W a r n i n g
Off-topic posts and/or post containing personal/inflammatory comments will be removed without further notice.
Those who resort to such comments will receive infraction points.
W a r n i n g
Off-topic posts and/or post containing personal/inflammatory comments will be removed without further notice.
Those who resort to such comments will receive infraction points.
~
"It is not that I am mad; it is only that my head is different from yours.”
~
Let me consider the idea that "the Western Civilization is the biggest slave empire there ever was." Especially considering the land of opportunity, America has provided people from around the world the means to become whatever they set their mind to. To consider anything different is just as Paul the Apostle wrote in his letter to the Philippians, I consider the idea just as he counted all earthly things.
Les Miserables,
Volume 1, Fifth Book, Chapter 3
Remember this, my friends: there are no such things as bad plants or bad men. There are only bad cultivators.
"Especially considering the land of opportunity, America has provided people from around the world the means to become whatever they set their mind to."
Well, you got me there. I meen what, with the highest inequality the world over; highest obesity, type two diabetres, suicide rate, drug addiction, mental health problems (especially in the under 18 category), the biggest gun problems, worst violent crimes, highest dissociative illnesses, a health care system that will let people die if they haven't got insurance, {politics}, the death penalty, the highest prison rates, private prisons - yeah you certainly have got some oportunities over there. I am not a Christian, so I'm not concerned with what Paul the Apostle wrote. I was kinda curious to hear what you thought about the issues in hand,{personal}It would be interesting to hear if you have a case to defend, and if you do, I'd urge you to share it with us.
Last edited by Scheherazade; 07-27-2010 at 07:46 PM. Reason: politics
Originally Posted by Asphara
In america the average lifespan is now almost 80, never in a point of history or nation has it been that high. In America every child is guaranteed an education till 12th grade, considering not that far ago, my grandparents went to work at the age of 9, not just work but my grandad started working in coal mines at the age of nine. You point out problem, which are minor and trivial in comparison to what the first world offers in advantage. We in the west take so much for granted, like, take this, you can go whenever in public and say whatever you want. No were in the history of man has this been possible up until the last century. People who lead unhappy lives lead them not because of some machine like government which seeks to oppress, but because they find those lives unhappy but safe, as opposed to the happy but RISKY life they can have whenever they choose it. Truth is, in the west, the only thing we are slaves to is our fear.
1000 years ago 3/4 of children had lost both parents before reaching 18, imagine what that would be like.
We complain because we don't have perfection, trough out most f history they thanked god because they were not in the the complete opposite of perfection.
We complain we about having the highest obesity rate, because we have never seen a man starve.
I could keep talking but I think my point is made
My friend, America has always acted as a big brother and always interfered in other countries' internal affairs not better their political conditions but pushed to devastation. History speaks better of it, from the plight of the Vietnamese, people, Cambodia to the bombings of Hiroshima. The memory of the attack in Iraq is still not erased from our minds.
America is a country that still instills slavery in the world, for it is too powerful militarily to subdue the rest of other countries. The erstwhile Soviet union was balancing the power with the USA now the Soviet empire got pulled down everything is worsening.
“Those who seek to satisfy the mind of man by hampering it with ceremonies and music and affecting charity and devotion have lost their original nature””
“If water derives lucidity from stillness, how much more the faculties of the mind! The mind of the sage, being in repose, becomes the mirror of the universe, the speculum of all creation.
Where people dwell and/or work in conditions absent of human dignity, then yes, slavery exists.
Where there are compensation packages that are obscene compared to the wage and salary paid to the workers who produce the commodity/service/etc. that keep that company going is a form of slavery-especially in this economy when jobs of any kind are hard to come by, and the upper echelon know this.
I'd rather have questions that I can't answer than answers that I can't question.
For there to be freedom there must be slavery. For there to be power there must be casualty.
I have no blood in these veins
but words that run as coarse
and dark as when they first
encounter arteries of secrets
that burst onto this page.
I am not such a fan of the metaphysical arguments mentioned. At least we should be careful not to forget that there is a greater element of choice in what we do than slaves had, or indeed victims of human trafficking.
Precisely abdult, people use the term slavery in the rich countries as as facade for their cowardice at not willing to risk for freedom.
I believe slavery exists even here in America, which prides itself in its freedom. I see many examples of it with our immigrants. Many people resent the immigrants now that we are in a recession and jobs are scarce...but as a friend once pointed out--immigrants are here because employers want more labor but want to pay next to nothing for it. Being in a border state, I know of smugglers--who often take these people prisoners until they can work off their debt. The people live in shacks behind factories. The children and women are exploited sexually. The fear these people have of everyone and everything around them is so thick that it oppresses you. The people are often mules for drugs--and there are bodies of unidentified people being found, gutted. Many people are aware this happens, and yet it still goes on--despite the laws that are supposedly against it.
Being around this, I now have an appreciation for freedom for all people. It is unpleasant to be around these things that are happening. You are doing your laundry, and a smuggler walks in with a group of people who are afraid to look you in the eye. The children go nuts because they've been couped up, and suddenly they are exposed to light and sound. I don't like seeing people be abused, and yet our police are aware of it.
The only problem is, I don't know how possible it is to abolish slavery. It is too wrapped up in economics. And then there is the famous saying--people are often enslaved to their own desires, which is even worse than being enslaved to tyrants.
I don't care if the glass is half full or half empty, I'm just glad to have a glass.
We today call it labor.
And then there are those who are neither slaves nor poor, but invisible ...
"No, you’re going in vain,” she mentally addressed a company in a coach-and-four who were evidently going out of town for some merriment. “And the dog you’re taking with you won’t help you. You won’t get away from yourselves."
-- Anna Karenina
The slavery takes place on a higher level than that. We're all slaves of the governments, the groups that occupy every area of the world besides for a small sliver of uninhabitable ice. You can argue that it's a benign slavery, that they offer far more than they take- that's a different discussion, but the fact remains that being born into a system which you are unable to opt out of is slavery.
I don't resent it. I think it's a good idea, and keeps from slaughtering each other for fun. Even if it weren't a good idea, it's the natural outgrowth of human herd behavior, and probably unavoidable. I'd just like the reality of it recognized.
But you are able to opt out of it, your life wont be easier, but you CAN opt out
How? I can go live in the forest, but technically I would still be under the authority of whoever owns that forest. Nearly every inch of this planet is owned. Wikipedia identifies two places on Earth that are not claimed by a government. Marie Byrd Land, the most remote and unlivable part of Antarctica, and Bir Tawil, a small piece of land between Egypt and the Sudan, which neither of them want due to a border dispute over another portion. There is nowhere to go.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote