Is slavery part of human nature? (marriage, humans, society, life)
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I know I certainly wouldn't but what if you were born into it and indoctrinated - would it then become acceptable to you?
How about the masters - I'm sure many of us secretly love the idea of dominating others, as seen by the way people act when they have money and the past history of slavery, feudalism and the like.
So is the master/slave relationship actually a facet of the human psyche and will it return given the chance?
I know I certainly wouldn't but what if you were born into it and indoctrinated - would it then become acceptable to you?
How about the masters - I'm sure many of us secretly love the idea of dominating others, as seen by the way people act when they have money and the past history of slavery, feudalism and the like.
So is the master/slave relationship actually a facet of the human psyche and will it return given the chance?
and more to the point - is slavery acceptable?
B.S.
Slavery as part of a person's genetic D.N.A. (nature)?
How is it inherent for all people to want to be controlled and dominated at some level?
If you're going to make an argument for "human nature" please provide evidence instead of rhetoric based on fascism. Thanks!
Well, history is littered with stronger people subjugating weaker ones, and that often included enslaving a portion of the weaker population. I agree with the OP's premise. I believe it is human nature as much as many don't want to admit it. We all like to think we have evolved enough to be better than that, but I'm not so sure. Stronger societies almost always destroy weaker ones.
We still have virtual slavery, but it has been streamlined to knock off a few of its rough edges, and now it is corporate instead of personal.
For comparison, consider the USA slave experience before Lincoln. The wealthy class had cheap labor to do all the hard work. They kept them out in the back yard, and had to deal with issues like keeping them healthy and well fed, so they could remain productive, and cane them so they don't become uppity..
Rich Americans still depend on cheap labor to provide for our opulent and leisurely lifestyle, but we don't keep them in the back yard anymore. We leave them in Asia, and appoint some despot to worry about their care and feeding and keep them under control. Every once in a while, we have to go over and bomb them back into submission. It actually turns out to be more cost effective that way.
But the end result, for both sides, is pretty much the same. We get the lifestyle, and they get the work.
Ignoring that slavery has never completely gone away, yes it would return given a chance. Slavery has largely disappeared because people decided it was wrong to enslave other people not because slavery ceased to make economic sense. If people ever decide slavery isn't wrong it will return with a vengeance.
Beyond that the Bible speaks of slavery amongst the ancient Hebrews as being largely a temporary thing but that temorary slaves could choose to become permanent slaves. That's at least anecdotal evidence that given the choice at least some people would decide to become slaves.
Why is there such an outrage against the idea of slavery today, when if it were legalised then many with the means would gladly have a 'helper' or two?
Is there? Really? We get outraged about a system which evolved three hundred years ago and denounce it. Instead of looking at it with a reasonable historical point of view and a recognition of the world it came from and the thinking of people at the time, some just denounce and automatically assume all the people then who had a sliver of association to it are evil.
But slavery still exists. It takes place in Africa. It takes place in the sex trade, maybe in your neighborhood. It takes place other places. It never has dissapeared. Do we hear a great wave of indignation over selling girls to old men as wives, or on the streets? We see it portrayed on tv. I'm not sure we are so outraged by the practice of slavery as it exists today. We're very self centered today. Its not our daugher, or our part of the world.
We are very good at selective perception, and will denounce a form that ended a hundred and fifty years ago and throw historical persective out the window, but change the channel when dealing with today.
And yes, a lot of people would like some helpers. But they don't want to have to feed, clothe, house and so forth these helpers. They'd rather hire them cheap and when its done send them home.
In a non agricultural society, industry and hired labor can be cheap. It was in the north at the same time slaves labored in the south. You got the same out of it without the costs. In todays world, unless we have technology blink away suddenly, we don't seem adverse to using people, we just want to only have to worry about the actual use.
Remember, tenant farming, a slightly updated version of serfdome, replaced slaves labor when that ended, and freed those who needed the labor from any other responsibility but the labor.
Come the end of the world or the power blanks out or the infrastructure crumbles, unless mass labor is needed, a much more likely outcome is a return to feudalism, and some form of serfdom/tenant labor.
I know I certainly wouldn't but what if you were born into it and indoctrinated - would it then become acceptable to you?
How about the masters - I'm sure many of us secretly love the idea of dominating others, as seen by the way people act when they have money and the past history of slavery, feudalism and the like.
So is the master/slave relationship actually a facet of the human psyche and will it return given the chance?
and more to the point - is slavery acceptable?
Just substitute "marriage" for slavery, a longtime similar institution, and you have some of your answers.
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