slavery is still alive and going strong, contrary to popular belief

Its just sad that we can ignore it just like all the travesties I suppose I submit that if the US Military were turned against this (imagine naval intelligence and CIA drones ending this shit), the next logical step might be investigating big business involved in human rights abuses/ crimes against humanity...this might then lead to a worldwide cleanse of corporate corruption while a new respect for humanity might emerge.  Fear of power would shrink as the military became actual heroes of the people.  The planet would enjoy a new sense of family.  And at that point, we would begin to till the land again, sustainable energy would replace wastefulness, and gardens would cover the land like a beautiful colorful carpet.

Rise, This is all very sad.  Unfortunately, I doubt the US military or government want to do anything to stop it, not only do I feel like they want Africa/Africans to suffer so maybe they can eventually take it over without having to go to war because hey, that would just be too obvious even to many of the "patriots" ( there are so many valuable resources there) they also seem to love slavery on US soil.  Look at the US private prison industry, people who are locked up (most non-violent drug offenders) are basically slaves themselves, making many of the products the US military use.  According to this article,  "the Federal Prison Complex produces one hundred percent of all military helmets, ammunition belts, bullet proof vests, Identification tags, shirts, pants tents, bags and even canteens."   Such a sad state of affairs in many places on this planet right now. http://reality-bytes.hubpages.com/hub/Is-The-Prison-Industrial-Complex-A-New-Form-Of-Slavery

Great article lala!  Wow.  I  will never get used to the idea of enslaving people.  I had thought we had risen above that.  How disappointing to see it is actually stronger than ever.  Jesus.  I especially like this quote from the article you refer to, 'In the years between 1980 and 1994 the corporate profits rose from $392 million to an astounding $1.32 billion!' Profits over people, over Earth our home, over family and friends and all that I thought was most important..makes this place a real live hell on Earth.  What a fucking disaster.  Thats why the Earth has to cleans itself of our dumb asses.  & we deserve it.  Well, I hate to take responsibility for what these assholes did..so I wont.  They ruined it!  They sold their souls.  Not us.  & it aint over yet.  I think theres a revolution coming.  And it aint gonna be pretty.  But they asked for it, didnt they?

Totally.  And if it profits went up that much in that period of time, imagine what they are another 19 years later, when profits for major corporations everywhere have skyrocketed.  Same with prison population "In 1972 the United States prison population was around three hundred thousand, there was over one million incarcerated by 1990. The prison population rose to over two million by the year 2000."  I know that number has gone up substantially.  Trying to bring corporations back to the US from overseas, it costs less in the end with prisoners doing the work.  Such bullshit.  Should make anyone think twice about looking for that 'made in America' label.  We are really just in such a bad place.  What do we do?  I rarely buy anything new (with a few exceptions) I think if we stopped our over consumption, things could possibly change, but it seems like people just wont wake up and realize that we are almost at the tipping point.  It is so frustrating to me.   I see it is to you as well.

Okay, this feels like a real primal pattern we've stumbled upon here when you consider the ratio of about 27 million slaves worldwide now; not including 2.7 million (1/10th) mostly non violent For-profit prisoners within the US punishment system.  Ive been in that guilt box before, and its a circle as we bite our own tail, chasing it till our death, all for nothing.  So why all the punishment and guilt and suffering?  I never understood why we do that to ourselves.  Some sort of outdated patriarchal cultural traditional brainwashing that continues to hurt us, sadly.  I wish I could escape it.  We could have had heaven on Earth.  We could retract into a hundred acre farm and garden, live sustainably and simply.  I wish I could do that.  Put my money where my mouth is.  I guess if I cant, why should I blame anyone else who also cant simplify.  It is me.  But theres a cancer growing in this culture here, thats for sure.  If we dont quaranteen it quickly enough, it will consume the consumers themselves.. Isnt that some funny shit, when the prey turns around and eats the predator?  I suppose thats what our processed food is slowly doing to our inflamed insides.  Our external environment mirrors our internal one.  & it looks like war where beautiful gardens should have been.  Man, it all comes down to individual choices, dont it?  Its the only time we can kiss life instead of punish ourselves all the time. & it'd be a hell of a PR campaign for both the prez (commmander in chief) and the military who have the worst reputation on they've ever had around the world  ..they might both enjoy that side benefit if they ended slavery...ah  but I digress.. Its just that it in theory, it might lead to a domino effect of goodness and clean up in business practices that just exploit people.  It would in effect make the military start working for the people sorta, for a change, for good too, and I bet it would eventually put our military at odds with Blackwater, and damn that'll be a fight!  Anyway, instead Im sure we have the lovely alternative reality that makes much more sense to just keep it the same ol corrupt dump.  All we can do is change ourselves.  Thats it.

