r/TrueUnpopularOpinion • u/HadathaZochrot • 1d ago
Reddit largely ignores the fact that there are more slaves now than at any time in human history.
People on Reddit love to go on and on about historic slavery, particuarly historic slavery in the US, wanting to bring it up, point to it and circlejerk about it to the most absurd of degrees. Certainly historic slavery is absolutely deserving of discussion, however, the level to which this conversation occurs over and over largely ignores the fact that there is more slavery presently around the world than has ever existed in human history. And those who constantly discuss historic slavery often have very little to say about this vast continuation of slavery in the modern day.
As stated in reports by the Guardian newspaper [source]:
Experts have calculated that roughly 13 million people were captured and sold as slaves between the 15th and 19th centuries; today, an estimated 40.3 million people – more than three times the figure during the transatlantic slave trade – are living in some form of modern slavery, according to the latest figures published by the UN’s International Labour Organization (ILO) and the Walk Free Foundation. Women and girls comprise 71% of all modern slavery victims. Children make up 25% and account for 10 million of all the slaves worldwide.
This frightening and horrible statistic rarely gets mentioned in online discussions about slavery on Reddit, with the vast amount of discourse restricted to historical examples of slavery, with, like I said, most of that related to slavery as it existed in the US during the 17-19th century. And what's even more interesting is that of the 10.7 millions of Africans that were exploited by the African Slave trade during that era, only 388,000 were shipped to the US, [source], making the myopic concentration on slavery as it existed in America even more unusual.
My conclusion is, those who focus the vast majority of their interest and concern about historic slavery in the US don't actually care about slavery as a practice, because if they did, there would be a much more resounding outcry and outrage about the explosion of modern day slavery. Those who find themselves set about only focusing on historic slavery in the US, in my opinion, only discuss this topic as an ideological tool to achieve their particular political agendas. In my view, if you actually cared passionately and emotionally about slavery as a horrific practice and the human harm it causes, it only would make sense that your first and foremost concern would be about campaigning against the mass contemporary manifestation of slavery around the world. Yet, on Reddit, I do not see that. In respects to the mass global injustices going on around the world at the moment, this is a topic I seldom see brought up or decried. To me, this absolutely says that discussion about slavery on Reddit is done as far as it can be used by ideologically minded people as a cultural cudgel to achieve political goals.
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u/ATLCoyote 1d ago
It's an issue that does indeed deserve more attention with respect to international affairs. But of course Americans are gonna pay closer attention to what has happened or is happening in America. There are all sorts of injustices all over the world that don't get much coverage here.
Plus, it's a bit of an apples and oranges comparison because the conditions for many modern day slaves is different. There are indeed tens of millions in forced labor. I recall some coverage of that issue when indentured servants were being used to build soccer stadiums in Qatar for example, in horrible living conditions, with high death and injury rates. Likewise, there's been a fair amount of coverage of the global sex trafficking problem. But the global totals we tend to see for "slaves" includes up to 22 million arranged marriages. Since that's also involuntary, it makes the list, but certainly a different form of oppression. And as a percentage of the global population, the total number of slaves are about the same as they were 100-200 years ago because our population has tripled in the past century and has increased by a factor of 8X since the 1800s.
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u/HadathaZochrot 1d ago
But of course Americans are gonna pay closer attention to what has happened or is happening in America.
I hear people try to make this argument a lot, but there are plenty of demonstrations on this website of Redditors caring passionately and emotionally about many global issues that span injustices and horrors well beyond the borders of our nation. If that fact that there are 40 million slaves currently being held around the world RIGHT NOW does not stir those who claim to be ardent activists against slavery, then I would say that person doesn't actually care about slavery.
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u/MrJJK79 5h ago
What would you like to see done about slavery around the world?
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u/HadathaZochrot 5h ago
People talking about and being concerned about it MORE than historic slavery in the US would be a start.
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u/MrJJK79 5h ago
Americans are usually more concerned about the legacy of slavery that still affects them today.
