Jumpstarter 6 of 10

Direct Answer Based on the transcript, “closing our eyes” happens when profit and comfort spread so widely that people—churches included—choose not to look honestly at the harm behind their prosperity, especially when responsibility is shared and indirect.

Support from Transcript:

• Bercot explicitly links wealth to moral blindness: “With fortunes to be made… it was not difficult… to close their eyes to the wickedness.”
• He shows the profit incentive was enormous (slaves bought for “five to ten pounds” sold for “30 to 80” pounds).
• The evil was not hidden at the edges: rum and slave industries were “at the heart of the New England economy.”
• Many respectable jobs depended on it: coopers, sailmakers, dockworkers, insurers, lawyers, clerks, newspapers—creating social pressure not to question the system.
• The benefits extended to “comfortable homes,” “household servants,” and luxury purchases like “silver goods” and “fancy dresses,” making the injustice feel like normal life.