Who thinks they are NOT a slave....think again...you are
- Thread starter Rob Roy
- Start date
Rob Roy
Well-Known Member
So have fun....slaves.
[h=2]You Are a Slave[/h]January 21st, 2014 Submitted by Daniel Hawkins
To those unfamiliar with the libertarian-anarchist world, this is probably a jarring headline. I’m not a slave, you may think, I don’t have a master. I don’t work for free. I don’t get whipped. I own property. I am free. Libertarians and anarchists take heat for using the word “slave.” It’s not a light word to throw around, either. I agree. Slavery is very serious. To clarify, though, I’m not talking about chattel slavery. Chattel slavery is a horrific blight on the human race. It’s reasonable to interpret the use of the word as crass or naive. But not being bound by chains or ropes, and living in a nice house with nice amenities, and voting, and thinking you own yourself, does not mean you are not a slave. It’s not the physical condition of slavery that makes it slavery. Slavery is the denial of self-determination.
In the 1880s, former slave John Parker wrote that “[brutality] was an incident to the curse, but the real injury was the making of a human being an animal without hope.” While the pain and savagery of chattel slavery were inflicted on people, those were additional injustices to the state of being owned. The definition of slavery from Oxford Dictionary is:
Do you work for free? Most people think this is one of the main characteristics of slavery. Historically, this is only partially true. Not only were there servants and house-slaves that were allowed a pretty high standard of living, but even those who worked the fields were paid in shelter, food, and clothing. Slaves with greater skills were even allowed a meager wage to spend when they were allowed to go to town. If being denied 100% of your labor makes you a slave, at what percentage are you no longer a slave? Today we pay taxes. While we may keep a large portion of our income, we do not keep all of it. When you file your taxes, take into account not only your income taxes, but sales tax, gasoline tax, sin tax, and every other tax imaginable, and you’re likely to have something close to a 50% tax burden. Make sure to remember that you may never see the products of your taxes in your community, since much of it goes to paying off debt and fighting wars. If you only own half of your labor, then you are a slave.
Do you get whipped or bound? To answer this question, we have to look at why slaves were whipped and bound. Firstly, it was a punishment. But really, it was to intimidate other slaves. It’s very important to understand that on the average plantation the proportion of slaves to non-slaves was at least five-to-one. So, it was necessary (in the mind of a slave-holder) to intimidate the slaves in order to prevent an uprising. To illustrate that we can compare chattel slavery to citizenship, keep in mind you are bound in a much more intelligent fashion. 5,000 innocent Americans were killed by police in the last 13 years. You’ve probably heard about the mass-surveillance and government intrusion into our privacy, as well as assassination and kidnapping of innocent individuals. While the purpose of this brutality on the part of State officials may not be to intimidate or control us, the effect has certainly been achieved. Consider those along with the Patriot Act and the NDAA, and you have a powerful recipe for rule by fear.
Do you own your property? The short answer is no. You probably didn’t build your house, but even if you did, the land at some point belonged to the government. The builders obtained permission from the government to even begin building. And even after all this, you still pay property taxes. As for other property, you pay sales taxes when you purchase it. You probably pay taxes on vehicles and most other things. So, if we apply the same logic to property as we did to income, if you do not own it entirely, is it really yours? No. You are borrowing your house and your property from the government. If you do not pay your taxes, the State will “re-possess” your property, implying that the State possessed it first. The government assumes you are only renting your property from them. You do not own it. You have never owned it.
Here’s the most important question: do you own yourself? A slave, by definition, is the legal property of someone else. If you were born, you are a citizen of the country you were born in. The “social contract” is said to be an implicit agreement all citizens make when they are born to follow that country’s laws, and prostrate themselves before the authority of the State. It is sometimes argued that voting gives you a voice in the political process, and you are therefore autonomous. That is not true. A slave who can pick a master is still a slave. Ask yourself these questions: Can you renounce your citizenship and still own property in your country? Can you renounce your citizenship and still trade in your country? Most importantly, can you ignore the law? No. The government suffocates any hope for true free will, even regarding victimless crimes, because a slaveholder must deny the self-determination of their slaves, or else they aren’t slaves. You are subject to the will of the State. You are not your master.
To conclude, there are a lot of noticeable differences between chattel slavery and modern slavery. Those differences afford us much more safety and comfort, but this is an evolution in slavery, not freedom. The chains are invisible, which makes today’s slavery much more effective. We are regarded by the State as livestock to supply the master with money. A “free range” tax cow. We are given a degree of freedom that chattel slaves were not, because being cramped and locked up drops the productivity of the livestock, due to sickness and depression. Taking livestock to pasture benefits the farmer. Occasionally an animal will run off, but if you set up enough punishment, and you give your animals a comfortable cage, they will return.
