Someone actually tried to make this argument to me not that long ago. They were a Southerner who thought it was okay that an exhibit focused on how the poor masters returning from the Civil War who had no idea what to do next.

She claimed that my "hateful" nature prevented me from seeing that there were GOOD slave masters, like her grandpappy who had a whole bunch of people around ("I guess you could call them slaves," she said) and that they were a happy family!

I didn't know whether to laugh or cry! That someone was really so stupid they believed that crap, or that they were stupid enough to think it was "hateful" to condemn people who kept human beings in a state of chattel slavery.