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"Slavery is any system in which principles of property law are applied to people, allowing individuals to own, buy and sell other individuals, as a de jure form
by malandrew 6y ago
"Slavery is any system in which principles of property law are applied to people, allowing individuals to own, buy and sell other individuals, as a de jure form of property."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery
Living paycheck-to-paycheck or hand-to-mouth like most humans lived for most of human history does not make one a slave. To state otherwise is to compare mere existence to slavery.
Unless someone is an actual slave under bondage or with threat of coercion from another person, they are always in a position to leave a job. Doesn't mean they are free of consequences, like no longer getting money because they are no longer willfully trading their labor for compensation, the same way that someone farming the land will stop reaping the benefits of their labor once they stop engaging in farming behavior or if someone living as a hunter/gatherer will stop collecting sustenance when they stop hunting and gathering. At no point are any of those people slaves because no coercion is involved.
- Avicebron 6y agoLiteralism does nothing here because the concept of wage-slavery is more like the concept of serfdom than slavery. But language is malleable over time and it's commonly understood what it means, especially to people familiar with the struggle to survive in the modern economy.
- malandrew 6y agoThen call it wage-serfdom then. It's not slavery. > But language is malleable over time If the liberty someone is taking with the language is intentionally trying to manipulate how people think about something by abusing what words are commonly accepted as meaning, it's completely fair to call out that manipulation. “The basic tool for the manipulation of reality is the manipulation of words. If you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use them.” ― Philip K. Dick
- Avicebron 6y agoIt happens all the time that people chose their language precisely and in ways that clearly have more impact on another party's perception. Being pedantic over the definition of a word only distracts from what that word(s) is trying to do. I sense that you are really uncomfortable over what the word "wage-slavery" implies about the society you are participating in and are trying to cheapen it.
- malandrew 6y agoYou're cheapening what slavery is. It's honestly pretty disgusting to equate serfdom to slavery. They aren't even in the same league. Go read more about modern day slavery and then come back and try to justify comparing the circumstance of these people to those who are actually being treated as property by others. https://www.antislavery.org/slavery-today/modern-slavery/ https://www.antislavery.org/slavery-today/modern-slavery/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_in_the_21st_century https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_in_the_21st_century
- Avicebron 6y agoRed badges not treating you kingly enough?