The New Slavery

Mention the word “slavery” to the typical American, and it will immediately conjure up images of black people toiling in cotton fields under a blazing sun, with a cruel overseer on horseback cracking a whip and the plantation owner serenely lounging on his verandah, mint julep in hand, making small talk with the womenfolk in a long, deep South Carolina drawl like Fritz Hollings.

Or -- someone with a bit less solidarity with the black narrative might envision Ben-Hur on a Roman galley, glistening with sweat as he plies his oar to the beat of a very large drum manned by that big bald beefy guy.

What that person is less likely to think of -- or even consider at all -- is the image of the typical middle-class American, trudging off to work each weekday morning and, of a weekend, sitting back in a Barcalounger, armed with a six-pack and a pile of “snack” food replete with sugar, salt, and toxic fats. This -- he will say, if asked -- is the happiest of creatures, the culmination of the American dream. His life has a quality that the wretched citizens of an earlier time could barely imagine, even in song and legend. And, all of the many woes of that benighted time have been eliminated by “technology”. Well, OK, war is still with us, but there is a conspicuous lack of plague and famine this side of the line dividing “First World” from “Third World”. (And BTW, whatever happened to the “Second World?” Was there ever such a place, or was that just a space filler designed to separate us, conceptually, from the vast hordes of the unwashed?)

So if someone has the affrontery to refer to this fat, happy, smug, placid, apathetic specimen of humanity as a “slave”, they are immediately accused of raving, ranting, and talking nonsense -- and none of their accusers is more severe than the one who is himself an exemplar of the alleged slave class. This would be the one who believes, along with Candide, that we live in the best of all possible worlds… that our leaders have only our best interests at heart… and that our “system” is the best ever, in the entire history of the world, not least because it offers the citizens, on a regular basis, the opportunity to actually “choose” their leaders, by exercising their “right to vote”. And not only is our system the best, but it would be the best for everyone else on earth as well, if only they would get over their silly superstitions and traditions… but not to worry! We can facilitate that process, with the help of our ever-ready armed forces. So really, nothing more could be desired… and anyone who asks annoying questions or expresses cynicism or doubt should be ignored. And anyone who claims there is a man behind the curtain (or that there is a curtain at all) should be shunned and exiled from the body politic.

In how many ways is the lot of this millennial man different from the lot of the slaves of old? His standard of living, for starters, is the envy of most of the world, and would have been the envy of most of the world down through history. He is free from the bulk of the everyday aggravations that afflicted his ancestors -- sometimes even unto death. And whatever trivial “freedoms” they might have enjoyed, well… those weren’t really important, and frankly, we’re better off without them. They smacked of “cutthroat competition”, “lack of consideration for others”, and any number of other sins. And we’re certainly better off without all of the “-isms” that so thoroughly infected societies of old -- you know, things like racism, sexism, homophobia, superstition (AKA “religion”), “hate”, discrimination, and so forth. Not to mention nationalism and “chauvinism” -- those will most certainly not be missed.

But the main point is this. Modern man is, by and large, happy. He is content with his lot. He is satisfied that all the important problems have been solved, or are well on the way to being so. And, most of all, he is satisfied that all of those pesky “Philosophy 101” questions have either been answered satisfactorily or -- better still -- declared null and void. “Morality”, it turns out, is a delusion -- or so says Time magazine in its legendary Christmas and Easter issues. And likewise religion -- an illusion, as Freud so sagely pointed out. So, unquestioning contentment is his lot, and he will fight to the death -- or at least to the minor inconvenience -- to maintain his level of contentment and the privilege of having run out of questions to ask.

Now, this is not to say that his days are filled with cloudless sunshine. He will admit, at times, to a certain unease when it comes things like his income (never enough), his “portfolio” (not growing fast enough), and his health (occasionally beset by ailments of vague origin). He may even, on rare occasions, experience a moment of doubt as to whether his world is all it could be; is he properly exercising all of his “rights” (by which he usually means “entitlements“)? But there is an endless supply of tranquilizers and distractors with which to alleviate these flickering shadows; they are cheap, or even free, and they get the job done. With hundreds of cable channels on 24 hours a day, no one has an excuse any longer for being unhappy -- or unentertained.