Today, the average citizen thinks life is good overall, and that the system is necessary. In reality, humans are manipulated by the State, allowed to choose their occupation, to think they own property, and to feel free, so they will pay more taxes. So, the next time you say, “I’m not a slave,” look around you. This is serious.
[h=2]You Are a Slave[/h]January 21st, 2014 Submitted by Daniel Hawkins
In the 1880s, former slave John Parker wrote that “[brutality] was an incident to the curse, but the real injury was the making of a human being an animal without hope.” While the pain and savagery of chattel slavery were inflicted on people, those were additional injustices to the state of being owned. The definition of slavery from Oxford Dictionary is:
“a person who is the legal property of another and is forced to obey them.”
Now that we have the definition, let’s test my claim.
Do you work for free? Most people think this is one of the main characteristics of slavery. Historically, this is only partially true. Not only were there servants and house-slaves that were allowed a pretty high standard of living, but even those who worked the fields were paid in shelter, food, and clothing. Slaves with greater skills were even allowed a meager wage to spend when they were allowed to go to town. If being denied 100% of your labor makes you a slave, at what percentage are you no longer a slave? Today we pay taxes. While we may keep a large portion of our income, we do not keep all of it. When you file your taxes, take into account not only your income taxes, but sales tax, gasoline tax, sin tax, and every other tax imaginable, and you’re likely to have something close to a 50% tax burden. Make sure to remember that you may never see the products of your taxes in your community, since much of it goes to paying off debt and fighting wars. If you only own half of your labor, then you are a slave.
Do you get whipped or bound? To answer this question, we have to look at why slaves were whipped and bound. Firstly, it was a punishment. But really, it was to intimidate other slaves. It’s very important to understand that on the average plantation the proportion of slaves to non-slaves was at least five-to-one. So, it was necessary (in the mind of a slave-holder) to intimidate the slaves in order to prevent an uprising. To illustrate that we can compare chattel slavery to citizenship, keep in mind you are bound in a much more intelligent fashion. 5,000 innocent Americans were killed by police in the last 13 years. You’ve probably heard about the mass-surveillance and government intrusion into our privacy, as well as assassination and kidnapping of innocent individuals. While the purpose of this brutality on the part of State officials may not be to intimidate or control us, the effect has certainly been achieved. Consider those along with the Patriot Act and the NDAA, and you have a powerful recipe for rule by fear.
Do you own your property? The short answer is no. You probably didn’t build your house, but even if you did, the land at some point belonged to the government. The builders obtained permission from the government to even begin building. And even after all this, you still pay property taxes. As for other property, you pay sales taxes when you purchase it. You probably pay taxes on vehicles and most other things. So, if we apply the same logic to property as we did to income, if you do not own it entirely, is it really yours? No. You are borrowing your house and your property from the government. If you do not pay your taxes, the State will “re-possess” your property, implying that the State possessed it first. The government assumes you are only renting your property from them. You do not own it. You have never owned it.
Here’s the most important question: do you own yourself? A slave, by definition, is the legal property of someone else. If you were born, you are a citizen of the country you were born in. The “social contract” is said to be an implicit agreement all citizens make when they are born to follow that country’s laws, and prostrate themselves before the authority of the State. It is sometimes argued that voting gives you a voice in the political process, and you are therefore autonomous. That is not true. A slave who can pick a master is still a slave. Ask yourself these questions: Can you renounce your citizenship and still own property in your country? Can you renounce your citizenship and still trade in your country? Most importantly, can you ignore the law? No. The government suffocates any hope for true free will, even regarding victimless crimes, because a slaveholder must deny the self-determination of their slaves, or else they aren’t slaves. You are subject to the will of the State. You are not your master.
To conclude, there are a lot of noticeable differences between chattel slavery and modern slavery. Those differences afford us much more safety and comfort, but this is an evolution in slavery, not freedom. The chains are invisible, which makes today’s slavery much more effective. We are regarded by the State as livestock to supply the master with money. A “free range” tax cow. We are given a degree of freedom that chattel slaves were not, because being cramped and locked up drops the productivity of the livestock, due to sickness and depression. Taking livestock to pasture benefits the farmer. Occasionally an animal will run off, but if you set up enough punishment, and you give your animals a comfortable cage, they will return.
