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I believe there are more slaves today than ever in the history of the planet simply due to population growth. While everyone WE know thinks slavery is morally e
by aksss 1y ago
I believe there are more slaves today than ever in the history of the planet simply due to population growth. While everyone WE know thinks slavery is morally evil, most of the world does not hold that view. In fact, I would say the default human view (looking at all cultures across time memorial) is that slavery is the rule not the exception. That doesn't go away with modernity, it goes away with culture.
- flkiwi 1y agoThere’s also a significant conversation about mere illegality and social rejection not actually doing much to address the underlying tendency to exploitation that (a) has prevented reconciliation and relief for formerly enslaved people and their descendants for more than a century and (b) is woven through the labor model common even in the West. Exploited paid laborers aren’t in the same category as enslaved persons, but we shouldn’t fall into the trap of believing that economic injustice has been meaningfully addressed.
- aksss 1y agoNo, we’re talking about actual slavery in modern times, not exploited labor. Actual slavery is still very much a thing.
- ants_everywhere 1y agoTo make room for slavery mentally you have to believe that some people are subhuman or at least beneath the threshold for human rights. What's surprising to me is that it's become more common to describe people you dislike as subhuman and to for people to support violence or cruelty toward them. Similarly there is a trend to see hatred and anger as positive goods.
- aksss 1y agoI would avoid analogizing this to the petty political fads of the west. Actual human slavery is still a very real thing in much of the world. Slavery is likely less about making mental room so much as being raised in an environment where it’s normalized. In other words, the mental room was allocated in the new construction of the world view more often than remodeled.
- squigz 1y agoOut of curiosity, which parts of the world is actual slavery a normal thing?
- econ 1y agoDepends on how you define it. If you spend pretty much all waking hours dedicated to some task you don't care about entirely to avoid dire consequences I'd say you are close enough. People might still want to use a different word to describe the same thing but it requires they care more about appearance than substance.
- squigz 1y agoNo, you are not close enough. This minimizes the seriousness of actual slavery to an extraordinary degree.
- econ 1y agoIt does? In what way? I think you underestimate the "normal" labor conditions in some places.
- squigz 1y agoAnd I think you underestimate the reality of actual slavery. There is nothing remotely comparable between slavery and a modern job. Feel free to make a more substantial argument as to how they are than "it's close enough"
- gloosx 1y agoYou underestimate the reality of some "modern jobs" out there. There are garment workers in Bangladesh locked inside factories so we can enjoy cheap clothing. There are miners in the Congo working under militia control. There are migrant laborers in Gulf states with their passports seized, forced to work 12 hour shifts every day. Some modern jobs absolutely contain elements of coercion, abuse, and exploitation that are comparable to forms of slavery.
- eaurouge 1y ago> most of the world does not hold that view “most” is a lot. Which parts of the world? > While everyone WE know thinks slavery is morally evil Who is “we”?
- account42 1y agoWho is "WE"? The western world is perfectly happy with prison labor and other exploitative "voluntary" working conditions.