Venting Slavery never truly ended, it evolved. It became about control through economics

[Darkover]

What were once chains of iron are now paychecks and debt. What we once called 'masters' are now employers, and the plantation became the office or factory. Jobs are the new shackles, tolerated only because they're disguised as opportunity.

And those who refuse to live forever in this cycle, the ones who embrace minimalism, discipline, and financial sacrifice to break free , they are today's gladiators. In ancient times, gladiators fought for their lives and, sometimes, their freedom in bloody arenas. Today, the arena is capitalism, and the modern gladiator is the person striving for FIRE: Financial Independence, Retire Early.

Then, they dodged swords. Now, we dodge burnout, inflation, and the illusion of security. But the goal is the same: to be free.

Slavery never ended, only the language changed
For most of human history the name of the game has been the wealthy rule over the poor. Human beings are a resource, they can be and are utilized like tools. The more resources available the easier your life becomes, pleasure is more accessible.
If the wealthy don't treat the conscious resources well enough, those resources rebel. If they rebel, the way of an easier life is gone. The trick they have learned is, keep the herd from rebelling. Bread and circuses to keep them entertained and laws to fear them into compliance.
The pen is mightier than the sword. Words are the "new" sword. If you can control a mind through the use of symbols, their bodies will walk to your tune. They become your resource. There is no need to physically harm someone nowadays, the fear of your comfort and safety being removed is enough to stop your shenanigans.
The only things truly changing are the languages used and the tools that enforce the language. Money is the new whip. The word slave changed to employee. The cage is more comfortable now, but nonetheless 1% of the population rules over 99%.
They show you slaves in metal chains so you can't perceive your mental ones.
The prison has been made invisible, now everyone thinks they are free.
the very fact your not allowed to choose to leave makes us slaves


to tell if your a slave just ask if your free to leave

Am I free to walk away — right now — with nothing held over me?"

If leaving means:

Losing your shelter

Losing access to food or healthcare

Becoming socially ostracized

Facing legal, financial, or systemic punishment

Then no — you're not truly free. You're conditioned to stay, dependent on structures you didn't design, and pressured by consequences you didn't choose.

That's not freedom. That's invisible slavery — enforced not by whips, but by wages and fear.

Real freedom isn't just the ability to choose within a cage — it's the power to walk away from the cage entirely.

They are not born as slaves, but if you look around the world and are honest with yourself, you will see that human beings are in chains everywhere you look.
To prove this just think, the mere fact that you have to work to be able to receive necessities in order to sustain survival or comfort. but I cannot accept living
in a reality or society that essentially coerces us to do so. Especially a society that condemns
suicide even while more humane methods are more readily accessible to grant those who are not willing to partake in such an event.
One they did not ask or couldn't have asked for. Who would willingly choose to live on a earth that requires you to give up most of your day to something you would
never do willingly wouldn't you rather not be apart of a world that forces you into such a dilemma were the only other option
in life is shame, starvation, homelessness?

 

[Pluto]

 

[bankai]

I understand your comparison, but actual slavery never really ended either. There are more slaves on this planet today than there ever were in history. It's called human trafficking.

 

[Darkover]

I understand your comparison, but actual slavery never really ended either. There are more slaves on this planet today than there ever were in history. It's called human trafficking.

The comparison between wage slavery and literal slavery isn't about minimizing one or exaggerating the other it's about recognizing that the machinery of control and exploitation is alive in both cases, just operating at different levels of visibility and violence.

Literal slavery is bodily control, enforced through violence and threat.

Wage slavery is economic control, enforced through dependency and fear of destitution.

Both strip autonomy. Both convert human beings into units of utility.

 

[bankai]

The comparison between wage slavery and literal slavery isn't about minimizing one or exaggerating the other it's about recognizing that the machinery of control and exploitation is alive in both cases, just operating at different levels of visibility and violence.

Literal slavery is bodily control, enforced through violence and threat.

Wage slavery is economic control, enforced through dependency and fear of destitution.

Both strip autonomy. Both convert human beings into units of utility.

Yeah, I get what you were trying to say and I understand the comparison

I look forward to when I can retire, but it's just not going to happen for a long time. Not sure what's going to happen with AI taking away so many jobs away as well.

 

[cemeteryismyhome]

I've said similar things many times myself. This is one reason why I've become cynical and distrusting of politicians and mainstream "issues" that people get all hysterical about. Words like "slavery" become so overloaded that it becomes impossible to see the complex reality of things, and we all suffer because of that. Complex issues get processed and packaged like mental junk food to get our blood boiling, which makes us susceptible to being manipulated at will. And kept in a form of slavery.

 

[Tired_birth_1967]

I realize that by understanding this whole mechanism exactly, I automatically understood that the only way out of this is non-existence. I go on this site and sometimes I express my indignation in a solitary way. Sometimes I feel good for a few moments because I see that other people have also understood the mechanism more deeply. It's as if I had overcome the individual pain that feeds the desire not to exist. I now know every detail, every aspect that makes anyone's existence an illusion. It's no longer about me being happy or unhappy. About personal goals and so on. We are all under the same body full of organs that will sooner or later take us to the nothingness from which we should never have emerged. It doesn't matter if I manage to shorten this existence or how long it may take. Maybe I will be lucky enough to die quickly or unlucky enough to die slowly and painfully. Each day is a new chance for death to arrive. Maybe I will be able to do what nature will inevitably do to me. Each one will have to deal with this in their own way. Alone, as it always is. I try to enjoy the feeling of freedom that understanding this evolutionary mechanism gives me. With each year I live, my guilt diminishes, my resentments disappear until there is nothing left. Life is just a mechanism, and by understanding this, I open the way to disconnect.

 

[deadzombie6]

I agree with your thoughts it's really miserable to live this way

 

[Dejected 55]

I'll say something controversial here... in some ways actual slavery is more kind than economic slavery. Let me expand on that.

When you are owned as a slave, you know your place in the world. You long to be free, but you know you are owned. But, in order to be an effective slave they must feed and clothe and house you. So, your basic needs must be met. You might not be happy, but you will not starve or live on the street.

In the US, when slaves were freed, they were basically just kicked to the curb to fend for themselves... and in the most racist parts of the country, a freed slave wasn't going to have an easy time finding paid work. Plus, even if someone hired them for a job, they weren't as likely to pay as much as they would a non-slave because they know the ex-slave was more desperate... so you might have a job and have to work all day and still be unable to afford all the basics of food, shelter, clothes... and certainly no money to save and enjoy.

Being "free" is more of a concept than a reality in our society.

You can make a very arguable case that IF you were a slave with a master who didn't abuse you other than the fact of ownership... i.e., they treated you otherwise respectfully and made sure you were healthy... you might have had it better than after being freed and being unable to find paying work to support yourself. I'm no supporter of slavery, but you can certainly make a case for it.

So... after slaves were freed... you still didn't have to pay them well. Meanwhile, illegal immigrants have no rights in the US, so they get abused. Pay them pennies on the dollar and they are afraid to report you because they aren't here legally. Companies, farmers, LOVE exploiting the cheap illegal labor force. It's one reason why powerful people in this country struggle to solve the immigration problem because they know the people don't like it and some of them don't like it, but that cheap slave-like labor is hard to ignore in business, and corporations and money rule our law.

Even back when proper slavery existed, we also had indentured servitude. You would e brought to a place and housed and fed in exchange for you agreeing to work to pay off your debt... except, it was structured in such a way as to charge you more for the services they provided to "help" you than they ever were going to pay you for your work. An indentured servant was barely better off than a slave because true freedom was difficult to obtain in that arrangement. The only real difference was you signed yourself up voluntarily for servitude rather than being captured and sold against your will.

People at the top need people at the bottom to exploit... but also, the people at the top conveniently blame the people on the bottom for all the reasons why the people in the middle can't get to the top... that's how the system works. It's kind of genius when you think about it. It solves the old problem that Kings and Despots always had of abusing their kingdom and the kingdom one day revolts. You treat everyone like shit, eventually they rise up and overthrow you and put in new power who get full of themselves and repeat the pattern of abuse...

But in modern times, "capitalism" does wonders to tamp down revolts. Powerful people give the illusion of freedom by making it possible every once in a while for someone from the middle to become powerful... so they can always say "it's possible if you work hard enough" and that plus blaming the poor keeps the middle class mostly in check and has them kicking down instead of punching up at power. The poor have little ability to rise up or revolt and just have to largely accept their lot in life.

Honestly, if most people wanted to have freedom, we could do it. The power in the middle IF it truly wanted peace and prosperity... there are more than enough resources and wealth worldwide so that everyone could have a better-than-good standard of living... but the tease of people able to have peeled grapes and servants and multiple houses and all sorts of stuff none of us really need keeps the middle class from banding together to change the dynamic and make sure everyone has a chance to thrive.

People are our own worst enemies... and the few who do come around genuinely wanting this for the world... there aren't enough of us to make a difference.