Human populations have long been divided into the privileged and the exploited. Today, on earth, reporters and human rights organizations insist there are more slaves than have ever existed in all of human history.
In America, people are rightly proud of a union preserved while a civil war raged to end slavery. Yet, in America, even now, class and race struggles are prevalent. People do not seem to want to end inequality, as much as they wish to have all the stuff and status as Trump, or the latest lottery winner. They clamor for excess, and they glorify even snarky, reality show celebs behaving badly, or the tacky exploitation of pageant tots, Honey Boo Boos, and bland, blonde biased news bimbos.
Human animals live in stratified systems of rank. Other animals who do this include many mammals, such as wolf packs and some cats, such as lions and elephants, marine cetaceans, many birds and some social insects. It is strange, that even in the twenty first century, people are still determined to live in systems where some are “superior” and others, (most) inferior. Rather than over-throwing the non-balanced system, societies usually work to both support and defend it. Race, social class and caste all are factors in the many levels of social stratification.
Many struggle to get up to the next tier. However, most people do not struggle to make a living to end poverty, but just to be prosperous themselves. Once up, they are not about to rock the boat, make waves, or risk going back. This perpetuates the questionable system of accepted stratification.
Only human beings, and a few species of ants, engage in slavery. There is still a dismal amount of slavery on the planet. Although most of it is “ indebtedness slavery,” there is also military slavery, mostly in African and middle eastern and sub continent regions such as Pakistan, Bangladesh and India. In America, there is freedom and opportunity, but also oppression. The fight is more open. It is against credit debt slavery, dwindling opportunity, and lost worker’s rights.
In American, sexual trafficking is more rare, but still awful. There is an appalling amount of sexual slavery in many parts of Asia, and there is always just a trickle of that that comes through U.S. borders. The porn industry is often accused of a kind of slavery. Most people,however do not care about disposable people. Nor do they question who gets rich from it, or what families are bankrupted by it, or other forms of addiction.
Both kinds of slavery (labor and forced prostitution) are found in the Americas, although there is more in Latin America, than in North America. Most people are unaware of slavery, that is part of how is still survives. Also, in mixed melting pot nations like those in North America, diversity is seen as strength, even though it is ironically also used to keep people “in their place.”
President Obama was nearly defeated solely by huge coffers of money and very, influential rich people convincing less rich people, that they too could be free and prosperous if it were not for an “un-american progressive, leftist, socialist, Muslim Kenyan.” Race was very much an issue of the 2012 election, as was sexism, and threats of “Class warfare.” It was refreshing, that voters made a difference.
The most insidious aspect of social classicism is that its destruction is not restricted to people. A sense of have and have not and entitlement to resources pervades every eco-system and resource, and threatens life on earth. People want to think themselves more divinely made than the rest of the creation, so the creation is exploited.
Also, a victimized and exploited population will seek to dominate anything, anyone they can if driven to desperation and given no alternative. Exploitation is the name of the game that gave the earth conquest, conquering of native peoples and taking wealth, resources and all that sustains life by a sense of entitlement.
Therefore, global warming, a broken economy, racism, war, terrorism and virtually everything heinous to humanity has its foundation in one group thinking themselves, better, more worthy more entitled, or special than those that all must coexist cooperatively for all life to thrive.
Social stratification is always defended on the grounds of “keeping the peace and status quo.” Is it, perhaps, time to re-think this?