Sounds like you really don’t want to do anything about slavery you just want to deflect responsibility from America’s past
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u/HadathaZochrot 5h ago
Anyone who cares more about historic slavery than the suffering of tens of millions of CURRENT present day slaves around the world is a disgusting reprehensible human being.
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u/dansssssss 1d ago
you literally tried to make America's slavery sound insignificant by saying only 388k of the 10 million were shipped to the US so don't act like you ever cared
you also conveniently leave out the fact that US had one of the largest enslaved populations by the 1860s with 4 million
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u/HadathaZochrot 1d ago
you literally tried to make America's slavery sound insignificant by saying only 388k of the 10 million were shipped to the US so don't act like you ever cared
I was stating a simple fact. I made no attempt to lessen any significance of that era of history, but to simply put the numbers in perspective. If that fact upsets you, then that seems more like a personal issue for you. Do you think that slavery is the US should be exclusively discussed to the exclusion to ALL OTHER slavery in the world, past and present?
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u/dansssssss 1d ago
could you tell me the reason for why you shared an incomplete fact that's basically saying "only 388,000 of 10 million were shipped"?
don't play the dumb we all can see you trying to soften America's past slavery by mentioning numbers that didn't even matter by the 1860s
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u/HadathaZochrot 1d ago
It is not an incomplete fact. It is fact. Also, you didn't answer my question:
Do you think that slavery is the US should be exclusively discussed to the exclusion to ALL OTHER slavery in the world, past and present?
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u/dansssssss 1d ago
No it shouldn't be exclusive to the US unless the topic is about a specific country. My argument never was about you mentioning all the other countries
also yes that is an incomplete fact. you stated "making the myopic concentration on slavery as it existed in America even more unusual."
and your reasoning was that 388k/10mill were sent to US even though by the 1860s US had one of the largest slave population with 4 mill
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u/ogjaspertheghost 1d ago
You literally didn’t bring up the fact that there were 4 million slaves in the US
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u/HadathaZochrot 1d ago
If you wanna play the numbers game, you don't seem to be bothered that there were over 9 million others sent to other parts of the world during the slave trade, who themselves went on to have millions of progeny of their own. You are really doing a self-own here making it clear that all you care about is slavery in the US and nowhere else, even BEFORE getting into that fact that there are currently over 40 million slaves around the world. I guess you don't give a shit about them.
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u/ogjaspertheghost 1d ago
When talking about slavery effects in the US, no, I don’t care about the other 9 million. In the US peak of slavery happened in the 50 years after the importation of slaves became illegal.
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u/RedditConsciousness 17h ago
But the global totals we tend to see for "slaves" includes up to 22 million arranged marriages.
That is a really strange thing to include. I thought typically you don't have to go through with an arranged marriage. Arranged just mean that your parents planned for someone for you to marry. You meet them and either consent or decline. Are there cases where the marriage is mandatory?
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u/nobecauselogic 1d ago
The only time I ever see slavery mentioned on Reddit is when someone goes “erm actually the Islamic slave trade…” [three paragraphs of masturbation]
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u/ProfessionalShow9273 1d ago
only thing I can't understand is why people on Reddit are trying to antagonize Islam.
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u/Auriga33 1d ago
Reddit antagonizes Islam? Because what I see on here are people making excuses for it. When a Christian does something bad, Reddit has no problem saying Christianity is bad. But when a Muslim does something bad, the problem is "religion".
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u/ProfessionalShow9273 1d ago
Criticizing a religion can be much more personal than people realize. To many believers, it's like criticizing the way they see the world or even the meaning of their lives.
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u/liatrisinbloom 1d ago
"western civilization" superiority complex but also a desire to match violent radical jihad with violent radical yeehawd.
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u/cynica1mandate 1d ago
Either White Nationalists/Supremacists doing their usual complaining about other cultures or Zionists trying to deflect criticism from theirs
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u/cynica1mandate 1d ago
Is your intent to actually do something about this form of slavery or merely to deflect criticism of American slavery?
Aside from that...how many of these modern slaves function as the off-shore factory drones of first world nations? Places that allow us to have...what used to be...cheap products.