There is certainly no comparison with days of yore, when slaves were acutely conscious of their lot and would not hesitate to detail its many inequities to whomever would listen (mostly other slaves). Slaves knew they were slaves, and free men knew they were free (and they were, in fact, free -- by and large -- by any criterion). No one was under any illusions, in other words; there was very little to compare to what we today call “propaganda”, because there was no need. No one needed a “morale boost” because their morale was boost-proof; it was directly predicated on their lot in life, and that, in turn, was out there, in the open, for all the world to see. It would have been futile (and false) for anyone to try and convince a slave that he was free, or a free man that he was slave. And this is because the conditions of slavery were physical, overt, and obvious… and likewise the conditions of freedom. Free men acted like free men; they exercised their rights (without worrying too much about the source of those rights -- up until The Enlightenment, that is) to the maximum, and on a regular basis. Slaves, on the other hand, had no rights to exercise, and no one spent time trying to convince them differently. Slaves served; free men were served, or were independent of the slave culture. Few arrangements of human society have been more obvious or -- apparently, at the time -- more immutable.

What, by contrast, do we have today? How is our society arranged? To look at it from without -- with the perspective of history -- it would appear that we are a society of free men. There is no one in an obvious state of slavery -- shackles are scarcely to be found outside of high-security prisons, and slave collars are reserved for highly-paid runway models. Certainly, there are those who serve, but they do so on a voluntary basis, and for due compensation. No one is forced to do that which he would rather not -- although, let’s admit, there are plenty of “thou shalt nots” on the books… but that is all for the greater benefit of society, and of mankind in general.

But let’s turn the question around the other way. Given that we have no obvious, overt slavery, how truly free are our “free men”? And the answer -- if you compare the mountain of laws and regulations impacting every aspect of existence -- is, really not free at all. In how many areas of human endeavor can one simply set out, and do what they want to do? And I’m not talking about the “golden rule” of doing what thou wilt, so long as it causes no harm to others. I’m talking about things that cause no discernable harm, and yet they are either prohibited or heavily regulated. So we wind up with a society composed of “free” men, but they are each in their own straitjacket -- a fairly loose one as these things go, but a straitjacket nonetheless. So this imposes a ceiling, or limit, not only on human action but on the human imagination, which is actually a bigger tragedy. And why are we all walking around wearing loose straitjackets? Read on.

But first, here’s another thing to consider. Whereas the bulk of humanity still, as far as anyone can observe, works to earn their daily bread, and has little opportunity to take advantage of, or exploit, others, there is a huge layer, like a very thick blanket, that has settled over them -- a parasitic layer that requires its share of blood and toil, and gives nothing in return. And I’m not talking here about the stereotyped “bourgeoisie” of old -- they are, in these times, as much victims as anyone else. And I’m not even talking about the run-of-the-mill businessman or prosperous farmer (the “kulak” of Stalin’s time). And I’m not talking about the “robber baron” industrialists and transportation magnates of old -- or their high-tech equivalent of our time. There is an additional layer -- a new accretion -- that puts all the exploiters of old to shame. Our leaders are, in fact, their servants… and all of the visible signs of commerce, trade, business, etc. are only one aspect of their overall empire. And, in fact, their empire continues to grow and become more oppressive with the help of our leadership and our military; what we call “foreign policy” is just a piece of their business model, and the American Empire is but a subset of their own.

Now, needless to say, compared to the level at which these “masters of space and time” (as Tom Wolfe might say) operate, the individual citizen -- of the U.S. or anywhere else -- is a mere speck… an insignificant mote of dust. Theirs is the privilege of controlling, or at least severely limiting the action of, other men… but to what end, you ask? Nothing too novel here -- for most of them it’s about power for its own sake; money for whatever it will buy; and simply the invigoration of playing the Master Game. But this could have been true of rulers and warlords down through the ages; what makes the current elite any different? Nothing, except that they seem to feel a need to cloak their activities in a cloud of often-contradictory ideas, or concepts -- as witness all of the “reasons” we went to war in Iraq and Afghanistan. It’s considered tacky and in bad taste to simply set out to conquer, and to build one’s empire, these days -- so we have to substitute more noble motives, because that will make it OK, and will make all the sacrifices of the citizenry worthwhile. Of course, the benefits of all of these crusades never seem to quite trickle all the way back to the home front -- but not to worry, our victories were nonetheless “important”, according to some grand scheme… and our losses were just “temporary”.

