster ovary cells in medicine. You should probably still get those meds if you need them, and most vegan would would agree. May the day come when we can grow those kind of meds with yeast cells or something. For now, there is a rise in xenotransplants (e.g. pig heart valves, pig kidneys, etc) and they let people live for longer while waiting for a human donor- may the day come when we can simply print human organs.

      Now, does your eye fall in to that category - I dunno, thats something you should ask yourself and maybe consult some opinions from people you trust on the matter. Is 0.2% pig collagen enough to say no categorically, is your eye sight (which may or may not be acceptable and correctable with glasses anyway) important enough to trip that line? How is the pig collagen actually obtained?

      • Inui [comrade/them]@hexbear.netEnglish
        3·
        14 days ago

        The biggest issue is that it’s elective. I’m all for getting necessary surgeries and medications (though I’d personally have to think about the pig hearts, etc, I’d feel really weird about that). I can just choose to keep wearing glasses forever and it works fine, they just get in the way a lot. My prescription is just getting worse to the point that glasses don’t seem to help as much, but I’m not impaired to where I can’t work or something. I took up birding and using binoculars with them is really annoying.

        It’s a really cool technology since it’s reversible and doesn’t seem to have the same downsides as the frankly scummy seeming LASIK industry that pushes a potentially life changing (or ruining) procedure on everyone. I just don’t think that humans at this point in our technological development should keep using animals to improve our own lives and to a certain extent don’t deserve to if we can’t come up with an alternative.

        Everyone else I know will say I’m being a freak for even re-considering due to this, tbh. I don’t know a lot of vegans or people that especially care about animals irl.

        I’m just frustrated that stuff like this still happens where I’m betting they could have a non-animal alternative to this and they just don’t due to cost. Like how they don’t have to keep using horseshoe crab blood for medicine because I think a Japanese researcher already figured out a synthetic version that works like a decade ago but nobody cares.

        • TerminalEncounter [she/her]@hexbear.netEnglish
          3·
          13 days ago

          Thats fair, it makes sense to draw the line there because you could keep wearing glasses - vision is important but it doesnt sound like its hitting anything negative for your day to day life except needing new prescription every onxe in a while. It may be an optional part that if pig parts weren’t as proliferate wouldnt actually be cheaper than synthetic or vegan components - but because of animal agriculture they are (for now).