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Saying employment is essentially a form of slavery is making light of slavery. Just because some of us are lucky and privileged enough to work on what we choose

by yan 17y ago

Saying employment is essentially a form of slavery is making light of slavery. Just because some of us are lucky and privileged enough to work on what we choose, that is not how the rest of the world operates. The majority of the world feels lucky and privileged to work for someone else and have the opportunity to provide for their family. No, employment is not 'sort of' a form of slavery, it's not even close. Slavery is a very dark practice that removes choice and imprisons people, employment breeds opportunity. So I'd argue, they're opposites. When you are trying to feed your family or one of the many unemployed in even the richest countries, I'm sure hearing someone compare employment to slavery would be extremely insulting.

jeromec 17y ago
> Saying employment is essentially a form of slavery is making light of slavery. Well said. I would also add that slavery in the history of the U.S. was especially dark. Slaves were not only robbed of their freedom, but also treated as less than human in many cases enduring the whip, beatings, rape and general mistreatment.
stcredzero 17y ago
You're saying it's a stark difference of degree. But in many cases, it is just a difference of degree. Many of the employment conditions of the 19th century that eventually led to various laws and labor unions were nowhere near as bad as the dark parts of slaver you allude to, but they were no picnic either. The US practice of tying health care to employment still smacks of something unsavory to me.
- sokoloff 17y ago
  That unsavory practice is specifically counter to employment being slavery, BTW. Why do employers offer health coverage? In many cases, it's because they use their benefits packages to compete for employees. (In other cases, it's by a legal mandate of course.) If employees were slaves, there would be no reason for employers to compete for them.
Tawheed 17y ago
I agree. The angst you are feeling is not due to your employer, your employment, or your employment contract. You are just too weak to go out on your own.

by yan 17y ago

jeromec 17y ago

> Saying employment is essentially a form of slavery is making light of slavery. Well said. I would also add that slavery in the history of the U.S. was especially dark. Slaves were not only robbed of their freedom, but also treated as less than human in many cases enduring the whip, beatings, rape and general mistreatment.

stcredzero 17y ago

You're saying it's a stark difference of degree. But in many cases, it is just a difference of degree. Many of the employment conditions of the 19th century that eventually led to various laws and labor unions were nowhere near as bad as the dark parts of slaver you allude to, but they were no picnic either. The US practice of tying health care to employment still smacks of something unsavory to me.

sokoloff 17y ago
That unsavory practice is specifically counter to employment being slavery, BTW. Why do employers offer health coverage? In many cases, it's because they use their benefits packages to compete for employees. (In other cases, it's by a legal mandate of course.) If employees were slaves, there would be no reason for employers to compete for them.

Tawheed 17y ago

I agree. The angst you are feeling is not due to your employer, your employment, or your employment contract. You are just too weak to go out on your own.