And what else contributes to the overwhelming force, and influence, of the Regime of our time? For one thing, it’s totally international, i.e. global, in scope -- national identity, not to mention racial, ethnic, or religious identity, has no place in the hierarchy. Now, this is not to say that the Regime is free from all ideas, and ideals, above and beyond mere self-seeking. One can take it for granted that its programs, and activities, are not inconsistent with what is called secular humanism… so its attitude toward true religion of any sort will always be that of persecution and suppression (as much as conditions in a given place and at a given time will allow). And its attitude toward the individual will be, basically, that the individual does not count -- and that something approximating “groupthink” is the best policy when it comes to mollifying the masses. I should also add that the efforts of the Regime are only made easier and more efficient by the technologies of the “information age”; the “global village” of Marshall McLuhan really has come to pass, but it operates more like a global tyranny than any sort of traditional village. And thus we see the impact of what is called “the technological imperative”, expressed as: Whatever can be done, will be done. If the rulers of the world can utilize the Internet, and the media, and technology in general to further their ends, they will do so. And the advantage of keeping things technological -- and therefore sterile -- is that the tyranny remains less obvious than if it were enforced through the physical coercion of old. In our time, it’s always ideas that come first, and once 99% of the people are on board, the odd hold-outs can be dealt with and no one will object, or even notice. No more “forced conversions” are needed -- people will clamor and crowd around for the benefits of world government and “rule by media”, because they are already convinced that this is the best thing -- that it is, in fact, the only thing protecting them from the chaos and danger that must result from things like “competition” and “the free market”, not to mention the media bugaboos of racism, sexism, etc. The media educate people as to the many dangers inherent in the modern world -- then proceed to show them a way out, which is to, basically, follow orders. They are then reassured that their dutiful following of orders has saved the day -- for now. But eternal vigilance is required! And while you sleep, we are keeping watch.

So… the answer to why this relatively new layer of oppression is so total, and so heavy, has to do with both goals and means. The goals include the complete control of every aspect of existence -- once again so that people can be kept in a state of servitude where all of their surplus labor or productivity is siphoned off for the benefit of those in charge (and I know this sounds very Marxist, but it can’t be helped… ). I mean -- for example, where did all that “bailout” and “economic stimulus” money go? Where did all the money go that people put into the stock market and real estate? No one knows. These are resources that we could have used, but they were denied us, because someone else had a greater need, or thought they knew better -- or, once again, because they could do it, they did do it. So the greatest transfer of wealth in human history took place right before our eyes, but what could be done? What I’m trying to say is that as historically prosperous as the U.S. is (even at this point), it should, by rights, be much more prosperous -- except that we are taxed, both overtly and covertly, at every opportunity by the government and by the people to whom it answers.

Now, as to means -- once again I cite the mainstream media, as well as “entertainment”, the colleges and universities, the mainline churches and congregations… everyone, in fact, who has anything to do with originating or spreading ideas. And those ideas are not, in our time, meant to inspire, but to mollify… to anesthetize… to cause the brain to turn off. And this process takes, as you might suppose, enormous resources; we are, in effect, taxed in order to support the propaganda machine that assures us that we are not being taxed -- or that if we are, it’s all for a good and noble purpose. (It’s like those toll roads whose entire income goes to pay the toll booth attendants.) So it is no wonder people have a heavy, oppressed feeling these days -- even in the face of the Messiah of Hope and Change who occupies the White House. But ultimately, no one is fooled -- we know that all of our real rights have long since been taken away, and all we are left with is tokens. But does this lead to rebellion? No, because -- as I said -- this time the ideas came first. There have been plenty of cases throughout history where the “rough stuff” got things rolling, and the ideas came along later on in order to provide a sort of retrospective rationale. But not this time! How much blood has really been shed? And yet, seen from a distance, we are every bit as enslaved as any subject race of ancient times -- but this time with little or no awareness, and therefore little or no chance of regaining our freedom.