..and maybe help a few kindred souls along the way too.  We can do that too.  Beyond that, I suppose this train is going off the tracks regardless of how loudly we ring the alarm bell.  Maybe we just oughta enjoy the fireworks, let the guilt wash away since it doesnt serve any helpful purpose if those who make the decisions dont find it important enough to act.  We worker ants can only influence our small circle I suppose, but just like the story of the little girl throwing in as many starfishes as she could back to the sea before they died after washing up on the beach, even though her Daddy tells her there are too many to save, because it mattered to those few, our individual choices are our power, our personal choices change the world, butterfly -effect style.  ..Then poof ~ off we go again.

Back to the ratio concept: 27 million slaves worldwide: 2.7 million For profit mostly non- violent prisoner slaves within US and 200,000 farmers in India committed suicide last year by drinking the pesticide they could no longer afford, in protest. I wonder how many monks have caught themselves on fire in protest while we look away.. stay in our bubble. How many unjust arrests, unjust killings, wrongings of all sorts, violence run amok, school shootings, drugging our kids.. And all of our resources are spent on securing the US military's right to keep buying oil for their wars over more oil for more war..and none of it for good, only to maintain status quo, keepin the same the same, fucking tradition and culture: our only real enemy besides fear itself.  Mckennna calls culture a childish illusion, and I hafta agree, only keep in mind how dangerous its inability to adapt as we progress, has become.

Yes Rise, Change can only happen if we do it from within first.  I know I have had some effect on some around me by speaking up but really it is up to us individually.  I was talking about this with my roommate who has a bizarre attraction to anything plastic, she said it wouldn't matter if we as Americans changed our over consuming ways because other people (in this situation we were speaking of the Chinese) still want their piece of the pie.  I said I didn't think that was necessarily true.  I lived in China for a bit, they want to emulate us.  If we made changes they would surely follow. Sadly, I feel that they will probably end up doing it first.  They have to, it will be impossible to live there, in the cities anyway, for much longer if they do not.  When I was there 6 years ago you could stare at the sun it had such a haze of smog over it. I truly wish the government and military were not owned by these corporations.  Changing how we live to a more sustainable way, unfortunately won't raise profit margins.  They are willing to destroy it all for a piece of worthless paper.  All we can do is change the way we live ourselves and set an example.  On the other hand, I think that we can't be consumed with the fear of what is going on, that just leads us back to where we were, for most of us consuming drugs to numb of us this reality.  It is really so difficult.  I personally am finally in a place where I can be aware of this and not let it get me down and back to where I was.  I had been consumed with this fear for over a decade now, yet I am finally happy in my life, maybe for the first time ever.  I am still well aware,  I just choose to do my best.  I think that it is all we can do at this point.  We could always get a group of like minded individuals and commune somewhere, work together and live off the grid and away from the pressure/demand of over consumption... but that is just a dream I have, maybe someday?

Those numbers are staggering.  What a vicious circle, all for the profits of a few.

I wouldn't worry about the 27 million slaves. They're like Jean Paul-Sartre's chestnut tree - they may as well be a landscape painting. What are we doing to make the lives of people around us better every day? That's a more practical thought process. The US government isn't going to save fuck all. It's responsible for more murder, death, destruction AND slavery than any other government on the face of the planet. North Korea, Afghanistan, Iraq, Cuba, Syria, Libya and now Iran. Hotspots all over the world being torn to pieces, civilians being thrown out of their homes, their children killed. All for profit. But again, all this is the chestnut tree. It is a blank slate upon which we paint our reflections and have emotions that respond to those reflections. Also there aren't 27 million slaves. There are 4-5 billion slaves. Who can't leave their jobs, homes or where they live. Who move from the home cage to the work cage and back in their car cages. Seeing very little outside these cubicles/cages. Fox news doesnt count. How many people do you know who can do what they really want to do. Travel, be free, to wake up on a weekday and do what they want to do, rather than risk disciplinary action for missing a work day for non sickness reasons. 'You are a slave, Neo'. No real difference between those 27 million slaves and us. They might not have flash 42 inch TV's or big cars. And we might not get physically abused (though mental and emotional abuse occurs in almost every work environment - appraisals, not good enough, dont mess with the protocols and guidelines, dont take more than 4-6 weeks of leave a year). What freedom does the rest of the world have. They dont have a choice where they spend 40 hours a week. They dont have a choice where they spend the other 120 hours a week either as its taken up with sleep, and traveling between work and home. The weekends are theirs. Thank God for small mercies.

