Sunday, September 09, 2012

The modern world and it's 27+ million slaves.

Any modern self-styled philosopher (all philosophers are self-styled) has at one time or another tackled the question about freedom. Are we really free? What is true freedom? Where does it begin and end? In the course of this exercise one may have dealt with concepts such as bondage thru desire ("We are enslaved by our wants"), or mental slavery through dogma ("Religion is like opium"), or entanglement based on our fears ("What's between you and success is fear").

 I for one have never really considered on the literal concept of slavery. In the age of social media where the world is highly interconnected, it is hard to conceptualize the idea of how in a world with so much freedom real slavery still exists. One immersed in a free and liberating environment such as the Internet can completely be oblivious to the fact that there are areas in the world where people lack basic freedom; that there in the fringes of modern society real affliction against basic human dignity is inflicted by those who cannot fight back.

As human beings we should disdain slavery; nay, we should be angry! Angry that such a situation exists. Angry that people are enslaving fellow people for the sake of profit. Slavery's eradication from our society is something each and every one of us should actively pursue. Take action!


Below is the Ted video that brought this topic to my attention:
Another video about the topic: