How shall we debunk whiteness with this information?
Serious, non-snark question. Are we meant to angle at the privilege that keeps us unaware? At the white-rooted global economy that makes the long-distance versions of this possible and exacerbates the local ones? At the people who say "OH LOOK THOSE UNCIVILISED BROWN PEOPLE OWN SLAVES"? What exactly do we do with this?
I definitely didn't mean for this post to be a "OH LOOK THOSE UNCIVILISED BROWN PEOPLE OWN SLAVES?" It's my fault for not clarifying, but we had electrical storms all day and I just got back online a few minutes ago.
I posted this because I think that all the white folks I talk to who get upset about discussions of racism with cries of, "Slavery is over! What are 'they' still so angry about?" should read stuff like this and realize that slavery is in no way over. And this should provoke the realization that we still have a part to play in this even if we think we are so far removed from it.
Oh, I certainly didn't mean to imply that you posted it to say OMG!BROWN!SLAVEOWNERS -- it's just a view I've seen expressed on message-boards a lot, and one that could stand some comment.
I had not considered the "slavery is over" line. That's a good point.
I did not pay for a human life anywhere. And, with one exception, I always withheld action to save any one person, in the hope that my research would later help to save many more. At times, that still feels like an excuse for cowardice. But the hard work of real emancipation can’t be the burden of a select few.
I feel like debunking this particular rich-country/liberal messiah complex (not sure it's entirely white, but probably mostly), since the author doesn't do it right. It's really fucking basic: if you buy, you contribute to demand. If you buy many, you drive up prices, which isn't exactly an incentive for the traders to stop. That's if you buy people's freedom. That's if you buy. If you intervene in some other way, you endanger whoever's left, raise the costs for the smugglers (or subsidise competing smugglers), and either give them an incentive to cut costs (more brutality) or raise prices (which also has fun repercussions). And of course if you release the people you rescue without giving them an alternative, they're
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No, dude, no! It wasn't an attack on your post, for real. There's just so -much- to do with it that I wasn't sure where you were coming from. And, er, I was procrastinating so I started at the bit that grabbed me first.
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Serious, non-snark question. Are we meant to angle at the privilege that keeps us unaware? At the white-rooted global economy that makes the long-distance versions of this possible and exacerbates the local ones? At the people who say "OH LOOK THOSE UNCIVILISED BROWN PEOPLE OWN SLAVES"? What exactly do we do with this?
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I posted this because I think that all the white folks I talk to who get upset about discussions of racism with cries of, "Slavery is over! What are 'they' still so angry about?" should read stuff like this and realize that slavery is in no way over. And this should provoke the realization that we still have a part to play in this even if we think we are so far removed from it.
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I had not considered the "slavery is over" line. That's a good point.
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I feel like debunking this particular rich-country/liberal messiah complex (not sure it's entirely white, but probably mostly), since the author doesn't do it right. It's really fucking basic: if you buy, you contribute to demand. If you buy many, you drive up prices, which isn't exactly an incentive for the traders to stop. That's if you buy people's freedom. That's if you buy. If you intervene in some other way, you endanger whoever's left, raise the costs for the smugglers (or subsidise competing smugglers), and either give them an incentive to cut costs (more brutality) or raise prices (which also has fun repercussions). And of course if you release the people you rescue without giving them an alternative, they're ( ... )
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Next time I post, I promise I'll have more pertinent commentary included.
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