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I gave a example, a specific one, of urban slavery in Brazil, that was tightly regulated, as a example of why labelling a word, does not always work. Yes, I kn

by speeder 13y ago

I gave a example, a specific one, of urban slavery in Brazil, that was tightly regulated, as a example of why labelling a word, does not always work. Yes, I know how plantation slavery worked in the US, but it is a different animal, that worked in a different way. Brazil for example do not had this widespread racism, because most of the middle class population was black anyway, data found from some cities in Brazil northwest (like Recife) show that 70% of the middle class was black, most of them ex-slaves that earned enough money to not only buy themselves from their owners, but also to have their own business. It is a different context... I am trying to say that you cannot go by absolutes. Brazil even made a attempt at that legally, here we have laws against "work conditions analogous to slavery" that have nothing to do with slavery, and more to do with employee abuse, unfortunately even those laws are kinda broken and sometimes punish those it is supposed to protect. Also in US itself slavery is legal for punishment (the article that abolishes slavery in the US, says that it is forbidden except for legal punishment, and currently you can hire a private prison to have their workers be forced to do your work, classic literal slavery... is that evil? or people should be obliged to work to pay for their cost to the state?)

jmduke 13y ago
I am making the argument that there's a difference between economic slavery and treatment of human life as property. Some cities reached a point, where most of the city business were ran by ex-workers, that earned enough to start their own. This implies that Brazilian workers would have been allowed to leave their job at any time. Could they? I am trying to say that you cannot go by absolutes. I think the ability to purchase another human being and then be legally allowed to kill him is absolutely bad.
- speeder 13y ago
  slavery do not always mean that you can kill someone. Many times in history when slavery was legal, it was forbidden to kill the slave, in fact when slavery is NOT legal that this is more frequent (for example here in Brazil, I already did some research on present day slavery, and here most slaves end dead, usually killed after they are not useful anymore, so that they don't tell the police about the slave owner). I think that yes, being allowed to arbitrarily kill anyone (pay attention to arbitrarily) is evil, this applies to US drone strikes. But arbitrariety is not evil, neither is kill someone, the combination of them that might be.
  - jiggy2011 13y ago
    Where do you think the line should be drawn? Would you be allowed to make your slave eat off the floor because he/she did not work fast enough or refused to perform a sexual favor for you? Would a slave be able to terminate the arrangement under some conditions? If the slave believes that they are being treated in a way that violates the slavery regulations do they have a right to bring charges against their master, do they have a right to legal council (if so , who pays)? What about offspring of the slave, can the master decide who the slave will breed with (if at all). Do the offspring of the slave become property of the master?

by speeder 13y ago

jmduke 13y ago

I am making the argument that there's a difference between economic slavery and treatment of human life as property. Some cities reached a point, where most of the city business were ran by ex-workers, that earned enough to start their own. This implies that Brazilian workers would have been allowed to leave their job at any time. Could they? I am trying to say that you cannot go by absolutes. I think the ability to purchase another human being and then be legally allowed to kill him is absolutely bad.

speeder 13y ago
slavery do not always mean that you can kill someone. Many times in history when slavery was legal, it was forbidden to kill the slave, in fact when slavery is NOT legal that this is more frequent (for example here in Brazil, I already did some research on present day slavery, and here most slaves end dead, usually killed after they are not useful anymore, so that they don't tell the police about the slave owner). I think that yes, being allowed to arbitrarily kill anyone (pay attention to arbitrarily) is evil, this applies to US drone strikes. But arbitrariety is not evil, neither is kill someone, the combination of them that might be.
- jiggy2011 13y ago
  Where do you think the line should be drawn? Would you be allowed to make your slave eat off the floor because he/she did not work fast enough or refused to perform a sexual favor for you? Would a slave be able to terminate the arrangement under some conditions? If the slave believes that they are being treated in a way that violates the slavery regulations do they have a right to bring charges against their master, do they have a right to legal council (if so , who pays)? What about offspring of the slave, can the master decide who the slave will breed with (if at all). Do the offspring of the slave become property of the master?