The genius of contemporary slavery isn't the whip, it's the W-2. It's not the chain, it's the mortgage payment. It's not the overseer with a gun, it's the IRS agent with a lien.
Perhaps, though, the difference between slavery and whatever thing we've got now is that in slavery there was a particular master. Who is our particular master now?
I'm sure some might say the ruling class or something, but I'm not fully convinced they are free from enslavement themselves.
In a way, we are slaves to our own civilization or our society or community (perhaps too specific a word here). It's like we have built this complicated structure that affords us quite a few benefits, but it's also a web out of which we can never escape...which starts to sound like slavery.
Perhaps, though, the difference between slavery and whatever thing we've got now is that in slavery there was a particular master. Who is our particular master now?
I'm sure some might say the ruling class or something, but I'm not fully convinced they are free from enslavement themselves.
In a way, we are slaves to our own civilization or our society or community (perhaps too specific a word here). It's like we have built this complicated structure that affords us quite a few benefits, but it's also a web out of which we can never escape...which starts to sound like slavery.