Slaves.

[JFN1]

Hello, fellow Slave-a-reenos!

Isn't it a lovely day here in paradise? Isn't it fun being enslaved?

But how is it that are we enslaved? America is the "freest country in the world." So how can we be enslaved in such a place?

Enslaved by profit - We are all enslaved by profit, from the lowliest worker drone to the high and mighty queen bee - we are all slaves to Big Profit. Think you are not a slave to profit? Really? What did you pay for a gallon of gas today? How much do you pay for medical care? Food? Water?

I can tell you what you paid for all of these things: WHATEVER WAS DEMANDED OF YOU. That is what you paid. There is no negotiation. There is no quarter given. You pay, as we all pay, what is demanded. No matter the gross profits, no matter how financially obese the company, WE STILL PAY.

You work your ass off for pennies, you have no real say in your own future, once you are locked into a job. You work to meet your financial responsibilities, all the while the companies who do the employing break the rules, exploit their personnel, and generally require you to question NOTHING. Asking for a raise can end your employment, and that just doesn't sound like freedom, to me...

Enslaved by name brands - Most particularly, we are enslaved by brand names such as Republican, and Democrat. Think you are free to vote your conscience? WRONG!!!!! What are you told when you consider voting for a non-name-branded politician? "Go ahead - throw away your vote." We are all enslaved by the brand names touted all around us - and are conditioned to believe that to gain any ground, we must stick to the "trusted" brands we are offered.

How's that working out for us, hmmm? Are Democrats any better than the other name brand, Republicans? Maybe - but not enough in the long run. And when you consider the opportunities our Democrats have passed up, when you consider how these brand-name politicians care more for keeping the job than for doing the job, doesn't it make you want to sweep them all out of office? To replace them with...what? Do you honestly believe you have the freedom to do any of this? To demand better representation? To demand honesty? To demand service? Show how that freedom actually works, then, if you believe in it.

Enslaved by religion - This is perhaps the worst enslavement of them all. Free will is chained to a nebulous idea - a proven, dangerous meme. As a student of history, I have been unable to find even a single instance of historical importance where a main-stream religion did anything selfless, anything good. Mostly, organized religion has done evil on this planet.

Will you kill for your religion? Others have - and still do. Bombing abortion clinics, crusades and jihads, witch hunts, KKK - these all have at their root - yes, you guessed it - religion.

I wonder - do you suppose the ancient Greeks were as vehement in their beliefs as, say, modern Christians are? Homer's Iliad indicates religion was the focus of the Greek lifestyle, where sacrifices to the gods were commonplace and required, and belief in the gods was deep, and powerful.

So when did the Greeks finally let Zeus die, hmmm? Do you think they believed in their gods any less than you believe in yours? So what happened to the ancient Greeks, or Romans, or Aztecs, when their religions died? Seems like they didn't go away completely, as we still have descendants of the Greek, Roman, and Aztec peoples. So how is it these peoples actually survived the deaths of their religions? Because, just like modern religious people, they did not believe that they could survive, without their gods. Yet, they did...and here we sit...modern, sophisticated, knowledgeable..."In God We Trust..." Yeah, that's working out really well for us, don't you think?

Enslaved by fear - The lynch pin of our enslavement is, of course, fear. Fear of not fitting in, fear of consequence for doing what you believe is right, fear, fear, fear, all day, every day. Why hasn't Bush been impeached yet? Why is Rove allowed to roam free? Why are we as a nation paralyzed into acceptance of outrageous crimes? Sure, none of us like it - but we do NOTHING to change it.

Nothing, you ask? Yes, NOTHING.

If we were not enslaved by our fears, Bush would have been gone long ago. We would have stopped this country in it's tracks, laid down our pencils and shovels, gathered outside of our governing bodies and DEMANDED justice. Instead, we engage in what amounts to hand wringing and platitudes designed to pump the egos of those few who are willing to take REAL chances in the name of justice.

But not the rest of us. We are enslaved, and fail to recognize it is actually safe to leave the plantation.

Here we sit, my fellow Slave-a-reenos. We absolutely have the power to face our fears. We absolutely have the power to end our various enslavements - but we do not.

Why?

[Seeking Serenity]

1. It has always been thus.

You've described for the most part the whole of human existance.

People have always had to go out and bust their butts working in order to survive. And today, at least in the more advanced parts of the world, it's light duty compared to our ancestors of 100, 1000, 10,000 years ago. Back then, you didn't produce, you died. Period.

People have long been, as you call it, enslaved by name-brands: Greek v. Persian, Egyptian v. Hittite, Roman v. Barbarian, Protestant v. Catholic, Christian v. Muslim, English v. French, Japanese v. Chinese. Those name-brands give people, rightly or wrongly, a sense of community, of belonging. Some have gone outside those name-brands; some were successful (thus, we have the Republican Party today and the Whig Party is nowhere to be found), some were not (how's that Free-Silver Party doing today, eh?).

People have always been fearful. Fearful of the unknown, fearful of that tribe just over the hill and what are they planning on doing? Fearful of people, places and things that they couldn't explain or control.

We're no different today. Why do you think we should be?

[JFN1]

2. Because we are not our ancestors

We have science, and philosophy, and history, with which to make better, more informed judgments, than those who came before us.

It is as if we have learned NOTHING, in 10,000 years.

For example - why are we still fighting over "intelligent design," when we have the SCIENCE of evolution to draw from?

[FiveGoodMen]

3. Because we keep listening to our 'hearts'

People tend to feel -- and are constantly admonished -- to listen to their hearts/guts/inner voices for the real answers to life.

What are they listening to? Old, old, old evolutionary programing that kept chimp troupes together.

If we listened to our brains, we might have a chance.

But we have to get rid of that awful truth-from-within meme first.

[Seeking Serenity]

4. Perhaps some things are beyond learning.

Just making discussion here, but maybe some of those things are just part of our nature, what makes us human, and beyond learning. We have learned a lot in 10,000 years. Are we perfect? Not at all. Why do people think we should have been by now?

(FWIW, even non-human animals are slaves -- to existance. Their days are a constant battle for food. They don't find it, they die. Thus are we all.)

[JFN1]

5. But we are not like animals,

insofar as we have the power of our intellects with which to learn, grow, and change. Animals have instinct, as we do, but without the benefit of intellect to guide, direct, and interpret.

For instance, I could eat all of my meals with my hands - but I choose to use silverware. Animals cannot make this choice, and thus with no possibility whatsoever of choice, there can be no enslavement - just bare existence.

Enslavement, unlike existence, will ALWAYS be a matter of choice.

[Seeking Serenity]

7. What I took away from your first point was

that it was somehow enslavement because we have to work our tails off to survive, and that we should be doing something else. The only difference between now and then is we've used our intellects to make our work easier than our forebears had it. Much easier. Is that enslavement?

And, despite our healthcare not being free and evenly dispensed, it is a sure sight better than even 100 years ago, much less 1,000 or 10,000.

I see the direction you're going; I think it was just a little too hyperbolic to be a credible commentary.

JMHO. YMMV.

[JFN1]

9. Its not hyperbolic

perhaps over-generalized, but there is not one whiff of intentional hyperbole in it.

[Hestia]

6. Hi fellow Arkansan

:hi:

Kinda sorta on the hard work. Watch/read "Guns, Germs, & Steel" by Jared Diamond, PBS documentary. It explains that once wheat was sewn as agriculture, the Fertile Crescent then had the luxary of supporting an Artisan class. It all depends on where you live and what crops you sell, but wheat was
the main factor of thriving tribal living.

[Seeking Serenity]

8. Howdy to you too.

I'll see if Netflix has the documentary.

Luxury, I think you'll agree, is a direct result of hard work, not, in and of itself, an alternative to it.

While the lifestyle you are describing may have been luxurious for them, I 'spect people today would still have found it more than they could take. Perspective.