Today, the average citizen thinks life is good overall, and that the system is necessary. In reality, humans are manipulated by the State, allowed to choose their occupation, to think they own property, and to feel free, so they will pay more taxes. So, the next time you say, “I’m not a slave,” look around you. This is serious.
Rob Roy
Well-Known Member
Good question. I suggest that recognition of an ailment is the first step towards a cure. Stop feeding the things that cause the ailment. Did you read the article and what do you agree with or disagree with?
canndo
Well-Known Member
Please Rob, if you want us to read such things, change the type face and put some breaks in it. I have a problem with conflating the terms slavery to our modern society where no one can take my family away without due process and I can go where i wish without fear of being "captured", and no one flogs me, but I can't makemore of a comment until I read it and I am just not willing to read what looks to me like a morgage agreement.
Trousers
Well-Known Member
There were too many dumb passages in that to quote.
The part about the farm animals was precious, so naive.
I imagine the person that wrote this article just took their first world history class in community college and then finished "The People's History of the United States" over Christmas break in mom and dad's house. Then it was smugly typed up on a $3,000 apple computer.
The part about the farm animals was precious, so naive.
I imagine the person that wrote this article just took their first world history class in community college and then finished "The People's History of the United States" over Christmas break in mom and dad's house. Then it was smugly typed up on a $3,000 apple computer.
ChesusRice
Well-Known Member
Such an esteemed rag
NLXSK1
Well-Known Member
I am not a slave, I am a serf... I must pay my lords their yearly tithe to live upon their lands...
But you are right, I am not free.
Padawanbater2
Well-Known Member
Makes a pretty solid case imo
I'd be interested in seeing someone argue the points made
I'd be interested in seeing someone argue the points made
canndo
Well-Known Member
NOW we agree. We own less and less, we pay only to rent, or experience, or borrow. The land belongs to someone else. This does not make us slaves it makes us serfs, beholding to a selelect few others who collect or punish should we "poach" anything at all, from our own medicine to the non-tagged deer. It is claimed that it is not our "right" to use the roads we built, maintain and pay for but a privelege. Our ability to till the land is governed, we are dicatated to and told what to think or feel. This is no slavery.
We now, more and more belong to the land, and the land belongs to others. I hasten to add however, this is not all government, it is a close association between government and business.
The lords are not just the traditional tax collectors but all of the other vamipires of our sweat.
One of my neighbors a few years back couldn't pay his tax bill. They took everything he owned, even though the house and land had been in his family since 1875.
VERY FEW states allow Allodial Title to property. And to get it costs 5% of the value ( Nevada) of the property.
VERY FEW states allow Allodial Title to property. And to get it costs 5% of the value ( Nevada) of the property.
canndo
Well-Known Member
However - Freedom? we are indeed not free, but no man is or has ever been. He is a "slave" to his needs, his desires, his beliefs, his DNA, his very understanding of the word enslavement, enslaves him.
That is what makes Roy's reprint silly. Roy himself is a slave to his monotone, persistant and single abiding objection of all things, rarely if ever participating in any discussion except to divert it to his own preocupation.
That is what makes Roy's reprint silly. Roy himself is a slave to his monotone, persistant and single abiding objection of all things, rarely if ever participating in any discussion except to divert it to his own preocupation.
Padawanbater2
Well-Known Member
"Choosing your master is still slavery"
The article captures the condition of the human experience. We are about as free as one can be in the united states. Well, at least we were, and likely will be again, freedom took at hit after 9/11. It might not come all the way back. With the passage of the Patriot Act we lost some. Enter democrat control of congress in 2006, and a democrat in the oval office in 2008, we still have the Patriot Act, and I think the democrats extended it, though I could be wrong about that.
Point is government craves power, and our government is the only entity that decides how much power our government has. The states were supposed to do that, but they have been made impotent.
I think the best thing to do, that isn't a radical solution, is the states get together and force the 10th amendment.
I'm in a hurry, so can't look it up, but I think it's the 17th amendment that made senators be elected by the people of a state, this needs to be repealed, and the senate once again needs to be selected by the state legislators.
Point is government craves power, and our government is the only entity that decides how much power our government has. The states were supposed to do that, but they have been made impotent.
I think the best thing to do, that isn't a radical solution, is the states get together and force the 10th amendment.
I'm in a hurry, so can't look it up, but I think it's the 17th amendment that made senators be elected by the people of a state, this needs to be repealed, and the senate once again needs to be selected by the state legislators.