Slavery has existed side by side with freedom in all human society since the dawn of history, and likely before that. It is noteworthy that it was first conceived as a "compassionate" institution, which at first blush seems preposterous, but on closer examination proves to be true, which should always make us a bit suspicious of anything superficially compassionate.
The alternative to slavery, as a by-product of war, was to either make friends with your defeated enemy, or kill him. If for any reason you couldn't, or didn't want to, make friends with defeated enemies, then you either had to kill them, or enslave them.
The idea of not killing those who were defeated, but rather to exploit them, and their labor, was a cynical move that appealed both to compassion, and narrow self-interest. Underlying it was the ulterior motive of "love of money" profit.
Thus the institution of slavery was born, parented by the twin evils of pretend compassionate pity, and "love of money," these two motives to the exclusion of many other values and considerations moved the hearts and minds of the first slavers and present day slavers.
In one guise or another this same human spirit, and conduct, continues today unabated everywhere in the world. This dichotomy has always occasioned the rise of two political parties or coalition of parties, no matter their names to represent them.
On the one hand there were those who thought slavery was contrary to God's will for us, harmful to both the enslaved and the enslavers and to soicety in general, and on the other hand those who favored it for its supposed "compassion" and its capacity to enrich those who showed this "compassion." That is why this phony compassion and slavery have always gone hand in hand throughout history.
The Slaver always felt this need to "take care" (tek ker) of the slave, and always took great pride in how well he treated his "darkies." Well, free men, miss meals, and sleep in trees or cars, from time to time, when circumstances require, but on the other hand, they are free. The only things that get "taken care of" are pet dogs and cats, and they have these little collars and leashes to signify that. Free men never get taken care of by anyone but themselves.
These two viewpoints have come down to us today and are invariably represented by their respective political parties in every nation on earth.
There are always those who would prefer to plant and harvest their own potatoes, to feed their own family, and those who would prefer forcing someone else to do what they prercieve to be their dirty work.
Every society on earth is made up of these two distinct viewpoints, and as they are refined they coalese into two political parties along the lines of "The Party of the Slavers, and the Party of Freedom.
These two parties come down through history represented by different names in different times and climes. And these two viewpoints typify the human condition, which is, the condition of the Slave and his Master on one hand, and the condition of the Free, who has no Master on the other.
The Enslavement Party always starts out by enslaving some of the people, but always ends up enslaving all of the people, in one way or another, for the master becomes the slave as well. The form all this slaving takes is infinitely variable. It is only the slave system that stays the same over time. Both Nazism and Communism are just different forms of slavery, and the Welfare State favored by the slavers today is just an updated mutant high tech version of the slave plantation of the antebellum South.
Whom God set free, is free indeed. That is the position of the Abolitionist anti slavers of all time. While whom the Devil enslaved is enslaved indeed. Either everyone is free or no one is free, and either everyone is a slave, or no one is a slave. The alternative to Freedom is properly Death, not Slavery. If you cannot trust some people to be as free as you, then you must take their lives, NOT enslave them. That may seem like a harsh choice, but history, real compassion, and common sense teaches that there is no other conduct that is good and godly.
No comments:
Post a Comment