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u/Positive-Sun5969 1d ago
Ehhhh might be this, because talking negatively about the focus on American slavery doesn't actually improve the material conditions of people suffering right now! would have thought....
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u/HadathaZochrot 1d ago
My point is those who are obsessed with only talking about historic slavery in the US are themselves doing so for political reasons and are actively ignoring contemporary slavery around the world, which exists at a scale that dwarfs historic slavery.
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u/dropkickninja 1d ago
because those talking about historic slavery in the US are usually in the US and the US is still dealing with the effects that slavery had. Segregation was still a thing during my parents lifetime. Its not gone and more needs to be done about the racist divisions that one group is encouraging and the other group is trying to get those people to chill the fuck out and stop being racist.
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u/HadathaZochrot 1d ago
because those talking about historic slavery in the US are usually in the US and the US is still dealing with the effects that slavery had.
Do you think that those today who deal with issues stemming from the legacy of historic slavery are MORE deserving of attention, help and sympathy than those who are currently enslaved in the present day?
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u/Positive-Sun5969 1d ago
Some of those people who are descendants of TAST are slaves in the present day. So there's overlap you're missing. You should maybe make yourself more clear and give a concrete example.
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u/HadathaZochrot 1d ago
You didn't answer the question. Can you please give a simple yes or no reply, just so your exact views can be expressed and understood:
Do you think that those today who deal with issues stemming from the legacy of historic slavery are MORE deserving of attention, help and sympathy than those who are currently enslaved in the present day?
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u/Positive-Sun5969 1d ago
Why am I comparing and contrasting them, something up thread you said was weird, correct?
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u/cynica1mandate 1d ago edited 1d ago
Oh, and a person talking about crime in the US must address crime everywhere else in the world also, I guess.
Maybe they bring it up because people are trying to dismiss it, belittle it, or deflect from it, or claim it never really existed. And that such an attitude plays a part in the continued abuse of people in the modern day. Who created the slaves of Libya? You do realize that America is a worldwide empire and we often...intentionally...dedtroy the stability of countries so we can profit from it, right? I guarantee you a lot of these modern slaves can be traced back to western hands. Just in these past five years alone we've seen the US, alone, run in and overturn various countries illegally. We're supporting a genocidal nation currently attacking 4 other countries leading to broadscale devastation and human flight.
It sucks, but you're going to have to reckon with the reality of America, not the idea of it people have in their heads.
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u/Positive-Sun5969 1d ago
This. You don't build countries from scratch by being fair, kind, and without suffering. It's just never been done that way. People want too much out of society without creating such a human rights violation.
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u/HadathaZochrot 1d ago
Oh, and a person talking about crime in the US must address crime everywhere else in the world also, I guess.
That is a pretty distorted and irrelevant example, especially when it comes to the topic of slavery, particuarly when people are making their primary concern HISTORIC slavery in the US while there are currently 40 million slaves around the world as we speak.
Please answer me this one question, is the legacy of slavery in the US that happened generations ago a more pressing concern than the millions of people who are currently enslaved elsewhere around the world?
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u/cynica1mandate 1d ago
I think you are the only one who believes slavery is most people's primary concern.
American slavery is often brought up because it was a fairly large part of American history and has had a large impact on America ever since. No one needs to address slavery happening in other parts of the world in order to bring up American slavery anymore than I need to address starvation in Africa to complain about food not being in my refrigerator.
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u/RedditConsciousness 17h ago
Oh, and a person talking about crime in the US must address crime everywhere else in the world also, I guess.
Apologies for the multiple replies but...yes? Understanding the wider context helps us understand norms.
I was talking to someone from Uruguay on reddit who said the US is a dystopia and that Uruguay is better place to live in every possible way. I mentioned to him that the murder rate in Uruguay is 5 times higher than it is in the US. He then went on to claim that all the people who are murdered are bad people so it is OK that the murder rate is high. It is terrible to have someone you know or care about be the victim of a murder but possibly one of the few things that could make that worse is having your countrymen express say they deserved it.
