Keep in mind, Lord Ubar-Sarum, that it is the first for most slaves.
2 Likes
This is the key difference between imprisonment and slavery. The former is for punishment and/or rehabilitation. The latter is for profit, either directly by sale or indirectly by reducing the requirements for paid labour.
No matter how the slavery apologists dress it up, they wish to profit from anotherâs unjustified imprisonment.
2 Likes
Itâs not just unjustified imprisonment. Itâs subjugation, and, by extension, the elevation of the slaveholders. Slaves are seen as âlesser beingsâ, not worthy of full membership in society. It may start as a kind of attempt at benevolent stewardshipâcertainly, the slaveowners will claim so, in the beginning. Theyâll say things like âoh, they canât be trusted to rule themselvesâ, and affect a patriarchal manner, but where children are expected to naturally grow to achieve the state of readiness for that full membership, the slave, by and large, is presumed incapable of it.
Certainly, there might be some exceptions. Some few slaves may get released because they happen to have an owner who truly believes in their parental role, and theyâve proven themselves capable enough to overcome even the ownerâs inherent biases. Those owners are few and far between, however, and the situations where a slave might provide that proof, even rarer.
Far more common is the saturation of the idea that some people are inherently better than others, by sheer accident of birth. It takes root as the wealthy, privileged few who own slaves provide rationalizations and excuses to keep the less-fortunateâbut still freeâmasses from seeing the slaves as kindred spirits. And the masses buy into it because itâs far easier to let yourself believe in an affirmationâthat youâre betterâthan to ask yourself âthese people are suffering. Why am I not acting to end that suffering?â
Even among the slaves, some will come to believe it, especially among the slaves who are treated a bit better, given more desirable and less physically taxing tasks, or find themselves in a position to be those rare few who are given freedom because âthey earned itâ. Again, itâs far easier to believe that thereâs hope, that thereâs a path out of bondage if only you can improve yourself, and that those who donât get freed are somehow worthy of enslavement⌠rather than just to imagine that intolerable cruelty is being inflicted on so many for no offense.
The idea that thereâs no reason for it, that so many are oppressed just because it makes the rich richer⌠thatâs offensive to basic human nature. And so the rationalizations arise, and take hold, and get propagated and passed along through generations. And they become more entrenched. More âobviousâ, because well, everyoneâs always thought that way!
Itâs a sickness, and a weakness of character⌠and people in those societies make sure to infect their children with it young.
4 Likes
Ultimately the goal is to profit from anotherâs unwilling servitude. Subjugation is simply a means to reinforce the method of gaining that profit.
2 Likes
Look, someone is getting disintegrated. The Amarr invented lasers for a REASON.
If all Amarr held these beliefs, I might have actually become a believer. To post something like this publicly takes true courage. Though I am not a believer now, I support your cause!
Do not let the rest of your kind discourage you. If you ever find yourself wanting for shelter or safety, know you have a friend in an unlikely place.
1 Like
One of the great claims about the success of the institution of slavery is that those who are eventually emancipated come out as noble spirited, faithful subjects of the Empire, entrusted to be free to decide where to go with their lives.
This is a miserable mischaracterisation of a great many outcomes. I have been to Athra, to Sarum Prime, to the Mandate. I have seen the food queues of the swaths of unemployed freed slave families, and the drug abuse. I have seen them dying on the streets because all of the employment work they have been skilled in is already taken up by enslaved folks, and their options to put themselves to good work and look after their families are narrow without money.
Now, doubtless, there will be some that point out plenty of former slave families go on into skilled employment, and some enslaved families in later generations are given successive freedoms in preperation for emancipation. This is true, though it varied from Holder to Holder. However, I must ask those who might profess this, have they ever gotten to know a former slave closely? Have they ever looked into their eyes and probed their oft insular nature? The legacy of their enslavement can often leave scars where the faithful donât see them, placid and meek as they have been trained to be and hiding their vulnerability.
I do not want broken souls and minds held up as âsuccess storiesâ, and I do not see God in the starving helpess masses our Empire creates. It is time for talk, it is time for change.
3 Likes
Hey hey, some actual sense is being spoken here!
So let me ask you, the good sir Ayin and everyone else here who expressed similar opinions: How are you planning to talk and how will you bring about change? What now?
It seems to me there might be enough like-minded people to start up a communications channel of some kind as a start, if you are serious about bringing change.
My mission is to highlight the inconsistencies of proclaimations, statements and wishful thinking in private and public. I highlight my stance for all to see so that no one may question where I stand. I live, and eventually I die by my words. But the real work will come from the process of changing opinion.
We already have external pressures in the form of terrorist raids and other actions of that kind, the build up of military capability by our rivals and the slow descent into social stagnation that occurs over a long peace to look at. What we need is internal pressures and argumentation to make the social strata address these issues in a lasting manner. We have the small, tiny examples of our liberally, lee-ward inclined rulers such as Emperor Heideran and his musings on diplomacy over conquest and the release of slaves decreed by Emperor Dorium and Empress Jamyl. Even if it may be suggested these were politically motivated actions, and some controversy became of many of their outcomes, none the less they were moves made specifically for the eye of the Republic, and by extension the Federation. Iâll take a half hearted banner waving political act justifying some amount of action over none at all, as the status quo patently is not acceptable to any political party.
Do I think some communications channel is worth it? No. This is a long struggle for reformation, decades or possibly centuries in the making. Violent actions from outside havenât made a dent in centuries since the Republic split, so talking shouldnât be expected to show a more rapid change of pace either. But itâs a start, and needs to happen, consistently, over and over again until we see the Reclaimation taken to a new form without the shackles of an obsolete, corrupt and cruel system, and in to a new era of spreading Godâs word.
I do this because slavery makes no sense, and I also do this for the Amarr (all Amarr, from slave to True) and the Empire and a hope to see us return to our duty, rather then sit on our hands waiting for God to finally fix the mess. I do not do this for a love of the Republic and certainly not for a love of the principles of the Federation. Unless all out war finally breaks of course, in which case my side is clearly drawn. I hope that makes my position clear to all.
2 Likes
All talk and no action, huh? Fair enough, weâl fix it for you eventually.
No guarantees that the fix will spare you, of course.
If you expect the Amarr loyalist abolitionists to just take up arms, youâre part of the âusing a hammer to fix all problemsâ crowd that have failed to enable any change to take place in centuries themselves. I have no further time to waste with you if all you wanted was co-ordination for violent action, I have better folk to speak to who understand it is a long, multi-pronged struggle.
5 Likes
To be fair, I suspect itâs not an easy thing to consider when the status quo is set on both ends for so long. Remember the old saw? When all you have is a hammer, and all thatâŚ
Just pointing it out. I donât really have a chip in this game beyond the peanut gallery single ISK buy in.
2 Likes
Whew! As expected, Sami - thatâs quite a rebuttal.
On a more mundane level, several of your theses are not theses at all - some are statements without argument and others are questions.
3 Likes
This topic was automatically closed 90 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.