Slavery everywhere

Published:

Now people are gonna define what type of slavery is better than others? If someone took just 1 percent of my freedoms that I enjoy today, I would scream bloody murder.

Slavery in every form from it's mildest to the most horrific have been unleashed as way back as the old testatment.

Pain is pain. Whether it's physically or mental. There is now way anyone is gonna convince me that they know where to draw the line between good slavery and not so bad slavery. C'mon give me a break already with all of this. Every race has suffered all spectrums of slavery both good and bad.

Here are some examples for you,

Ancient China
In ancient China, the lives of slaves were the hardest of all Chinese. Many rich Chinese families had slaves to do the menial work for them, both in the fields and at home. The Emperor and his court usually owned hundreds or even thousands of slaves. Most people were born slaves because their mothers were slaves; other people were sold into slavery to pay debts and others were captured in raids or battle.

Ancient Rome
In the Roman Republic and the Early Roman Empire about 15% to 20% of the population were slaves, and - until the 2nd century when laws protecting slaves were instituted - a master could legally kill a slave. However this seems to have been a somewhat rare occurrence, for complex social reasons. In any event, the Cornelian Law in 82 BCE forbade masters from killing a slave; the Petronian Law in 32 BCE forbade masters from compelling slaves to fight in the arena. Suetonius wrote (Claudius, 25) that, under Emperor Claudius, if a master neglected the health of his slave, and the slave died, the master was guilty of murder; furthermore, if the slave recovered in a temple of Asclepius, he should be freed. Dio Chrysostom, a Stoic Greek under Emperor Trajan, devoted two Discourses (14 and 15), delivered over two days at the Forum, to the condemnation of slavery. Seneca the Elder (in De Clementia or "On Mercy," 1:18), in the first century CE, records that masters who were cruel to their slaves were publicly insulted. Hadrian, in the second century CE, renewed the Cornelian and Petronian laws. Ulpian, a Stoic lawyer of the third century CE under Emperor Caracalla, made it illegal for parents to sell their children into slavery. The last notable pagan Emperor, Diocletian, in the late third and early fourth century CE, made it illegal for a creditor to enslave a debtor and for a man to sell himself into slavery to pay a debt.

Vedius Pollio, a citizen of Rome, reportedly fed the bodies of his slaves to his pet fish. Flavius Gratianus, a fourth-century Roman emperor who favored Christianity, ruled that any slave who accused his master of a crime should be immediately burned alive, but this applied mostly to plots against the emperor's own life. Roman slaves who participated in revolts were often crucified.

In ancient Greco-Roman times, slavery was related to the practice of infanticide. Unwanted infants were exposed to nature to die; these were then often rescued by slave traders, who raised them to become slaves. Justin Martyr, in his First Apology, defended the Christian practice of not exposing infant only secondarily because the child might die; first of all,

But as for us,we have been taught that to expose newly-born children is the part of wicked men; and this we have been taught lest we should do any one an injury, and lest we should sin against God, first, because we see that almost all so exposed (not only the girls, but also the males) are brought up to prostitution.

Ancient EgyptSlavery is also found in the sections of the Bible related to Egypt. Joseph is sold into slavery in Egypt, and after his time, at the beginning of Exodus, all the Hebrews of Egypt have been reduced to slave laborers. Much like the story of Joseph, there are examples of slaves rising to higher social status, even of marrying into native Egyptian families. However, there are many more exmples of slaves being worked until death in Sinai copper mines. As in many later societies, there was a wide variety of slaves: from highly valued house servants and tutors, to skilled artisans, to field laborers (Canaanite "asiatics" are often depicted at the wine press).
Greece
In Byzantium, there was a considerable slave population, and, up until the 12th century, "infidel" and "heathen" slaves worked for both individual families and the state. By the 12th century there was a growing opposition to slavery, but nothing like the American Emancipation Proclamation was ever issued.

It was not uncommon in Byzantium for male slaves to be castrated. Even some important leaders of the army and navy, during various periods of Byzantine history, were castrated -- often because very high positions were available to eunuchs, as they were of no threat to the Byzantine Emperor (The Emperor was never castrated). Once Western ideas of sex, chivalry and more humane treatment became more popularized in Byzantium, however, there was a stigma attached to castration.

Ottoman Empire
In the Ottoman Empire after battles, winners often castrated their captives as a display of power. Castrated men — eunuchs — were often admitted to special social classes and were used to guard harems. Ottoman tradition relied on slave concubines for the "royalty" along with legal marriage for reproduction. Slave concubines were used for sexual reproduction to emphasize the patriarchal nature of power (power being "hereditary" through sons only). Slave concubines, unlike wives, had no recognized lineage.

