What Is The Argument Against Slavery?

LiveUninhibited hit the nail on the head. Nobody has complete freedom. In anarchy with no government and no taxes, you are still not free from want, hunger, sickness, violence from others, etc. Taxes are your contribution to society in exchange for all society does for you, which is a lot. You are free to shop around for societies by looking at different countries, as you are free to decide what to eat. You have to eat and you have to decide where to live (and most places have government and taxes).

Slavery is when you don't get to choose between any options and don't get compensated justly for your labour.
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So you get to pick your poison. I get that. The slavery that exists now is certainly better than it used to be, but I am not sure that anybody cares to reveal just how slave-like the current system is [and I am pro-capitalist because it's the only game in town, and the alternative at this point is MUCH worse].

It would be nice to have people out there who would be willing to allow much more freedom within the context of the present system instead of those who spend all of their time exploiting its weaknesses for their own gain [at the expense of future folks]. IOW, root out a lot of the corruption, go back to freer markets, increased transparency, etc. These are all ways to significantly increase freedom.

 

Yes. Just like you have to eat, find shelter, etc to survive. How you do that is up to you. You also can't fly, but we don't say you are a slave to gravity.

I agree. And those lucky to live in democracy can make that happen collectively. We can form and reform government, and restrict corporations and employers from unfair labour practices.

 

Slavery as it has been practiced throughout history will set us up for a rather scary LIFE REVIEW with the Being of Light of near death experience fame.... (who I personally am convinced is Messiah Yeshua - Jesus)!?


The Life Review and the Near-Death Experience
BY KEVIN WILLIAMSPOSTED ON SEPTEMBER 22, 2019

• John 5:22 (NKJV)
  For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son,
  

 

it's wrong, you're taking someones freedom and making them a slave without compensating them

 

Exactly what freedom are you taking from them?

 

Really?

I would think having enough choices to praise or blame no one but yourself.

 

Why wouldn't your statement apply no matter the circumstance. After all, and no matter the situation, it is your choice to make either the best or worst of it.

 

Slavery is alive and well. Ask any divorced dad.

 

Do you support cannibalism? If you can keep a human as a farm animal why can't you eat him?

If you take away someone's rights you are killing them, slowly but still dead.

Slavery is genocide, just not all at once

 

Citizen or subject you surrender some rights in return for some benefits. The slave can be fed to his master's eels, as some were under the Romans.

 

Are illegal Mexicans picking fruit for a pittance in the US "slaves"?

 

That's the damned truth.

 

by making them a slave, I think it's obvious what freedom you're taking from them

 

Human rights are determined by the United Nations which the US is a member.

https://www.un.org/en/about-us/universal-declaration-of-human-rights
https://research.reading.ac.uk/research-blog/human-rights-around-the-world-heres-what-we-need-to-do/

Article 4
No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms

All free countries have their own human rights charters as well.

I think if someone imprisoned you in a room and forced you to work with no pay, nothing but a little food and water, you might have something to say about that. What if a family member was tricked into becoming a sex slave enduring beatings and rape everyday? Human rights are the condemnation of such actions because no human should be treated in such a manner.

 

Well if the thread is about what turned the tide against slavery then one must look to the events of the French Revolution and the events in Haiti. In the French Revolution, we had a declaration of the rights of men stating that that all men are equal and that all men should be free.
Saint-Domingue (Haiti, as it would become to be named) was a major colony of the French and its wealth of sugar cane attracted many colonists who brought African slaves to harvest the sugar. This colony was a true juggernaut of wealth but it’s employment model stood in stark contrast with the declaration of the rights of man.

In 1789 the slaves revolted, led by a man named Toussant Louverture. I’m telling this from memory so I probably have a detail or two wrong but essentially, the slaves slaughtered their captors and in the home of a wealthy leader, the governor perhaps, Toussant slaughtered the family and in the office of the governor left a book open on the desk that was turned to a page on which the Rights of the Declaration of Man was printed. All men are equal. All men are free. Toussant’s message was clear.

The revolutionaries in France realized that their declaration of fraternity extended to ALL men, not just white men, and Haiti became a Republic setting the stage for the British Empire to follow suit by abolishing slavery and for the Americans to pass rather watered down laws that no further slaves could be brought into America and effectively ending the slave trade in the west. The British Empire would go on to apply pressure throughout their empire and the western world to bring slavery down.

Despite all that, there are more slaves in the world today than at any point in history.

My own editorial to this is that the Declaration of the Rights of man and the freeing of the Saint-Domingue slaves was an act by humans to establish the dignity and respect. To then turn on them and say that their rights were given by God is silly. God did not articulate these rights. God did not fight for these rights. God did not even inspire these rights. God did not create the systems of governance that enforce these rights. The slow growth of Liberalism and enlightenment established these rights.

 

So it is the United Nations that determines what human rights are? This is the same United Nations that seems to sponsor all kinds of military incursions? It's the same body that says it's ok for some nations to have nuclear weapons and not others? What moral authority is vested in the United Nations? Is this not a political body?

 

Are you saying people shouldn’t have rights? That slavery is ok? That’s kind of screwed up.

 

A lot of people like to think of rights as pre-existing so saying that a political body is granting rights doesn’t fit into their world view.

 

The only real argument against slavery is empathy. Compelled servitude requires a lack of it. Other than that its just a question of who has the ability to write and enforce laws.

 

Are you asking and answering the question? I didn't say people shouldn't have rights. I am trying to get to the bottom of why slavery is wrong. Is it just because the United Nations says it's wrong? Might there be a higher moral authority involved?

 

Sounds like a pitch for a great scam.

 

You need to reread your Hobbes. Is life really better when it's "nasty, brutish, coarse and short"? Do you really think it's that much better to enslaved to the biggest man in the neighborhood rather than your local Senator, whom you helped elect?

 

It is pure mathematics - slavery is great for slave owners and very bad for slaves. Even if one slave owner owned more than one slave - LOGICALLY in democracy - where voting rights will have any person including slaves - slavery will be outvoted.

 

Unless the slaves are a minority. That’s why there is a bill of rights and a court system to make judgements.