Comments on: Modern Slavery

By: Greg Laden

Greg Laden — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 21:13:26 +0000

Bill: Global economy by your definition is this: A 9mm bullet costs 50 cents. I want (or someone else wants) your stuff. I can have it for 50 cents. Right?

Or are you going to squirm back and forth and make us use more than one bullet.

Or, are you going to grow some humanity in that pointy head of yours.

By: MadScientist

MadScientist — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 20:53:52 +0000

@Bill James: What does this have to do with the global economy? At its core is a fundamental belief that some humans are superior to others (reminiscent of the divine right of monarchs). I’m better than you, you aren’t worth anything, so I can do what I please with you. Slavery is/was present in many cultures and there are often various classes of slavery. Through the Indian continent for example you would certainly find numerous slaves whose slavery really has nothing to do with the global economy. This “I’m better than you” attitude is also very apparent in Chinese society; it’s an imperialist attitude which even the communist government has not successfully stamped out. Hell, we even see the same attitudes in the USA – have you ever spent much time with the “upper class”? No movie I’ve ever seen comes anywhere close to expressing the contempt which many of the elite have for the rest of the nation and the world, not even that movie about Leona Helmsley.

By: itzac

itzac — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 14:37:50 +0000

Confessions of an Economic Hitman is a great way to learn how this works in the americas, though it is a fictionalized biography.

By: Heretic

Heretic — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 09:39:36 +0000

I read his book, Disposable People, a few years ago. A truly terrifying topic.

By: Bill James

Bill James — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 00:32:51 +0000

Is this not the global economy at work?

By: MadScientist

MadScientist — Wed, 31 Mar 2010 22:09:49 +0000

I’d like to know what’s being done to convince people that slavery is not a good thing. For many communities around the world it’s just what they’ve done for as long as anyone can remember.