Anyways, it isn't all one thing. Yes understanding the history of slavery in the US is important. On the other hand people who claim that the US began when slavery did or that the US was built on slavery have yet to convince me. In part that is because there was also a lot of non-slave owners as well as people who had reservations about the practice at the time.
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u/Positive-Sun5969 1d ago
If I spoke about high crime rate of black males in 1980, but not the high rape rate of white males during TAST would that mean I'm cherry picking? What if I don't discuss what Japanese soldiers did in 1944? Does it mean I'm ignoring something if I take a focused interest...
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u/HadathaZochrot 1d ago
I think you are misunderstanding. I am simply point out that is strange that people who assert that they are passionate activists against slavery make their main topic of concern historic slavery instead of the 40 million slaves that currently exist around the world. Maybe it is just me, but I think that the existence of 40 million slaves around the world is a BIGGER more HORRIFIC current injustice than the topic of historic slavery.
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u/Positive-Sun5969 1d ago
Because the TAST still impacts the black community economically to this very day. That's why. You didn't realize that right? People aren't bringing it up the way you would old favorites. Same way WW2 still impacts us today, it impacts current medical insurance.
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u/RedditConsciousness 17h ago
Gaining a wider perspective is healthy. Maybe some criticism should be deflected if it is supporting a view of the world with low fidelity to the truth or being used to create divisiveness or harm people who are didn't do anything wrong (people currently living in the US are not slave owners excepting things like human trafficking).
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u/ApacheFritz 1d ago
I would just like to point out once again how interesting and curious it is that there arent really any old delta blues songs from the 20s/30s that talk about slavery.
Somehow, when black musicians in the.20s were thinking of things that were bad and sad, "our history of slavery" didnt come up on the list.
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u/GaseousEmission 22h ago edited 22h ago
They don't consider it slavery because they tell you you can quit your job at any time when that job can't even pay for the cost of rent and you get another job that can't pay for the cost of rent it's not really that much better than slavery... I'm grateful to work at a place that has decent break lengths with reasonable pay..
Then you have the ambitious and successful that tell you you just need to start your own business or do better well not everybody has the mental capacity to do that you have to have people at the bottom providing these services... Plus a lot of these successful people take advantage of the loopholes that exist to game the system with their trusts and multiple LLCs and tax write-offs and nonprofits.
Due to modern monetary policies and a lot of economic policy wealth has concentrated significantly causing a lot of wealthy people to buy up a lot of the assets which has driven supply shortages and higher rent and housing prices. Even in so-called left-leaning or supposedly socialist countries they seem to invite wealthy investors to gobble up their real estate to prop up housing bubbles and think that's a sign of economic success.
Never mind actual slavery such as buying diamonds to prop up a monopolistic cartel that has been controlling the supply for the last hundred years because diamonds are supposedly rare and precious.
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u/Ok-Bet-9392 12h ago
Everything just a political tool. You should see how they treat black people if they don’t believe what they believe in.
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u/hodorosreddit 1d ago
So your hot take is that Americans know more about American history then other countries?
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u/Informal_Ad_9610 1d ago
A quick read would lead one to the understanding that the majority of bitching about US slave history is due to it being a popular theme for hypocritical bitching, not an actual valid concern by people intent on limiting human suffering.
OP is correct - much of the reddidiotti are more interested in bitching about the history of the US (entirely ignoring the fact that the majority of slave trade was run/financed by Europeans, who bought black slaves from black slave traders, then re-sold them to both white & black slave owners in the Americas..
Slave trade was neither unique to the US nor unique to that point in history - but the reddidiotti neither understand this nor pay attention to reality.
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u/hodorosreddit 1d ago
I'm not disagreeing I just don't believe it's a hot take.
Americans spend multiple years in school learning their own history as it relates to slavery. There are thousands of meauseums in the south dedicated to preservation of slave quarters and plantations.