When I owned my own biz, I took off Wednesdays so I'd flip the whole 5 days on 2 days off upside down, go to work 2 days, off one, work 2 days and off 2.  It made me feel like I was less of a slave.  Your point is an excellent one, and whenever we do have a pocket full of money, bills caught up, for a second dont you feel free?  It always feels so good until that rubber band snaps back and the next round of bills hits before you're ready.  Didnt last long did it?  I get you, but I cant help but feel that deep sense of lack that makes me wonder if I just had enough, maybe life wouldnt be so stressful.. so I get as much as I can for as long as I can, usually get one week ahead over many many months of careful mathematics and discipline, but then the rubber band snaps back again and Im more behind than ever.  Fuck.  So I keep trying, and when I look back at the work I did, it amounts to nothing.  Its frustrating as hell, and then death approaches.  We get nowhere even in a whole lifetime.  I guess thats my fear; by not looking directly at the worst aspects of ourselves, we allow it to continue and even grow in strength.  I guess thats what I love about brutal honesty and clever comedy; brilliant ideas formed around real life struggling with a wisp of technology in the background like a security blanket, that we all hope will save us somehow while we launch off the cliff.  I bet we die first, before much positive change happens..and maybe thats okay.  Kinda like getting used to animals fighting over food and whatever, society is a childish bunch of prehistoric apes running the world into the ground, and the young people are fucked the worst; taxation without representation.  They are left a worse world than what was left to their parents, how sad.  "Greatest Generation' they call themselves, right??- as they lit the world on fire and cancered the whole place to death for a coupla bucks.  Gluttony, greed, corruption, killing and caging others, forcing ones will upon others, what a culture to praise to the children.

I agree, whether you are a wage slave, chained or caged.. it all stems from the same problem, corporate corruption, greed and over consumption.  I think this is the biggest issue of our time, almost every other problem we face today on this planet is because of this.

I agree, and when you tease out the strands of splitting hairs, its the excess itself...or rather our inability to adapt to merely tasting the excess (without ravenously inhaling as much of it as we can for as long as we can, until our insides are about to burst).  There is a deep sense of lack that we cannot seem to escape, once we have a taste of that momentary relief.  Its a sort of possession, but an illusion, since possession itself is an illusion; a masterful one we've all fallen for.  Remember the Native American Indians were so confused when the white man took 'possession' of land.  It made no sense to them, and then we killed most of them, and the rest were turned into alcoholics out of disbelief.  Ironic really, since another form of addiction (to power) is where their confusion stemmed from.  Its definitely the biggest problem of our time.  And this addiction that forms from perfectly acceptable over-consumption of money or power or food or drugs or corrupt behavior appears to be blown apart into smithereens by psychedelics (assuming set and setting are planned out well).  Yet only a few select souls are privy to this knowledge...  While it speeds up collectively all around us, gaining momentum, it strengthens, and improves its tactics for more efficient self destruction.  I wonder if we will realize the excess is controlling us (and not vice versa) before it reaches the event horizon and consumes us whole.  To me, the fact that slavery thrives is a perfect literal metaphor for reality and what continues to separate us most from the best aspects of ourselves. It also makes me want to protect myself and my loved ones from the beast thats running things around here.  No Daddy -complex here.  'Daddy' is here to injure and enslave us.

haha, Rise - loved reading your last two posts. I see the corporotocracy beast surrounding, controlling, even dictating almost everything we do. Our likes and disliked even programmed into us by the media. But my solution is to step out of the matrix, and even plug out of society a wee bit so I have my time to myself to do what I want to do. The Iboga tells me to set up a plan B and a passive cashflow whilst I still do have my day job. And I guess I'm working towards that. A life where I have my own place, grow my own food and homeschool my kids. Simple needs. And a simple life. But who knows what might actually end up happening. There's a long way to go to get to that goal, and that's the journey I should be concerning myself with now. That and some soul union work. Haha, the long hard journey of unslaving myself.

Exactly! Eureka!  How about we enslave ourselves for a change?  What if we thought deeply about our true goals in life and wrote them down, even study those goals daily, keeping them in our sights all the time?  What if we took control over our personal resources and energy?  What if we reached those goals and accomplished something before we die?  Nah, thats far too much trouble.  I'll just let the bank tell me whats best for me and just make affordable monthly payments forever from a job I hate, that barely covers my rent and bills.  I read recently that 90% of us live check to check.  Sux for us, eh?  It sure would be nice to get ahead, just a little.