You are still a slave, you are still ruled. Or not?

[Hraklea]

Try and tell ur boss to go fuck himself if u dont believe me. You wont. Because u know u NEED your job or ur family wont persevere.

Yes, people need each other. That's not slavery, that's how society works. I don't tell my boss to "go fuck himself" for the same reason I don't do that with anybody.

[Xisa]

I agree with you, but calling out somebody on being a faux-intellectual isn't being intelligent at all.

Neither is telling someone covered in blue paint and spaghetti sauce that they are covered in blue paint and spaghetti sauce.

It's just an observation.

[Dhrizzle]

Let's flip this. For those who consider us all slaves today, what would make us NOT slaves?

Ascension to a higher plane of existence or a post-scarcity benevolent technocracy.

[Fencers]

I like Paul Thomas Anderson's line from The Master:

"If you figure a way to live without serving a master, any master, then let the rest of us know, will you? For you'd be the first person in the history of the world to live without serving one master or another."

[c2dholla619]

nothing has changed. only the vocabulary has changed

[Daelak]

Success is hard work, and more about attitude than being born into the right family.

This is patently false.

However, in terms of relative mobility it stated: "contrary to American beliefs about equality of opportunity, a child’s economic position is heavily influenced by that of his or her parents."[3] 42% of children born to parents in the bottom fifth of the income distribution ("quintile") remain in the bottom, while 39% born to parents in the top fifth remain at the top.[3] Only half of the generation studied exceeded their parents economic standing by moving up one or more quintiles.[3] Moving between quintiles is more frequent in the middle quintiles (2-4) than in the lowest and highest quintiles. Of those in one of the quintiles 2-4 in 1996, approximately 35% stayed in the same quintile; and approximately 22% went up one quintile or down one quintile (moves of more than one quintile are rarer). 39% of those who were born into the top quintile as children in 1968 are likely to stay there, and 23% end up in the fourth quintile.[3] Children previously from lower-income families had only a 1% chance of having an income that ranks in the top 5%.[5] On the other hand, the children of wealthy families have a 22% chance of reaching the top 5%.[5]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economi...ional_mobility

[Seirith]

I posted this as a response in a thread, but im curious about what others think. Heres the thesis:

In reality everyone is still enslaved. Since you have to work for 50 years (when ur 6 the prepping starts to work for a lifetime), or you practically have to live under a bridge. Some social systems give you a monthly basic pay, but thats enough to pay rent and buy food. If you work, you earn just enough to pay ur bills, and occasionally do something fun. Nothing has changed since the middleages. Yes, wages have gone up, but so has everything else. When ur old, and not fit to work anymore, they let you off the hook.

The rich still rule the poor because the nobles of old are todays rich. They sustain their position trough beneficial connections. And it doesnt change. New actors and singers are sons and daughters of old actors and singers. New CEO´s are the children of old CEO´s, etc, etc. In example: the entire Mickey Mouse club, housing most stars of today and nearly ALL sons and daughters of those days celebrities. Look at parlement, how many juniors and seniors are there? Yes, sometimes one flies the Coop and manages to reach the top (with luck or connections already higher up), but its pretty much a made out deal. If your born for a nickle, you will never be a pound.

The only difference now is that they now know how to control the people with bread and games. Just enough to say ´we dont have it THAT bad right?´. They created a scapegoat that is government, while in reality corporations are pulling the strings. Its brilliant, act as if the people can vote, and rule in the shadows. The people think they have themselfes to blame to elect a incompetent leader, yet the outcome woulnd have mattered since they have no real power. They are succesfully fooling billions of people while the rich become ever richer, and the poor become ever poorer.

So how does it make you feel that this is the reality of things? Did you know this all along? Or do you think this is not the reality of things?
Discuss!

Edit: Dont make the mistake to 1v1 this with the slaves of old. We are modern day slaves, manipulated behind the scenes instead of whipped. IE: Try and tell ur boss to go fuck himself if u dont believe me. You wont. Because u know u NEED your job or ur family wont persevere.

I don't feel like a slave at all.

I got to choose/decide:
If I went to college or not, I choose not to at first and then later decided to go
where to go to school and what to take
where to work because I only applied to jobs I would like
who I married
Where and what I live in
What I eat
What I do in my free time
What pets to have
What SUV I just bought


Nope, not a slave.

[yurano]

I welcome a time when schools will be a mandatory boot camp for young children 8-9+. Forced to labor and learn without the bonds of home life to sustain them. Only going home on short vacations.

This way, it eliminates the disadvantage and advantages of certain children, in certain classes and groups. Abused children would be removed from abscessing homes, and spoiled brats will be removed from family connections. It evens the playing field for sure.

That will only make the wealth disparity worse.

Poor kids will suffer only to return to a poor lifestyle, disenchanted. They'll be even less likely to work hard after that.

Rich kids will be hardened, never wanting to go back to being forced/impoverished/etc. Spoiled rich kids squandering their wealth is a huge money sink, equalizing the wealth disparity. Where do you think that money goes? In contrast, successful wealthy people hold onto their wealth. They may invest and stimulate the economy, but they receive a much greater return than a poor person can. Squandering wealth infuses the economy with money (at the expense of consumption), with little/no return to the rich.

[lavafoxx]

My opinion is weird but as long as you are safe and unharmed in yer home, food on yer table and plenty of entertainment to go around who cares if you are a "slave" or "free"?

[Celista]

You can opt out of the rat race if you want. No one NEEDS an iphone, tablet, 2600 square foot house with wifi, etc. There are still parts of this country where you can buy land for a couple thousand dollars, and build your own home for less than 10k. In Alaska you can subsistence hunt and fish, a moose kill can feed a family for a year.

Yes, I guess you need to work on some level to survive but is this really anything new?

If you don't want to be a "slave" to the system then you can choose to opt out of the consumerist culture that put you there. You don't even need to go all hardcore by starting an off-grid commune or anything; just focus on spending significantly less than you earn.

[vickyjohn]

I am still a slave coz i am working in a company as a staff.

[Arlon]

Yep, i am a slave to the current system. But i don't think this will change unless we get into a post-scarcity society and even then there will be limits.

[fnpqCoralieMorgante]

Everyone has his own boss