jerryk on Nostr: Henry Morgan was a totally ruthless brigand pirate and criminal who murdered, raped, ...

Henry Morgan was a totally ruthless brigand pirate and criminal who murdered, raped, tortured and pillaged his way across the Caribbean, thus providing a source of enormous wealth to the British Crown, and incidentally himself.  He rose to be Royal Governor of Jamaica, the main base of his pirate predations, and was tolerated by the British Crown, particularly Charles II, because of his effectiveness in acquiring wealth, and defeating enemies. He was a perpetual embarrassment during his political career, his predations and extremities being largely papered over by philosophical and administrative genius John Locke, who was certainly one of the most total intellectual whores in all of human history.  John Locke used his enormous intellect to rationalize the gradual transition Britain was undergoing from being a monarchy, to being a plutocracy.  Locke's conceptions formed the basis for classical liberalism during the enlightenment, which basically held the view that anyone intelligent and ruthless enough to acquire great wealth should have total freedom to do whatever the hell they wanted to, no matter what, bar nothing.  

Locke's approach worked pretty well for centuries of British Empire, unless of course you happened to be one of the unlucky ones -- the vast majority of course -- who weren't ruthless and intelligent enough to acquire great wealth.  I suppose you could argue that the American Revolution was something of a reversal here, since on this particular occasion, the British found themselves dealing with a group of Americans who were just as ruthless and intelligent as they were -- the so called "Founding Fathers" -- but, being natives to the region, had the advantages of geography, and, certainly, massive French support, as well.

Henry Morgan of course was very ruthless indeed, and very intelligent indeed, so he could do no wrong.  Quite literally!  None!!  And, good old John Locke was there in London busily rationalizing everything he did quite brilliantly, particularly using such concepts as "just wars", which justified the most horrific barbarities of all types, in particular the holding of slaves in eternal, and frequently lethal bondage.  If you're wondering why the world is such a total mess today, maybe we should consider looking back to the seventeenth century British Empire, and those grand old pals and chums, Henry Morgan, and John Locke.

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