Is it better to be a slave or to work in a sweatshop?
“Today, in African factories, the only concern a company has for the worker is for his or her productive hours, and within his or her productive years,” he said. “As soon as AIDS or pregnancy hits—out the door. Get sick, get fired. If you extend the employer’s obligation to a 24/7, lifelong concern, you have an entirely different situation: get sick, get care. With each life valuable from start to finish, the AIDS scourge will be quickly contained via accords with drug manufacturers as a profitable investment in human stewardees. And educating a child for later might make more sense than working it to the bone right now.”
http://www.theyesmen.org/hijinks/wharton
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Is it better to be in a bad situation (wage slave in your words) or a worse situation?
It is better not to be either type of slave.
Trick question. It’s the same thing.
Being a slave means you are the property if someone else and have no control over your life.
Working in a sweatshop you
are still the master of your destiny and can leave.
Though not ideal to be working in a sweat shop I prefer to own myself.
Patently absurd. How can you own yourself when you must get a job and slave for someone just to earn enough money to get the same thing the owners gave their slaves… clothes, food lodging etc…
The capitalist system, a new form of slavery, has tricked so many into believing they are “masters of their destiny.” And yet, if you are master of your destiny, why must you fit into a system which denies you individual freedom on a massive scale.
And what happens if you masterly choose to skip work for awhile, and you cannot pay the bills?
Not everyone earns a living in the corporate world. For the free man there is a choice of how to live and work.
not that i’m a big fan of capitalism but just to put it out there: the source and etymology of the term “wage slave” goes back to American plantation owners arguing that the freeing of their slaves so that they could work and make money for themselves, would only “re-enslave” them to hourly pay vs. the “amenities” of “free” “housing”, “care”, etc..
A worker in a sweatshop can quit.
@mattbrowne @Dog Yes, in theory you are free to quit, but if that were a viable option would anyone still work in such places?
@benjaminlevi – Yes, many would choose not to quit, but the feeling that they could in principle will ease their burden just a little. Slaves did not have this option. Those who tried to escaped were either killed or tortured.
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