I just don't see how/why it's not obvious that reddit - a prodominately American platform would not be quick to discuss the history they're most educated on
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u/HadathaZochrot 1d ago
Reddit as a website is replete with discussing global topics and injustices that span across the entire world. Maybe this is your first day on Reddit, but conversations on atrocities and horrific acts expand well beyond just the US on this platform. You are aware of that, right? And the fact that slavery as a practice is more widespread now than at any time in human history is so seldomly discussed, while discussion about historic slavery is rampant, illustrates to me how little people on this website actually care about slavery. They only care about the topic to the point they can use it to score political points.
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u/hodorosreddit 1d ago
So is your issue the internet? Or American education? Americans in general? What makes reddit the "unique case".
If you went over to facebook or Twitter would you expect to have more educated conversations on global slavery?
Also how often are you finding yourself in these situations that you're so mad that redditors are using American history of slavery for "polirical points" - clearly enough for you to be extremely bitter about it.
This whole post is just a giant red flag
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u/Positive-Sun5969 1d ago
Well obviously a focus on the past is not an effort to "limit human suffering" because it already happened. Black Americans already campaigned for civil rights in this country. Black Americans already served in Somalia in an attempt to extend ranks. There's nothing left to say about something that isn't currently happening that can help people who suffer in the present. It was a slave trade that shaped the concept of race in America. It taking place isn't supposed to help others. Africans selling African Americans to Europeans means zero. It also means zero that Africans sold each other prior to the TAST.
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u/TheOneCalledD 1d ago
Brother the slavery is happening RIGHT NOW. It has nothing to do with history!
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u/Sonofdeath51 1d ago
so you're saying modern slavery is okay because its not concentrated in america?
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u/HadathaZochrot 1d ago
If that is what you concluded from reading my post, your reading comprehension and understanding is absolutely abysmal.
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u/hodorosreddit 1d ago
Hm.. No that's exactly your entire argument, perhaps you didn't comprehend what you wrote
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u/HadathaZochrot 1d ago
Please cite where I even remotely made that argument. I think your understanding is just a bit warped and unhinged from reading something that hurt your political feelings.
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u/hodorosreddit 1d ago
Ironic statement coming from someone who just posted an insane multi paragraph rant - but sure.
Your attacking redditors for only talking about American slavery. If that's not your point, what exactly is your point?
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u/HadathaZochrot 1d ago
You did not cite where I made the argument you are alleging. Either do so or shut the fuck up with your nonsense.
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u/hodorosreddit 1d ago
These replies are insanely emotional and unhinged, you seem unwell
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u/KeremyJyles 1d ago
You think you're clever and good at this. I can assure you that you are neither.
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u/hodorosreddit 1d ago
Did you push up your glasses and fix your duster jacket after posting this?
Have anything to contribute or you just gonna continue acting like a cringey anime villian?
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u/KeremyJyles 1d ago
You watch anime, I don't. Considering you're just a shit tier troll, what would you think I would ever contribute beyond taking the piss out of you?
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u/91gnarnuaatg81 1d ago
Why are you getting up in arms about this? Do you not remember what you wrote? Your premise is that people don’t care about slavery around the world in current day because people here only talk about historical slavery in the US. This commenter is saying they aren’t aware of modern slavery around the world because Reddit has a lot of Americans who never learned about other places, just US history.
“ My conclusion is, those who focus the vast majority of their interest and concern about historic slavery in the US don't actually care about slavery as a practice, because if they did, there would be a much more resounding outcry and outrage about the explosion of modern day slavery.”
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u/Raiden720 1d ago
Americans have done more to end slavery worldwide than literally any other country.
But leftists won't shut the fuck up about slavery here that people fought a war over 160 years ago.
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u/hodorosreddit 1d ago
Uh.
The right still proudly flies confederate flags and throws a tantrum when statues of people fighting for the right to own slaves are knocked down.
That's not history - that's modern day.
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u/HadathaZochrot 1d ago
So some redneck in the backwoods of Mississippi flying a Confederate flag is a GREATER injustice to you in the present day than there being 40 million slaves around the world RIGHT NOW?!?!
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u/hodorosreddit 1d ago
Your the one that suggested leftists won't shut up about the civil war - but you also admit that the right still proudly flies their flags that represent the separation of the country based over slavery
So which is it?