Slaves in the Ottoman empire in general were brought from Eastern Europe and parts of Southern Russia. In the Islamic world slavery had religious rather than racial connotations, with most of the slaves in Ottoman history being Christians. The Ottomans had many European and Central Asian "Mameluk" slaves and the elite Janissary troops of the Ottoman army were all Christian-born slaves taken mostly from the Balkans.

Towards the latter part of the Ottoman Empire during the 19th century with the decline of its European territories the Ottomans began to import slaves from the sub Sahara via Egypt. Black slaves became a common sight amongst the Ottoman elite where they worked mostly in the households of rich Ottomans as servants or maids. When slavery was abolished in Turkey by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk some of these black former slaves moved from Istanbul to the city of Ä°zmir and the surrounding villages.

Turkey has had no history of segregation on racial grounds and many of those both black and white who were the descendants of slaves have intermarried with the Turkish population.

The above are just a few. Too much to list here.

The bottom line is that a lot of suffering has occured in history, not just from slavery, but with other types of abuse. You wanna talk about suffering? How about all the religous wackos who killed untol amounts of people in the name of religion. Should people ask the Catholic church for reporations for the distant families that were killed in the Crusades?

How about all the religous freaks who burned women at the stakes because they thought they were witches? God forbid if you were a scientist also, you were burned because of unbelief in their system.

There has been corruption, torture, killings and everything else in between on this planet for a very long time, done by a myriad of peoples and backrounds. It still goes on today in N. Korea, parts of Africa, China, etc...

It's not just a black problem, and that's what people need to understand. It's a human problem. Until humans learn how to live without greed,  and thrive in harmony with each other on this planet, then the only people that need to applogize is the whole human race, and the lame excuses we make for pointing fingers at others for the problems in this world.

Let's start to take accountability for our own actions, and stop blaming what happened in the past as an excuse for suffering.

There are thousands of orientals who come to this country with nothing, and I mean nothing. They either live with a friend in a small apartment and maybe with a bunch of friends. They work their butt off driving cabs day and night. They save their money and build some future for themselves. They don't complain about a damn thing. Now most of them after many years of saving money open stores, and enjoy the fruit of their labors.

I don't care what color your skin is, and what sort of bad history your lineage had. It doesen't matter now. If you want something badly enough, there's a very good chance you can acheive it with dilligence and attitude.

Stop the victim routine and get on with your life as best as you can. That's all anyone can do.

 

 

Entry #507

Comments

Avatar Tenaj -
#1
This is what I meant when I said it was a different kind of slavery.

The institution of modern slavery was influenced by a change in the worldview. This change resulted from the influence of the Renaissance period and from the Commercial Revolution. The Renaissance created a new outlook on the individual. Renaissance thought promoted the idea that the rights and interests of the individual took precedence over the benefit of others. The Commercial Revolution, on the other hand, took place after feudalism had ended, and it created a new avenue of commercial activities to pursue. With the rise of commercial endeavors came competition and greed. Based upon these changes, modern slavery arose in an era where greed and self-interest dominated.

Avatar pacattack05 -
#2
That's right Tenaj. And that's where I point out the "Prison Planet" search on the net.

The whole world is in danger. Not just a select few. We as humans are at what I believe to be at the crest of one of the biggest, if not THE biggest crossroads in all of history.

Greed and corruption come in many colors.

Just like John Lennon's song.."Across the universe" "Nothings gonna change my world", John Lennon.
When I look at the some of the animals on this planet who call themselves humans, and the never ending strife around the world, with people all running around in fast speed mode, in a frenzy..I think of the the Benny Hill show theme song. To me that's what it all boils down to.

One day God is gonna show a compilation of human events on a wide screen TV, on a heavenly scale, with that theme song being played in the backround, and all of human kind will laugh simultaneously.

Here's just a fraction excerpt of the film God will show:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gw8xZiku01w


Avatar Tenaj -
#3
I was trying not to laugh but the Benny Hill's Theme song makes that clip funny. I have a Cuban friend whose father couldn't speak a word of English but he would watch Benny Hill and just crack up.




Avatar pacattack05 -
#4
Laugh at your hearts intent. Positive secretions within the brain occur during pleasant times in the brain. They're called in their raw form known as Neuropeptides. They are basiclly natural pro exhilaraters created by the brain. And certain secretions. Endorphines..... in the brain..A runner's high.

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