Most potent tool of slavery

[evilernie]

In your opinion, what do you guys think the most potent tool in creating and maintaining slavery.

[trish]

The role of religion in the dynamic of slavery is a two edged blade. The Bible was quoted in support of slavery before the American Civil War. But John Brown, H.D. Thoreau and the Abolitionists invoked the principles of religion against the practice.

Drug addiction is a form of slavery. In modern times, hooking an unwilling prostitute and becoming her provider is way (at least according to Hollywood) to keep her under control. Sounds expensive and also harmful to the goods. Abduction to an unfamiliar land may be cheaper. But I don’t think drugs nor abduction is the most potent tool of slavery (though abduction to a strange land certainly proved potent).

Stupid people have been known to own very intelligent slaves. Greek slaves were common among the Roman citizenry and “employed” as teachers, doctors, scribes and readers. So I don't think education or the lack of is the most potent tool.

Violence, I think is the ever present tool of slavery. Working for the benefit of another against one’s will is one that does violence against the slave’s freedom and identity, and it can hardly be enforced without physical violence or a threat thereof.

But I don’t think any of these is the MOST potent tool of slavery. Slavery as any other form of oppression requires that those who enjoy the advantages of the the institution believe that they deserve the services they gain. They and their society generally believe the place of the inferior is in service of the superior. The notion of “superiority” differs from place to place and time to time. In prior centuries American slave owners believed in their own moral and mental superiority. Today slave owners, and sweat shop owners may pretend to a superiority based a libertarian style survival of the meanest. The most potent tool is a true belief in the superiority of the man on top, the belief that they deserve the gains and the man or woman on bottom deserves little or nothing, and finally the belief that slavery (in one form or another) is an economic necessity.

[yodajazz]

The role of religion in the dynamic of slavery is a two edged blade. The Bible was quoted in support of slavery before the American Civil War. But John Brown, H.D. Thoreau and the Abolitionists invoked the principles of religion against the practice.

Drug addiction is a form of slavery. In modern times, hooking an unwilling prostitute and becoming her provider is way (at least according to Hollywood) to keep her under control. Sounds expensive and also harmful to the goods. Abduction to an unfamiliar land may be cheaper. But I don’t think drugs nor abduction is the most potent tool of slavery (though abduction to a strange land certainly proved potent).

Stupid people have been known to own very intelligent slaves. Greek slaves were common among the Roman citizenry and “employed” as teachers, doctors, scribes and readers. So I don't think education or the lack of is the most potent tool.

Violence, I think is the ever present tool of slavery. Working for the benefit of another against one’s will is one that does violence against the slave’s freedom and identity, and it can hardly be enforced without physical violence or a threat thereof.

But I don’t think any of these is the MOST potent tool of slavery. Slavery as any other form of oppression requires that those who enjoy the advantages of the the institution believe that they deserve the services they gain. They and their society generally believe the place of the inferior is in service of the superior. The notion of “superiority” differs from place to place and time to time. In prior centuries American slave owners believed in their own moral and mental superiority. Today slave owners, and sweat shop owners may pretend to a superiority based a libertarian style survival of the meanest. The most potent tool is a true belief in the superiority of the man on top, the belief that they deserve the gains and the man or woman on bottom deserves little or nothing, and finally the belief that slavery (in one form or another) is an economic necessity.

Good point Trish! That's also close to a spiritual philosopohy I believe in, called Religious Science. This philosophy emphaiszes the mental cause (belief) behind most everything. You are also correct in pointing out how the Bible was used in relation to American slavery. I would like to note that the Bible interpretation, that supported Blacks as slaves was taught to them, as means of mental control. To get people to believe that they deserve to be the slave of another can be very effective. Especially the notions that slaves are being helped or protected.

[hippifried]

Slavery is a violence in & of itself. An assault at the very least, even if no actual battery occurs. For the sake of argument in this thread, I'll be using the Euro-American classic definition of slavery as involuntary servitude through classification of the slave as property.

I really don't think there's a true belief in superiority among the slave owners themselves. They know better. More likely is that the meme started as a line of bullshit aimed at the non-slaves who didn't own slaves, in order to elicit their cooperation in keeping the slaves in captivity. The institution of slavery is about the accumulation of wealth, power, & profit. You can't make everybody a slave because you won't have anybody to put down the inevitable rebellion. So you just convince the rest that they're superior to the slaves, & instill a fear of them becoming free. They'll protect you from those uppity inferior slaves. Think about it. Who are the actual believers? You don't become extremely wealthy by being gullible & naive. If you comparatively adjust 17th or 18th century economics to today's inflation, buying a slave would cost half to three quarters of a million dollars minimum. Slaves were farm equipment. Classic slavery only works in an agrarian feudal system. It all crumbled with the industrial revolution. Eli Whitney & Cyrus McCormick probably did as much to end slavery as Abe Lincoln & John Brown.

My favorite line from the movie "Gangs of New York" was when Mr Schermerhorn was quoting Boss Tweed: "You can always hire half of the poor to kill the other half."

That's the real attitude that creates slavery & allows it to flourish.

[goatman]

The "One Drop" Rule...{Ironically, that also united us as a people...}

[Dino Velvet]

I recommend all the above.

[Stavros]

What more effective tool of slavery can there be other than money? I am surprised it is not on the list.

[sukumvit boy]

Yes! You beat me to it Stavros. Money is obviously the principle force driving and maintaining slavery.
We Americans tend to think about the American South when we hear the word slavery , but the middle east slave trade was much older and slave as 'the spoils of war' is ancient even back to tribal societies.
Arab slave trade - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://faculty.weber.edu/kmackay/eco...%20slavery.asp

[trish]

Was there no slavery before the invention of money? Before the love of money came greed.

[Stavros]

Was there no slavery before the invention of money? Before the love of money came greed.

Before money there was barter, which in some societies still exists today as an alternative (in Totnes, in Devon, for example; in the LETTS system in some parts of the UK).

Marx argued that the bourgeoisie emerged when money was used to replace barter as a means of exchange: merchants thus occupied the space between supply and demand, between the farmer bringing his food to market and the cobbler making shoes: money thus emerged as an abstract token of value but over time became a commodity in its own right, and if it has become one of the most powerful it is because money is a means of obtaining other things, from corn and shoes to people. What money represents is the belief that because everything can be bought and sold, everything is a commodity, and in the process of becoming 'human chattel' and wage slaves, capitalism dehumanises us all. But is the root of it greed? It could be power? Or it could be a human trait which is to accumulate things which are then valued, in monetary terms, relative to other possessions, or for sentimental reasons. Andre Gunder Frank once wrote an article which claimed that since the Neolithic Revolution, human history is identified as the 'cumulation of accumulation'...