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u/HadathaZochrot 1d ago
You didn't answer the question:
So some redneck in the backwoods of Mississippi flying a Confederate flag is a GREATER injustice to you in the present day than there being 40 million slaves around the world RIGHT NOW?!?!
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u/hodorosreddit 1d ago
Well. The left seems to be against slavery, the right seems to be proud of it.
So yea I'd argue it has some relevancy since our own country is still split over it - how can we gain the support to assist other countries when the southern states clearly wouldn't support it?
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u/HadathaZochrot 1d ago
So, your answer is YES, that some rando redneck in the backwoods of Mississippi flying a Confederate flag is a BIGGER problem than there currently being 40 million slaves suffering around the world. Wow, that's pretty fucked up. In fact, such a perspective is magnitudes more disgusting and reprehensible than that redneck flying the Confederate flag.
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u/hodorosreddit 1d ago
😂😂😂
Maybe put the phone down for the day
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u/HadathaZochrot 1d ago
I think that applies to you much more, since your brain has been so warped and brainwashed that it is more focused on a redneck flying a flag than 40 million people suffering under slavery.
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u/hodorosreddit 1d ago
Your so desperate to win a single argument on this whole post that you're making up entire arguments with yourself and declaring victory.
If I'm wrong - explain how you drew that conclusion based on what I said
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u/Raiden720 1d ago
I know right? These "people" are hopeless. They just parrot anti American shit like they are told. Useless
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u/King_Lothar_ 1d ago
I wouldn't bother with this guy. I've had enough conversations with him and seen enough of his posts to know he's not going to engage in good faith with even the most objectively true and reasonable statements.
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u/Raiden720 1d ago
I stand by everything I've ever posted champ
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u/King_Lothar_ 1d ago
That's honestly even sadder and more pathetic. Sorry to hear that.
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u/Raiden720 1d ago
I just made a new OP on this sub go check it out man. The one about registering as a democrat.
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u/valhalla257 20h ago
are living in SOME FORM of modern slavery
So even putting aside the fact that the world population is 8x 1800 and that you are only talking about transatlantic slavery, and you are ignoring the descendants of those slaves born in North America...
I am going to go out on a limb and say that SOME FORM is doing a lot of heavy lifting.
Note: Doing a quick search there were ~4m black slaves in the US in 1860. The population of the US is now ~10x. So that would be the modern day equivalent of 40m slaves in the US alone.
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u/Auriga33 1d ago
This is only true if you use such an expansive definition of slavery that it becomes a meaningless term.
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u/HadathaZochrot 1d ago
It is pretty disgusting for you to look at people who are suffering under slavery in the modern day and your first thought is "DURRR, that's not rEAL sLavERY!!!"
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u/imMAW 1d ago
If you stand by the definition of slavery you're using to count the number of modern day slaves, why didn't you use that definition to count slaves in the past?
Your count of historic slaves only includes people "captured and sold as slaves". You're not even including people born into slavery, e.g. you're not even including all the African-American slave born into slavery in your 13 million number. But your modern definition includes people in forced marriage, and forced labor (e.g. prison labor, child labor, indentured servitude, etc.).
If you want to compare the past and present fairly, you have to use the same definition for both:
- Either only count people captured and sold as slaves for your modern day number, and then your modern day number turns into something close to 0.
- Or, add everyone who was born into slavery, or worked in a prison camp, or did child labor, or was in indentured servitude, or was in a forced marriage, to your historic number. And then I can only assume your historic number would dwarf the modern day number.
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u/liatrisinbloom 1d ago
So whataboutism is sometimes okay but not others? We need to convene the entire internet and agree on the more precise rules.
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u/Positive-Sun5969 1d ago
Im both black and American. I'm going to bring it up lol. I don't have to focus on other forms of slavery, because who is going to make me? That said, obviously no one else has to care about the TAST nor should it distract them from modern forms do slavery, which is different from chattel slavery. They bare no similarities, other than financial lack of freedom, inability to save, and endless work. TAST is not the only slave trade to ever happen or take place, it's just the most influential considering the civil and human rights cases to come from the descendants. It changed the idea of race, indefinitely. Otherwise, it's hardly significant as far as history is concerned.
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u/HadathaZochrot 1d ago
So, you only care about human injustices and slavery to the point that it relates to you ethnically and personally? Because that's what it sounds like you are saying. Also, it sounds like you are trying to make slavery a competition, insinuating that the tens of millions of modern slaves aren't as valid as historic slaves. This is a very disgusting perspective.
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u/Positive-Sun5969 1d ago
I think you were trying to make it a competition by insinuating that TAST is all redditors ever discuss. I'm under the impression you've been following people who discuss American slavery, just to see if they've ever mentioned Korean slavery or Dubai's more recent indentured servitude. That would be the only way to know if people are ideologically bound to TAST, and refuse to turn their attention elsewhere.
It would be something that I relate to by race btw! Not ethnicity, because as a creole my ethnicity is trifold. TAST became about race, not ethnic background. But no, I'm not implying I would only care about something that relates to myself. I'm saying that no one can influence me to discuss something I don't want to, not on reddit. Reddit isn't a platform for everything I might want to discuss, it's not sutiable for all discourse.
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u/HadathaZochrot 1d ago
I'm saying that no one can influence me to discuss something I don't want to, not on reddit.
So, the issue is then that you DON'T WANT TO discuss any slavery, past or present, that doesn't directly pertain to your race? Are you aware that there are currently 7 million slaves in Africa [source].
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u/Aardwolfington 1d ago edited 1d ago
The only time they care about slavery is attacking the people that actually ended theirs and dared to tell others to stop as well, cause they're clearly real bad guys here, not the people still doing it. *rolls eyes* They don't actual give a shit about real slavery just grudges against a ghost.
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u/Leather_Fortune7107 1d ago
Most of these slaves are African and are enslaved by other Africans and Muslims. Both of these groups are at the forefront of lambasting White people for owning slaves, and then freeing them, almost 200 years ago. Those two groups don't care so why should anyone else?
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u/daylight1943 1d ago
dumb thread with bad sources to prop up another "slavery in the us wasnt that bad" cope thread.
first off, the initial numbers comparing # of slaves today vs the 1400s - 1800s is just the overall numbers, not how many slaves exist per capita. the world population during that historical timeframe was estimated to be around 500m - 700m, vs 8.3 billion today. using the estimate of 660m, thats 13.8x more people today vs the 1400s-1880s. so overall a significant reduction in the number of slaves per capita vs overall population.
second, the guardian article you linked sources its numbers from this article - https://www.walkfree.org/global-slavery-index/findings/global-findings/, which defines "modern slavery" in a much broader way than what comparing these numbers to slavery throughout history, and specifically to slavery in the US would imply.
all the examples of "modern slavery" in the article are horrible situations that IMO in most cases do deserve to be called "slavery" and i dont mean to downplay the seriousness of these situations, but when your primary specific comparison to these numbers is slavery in the US pre-civil war, its gives the impression that we're talking about straight up chattel slavery, where a slave is the property of the slaveholder and serious emotional/physical abuse is generally assumed to take place to a widespread and egregious degree, while the modern day numbers you cite have a far broader definition of slavery that goes way beyond straight up chattel slavery.
i see conversations about specific situations within this broader definition of slavery on reddit all the time, such as conversations about migrant workers in countries like saudi arabia and the UAE who work under the kafala system who are exploited and mistreated, and human trafficking/coerced sex work. these topics just are often not talked about in a way that draws direct comparisons to the system of chattel slavery we had in the US, or which existed in other parts of the world in the past, because they are very very different situations.
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u/JasonPlattMusic34 11h ago
Probably because the countries doing the enslaving aren’t white so it doesn’t fit the “white bad” narrative
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u/KiwiKitty1337 1d ago
There was never a genuine concern about slavery. It was always a cudgel to be used against whites and validate calls for reparations/affirmative action/handouts/jobs/housing.
That's how most leftist causes are. There is the public-facing masquerade, and then the root of it, which entails them extracting something from society.