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Woman in Brazil enslaved for 55 years by 3 generations of the same family

english.elpais.com

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Re: Woman in Brazil enslaved for 55 years by 3 generations of the same family

#211

Post by sokoloff »

Brian_K_White wrote: post #207
sokoloff wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What’s the financial motivation for the state then?

Irrelevant. There doesn't need to be any. "What's the financial motivation for the state" is way too blinkered and makes at least 2 different false assumptions. There are other motivations besides financial, and it doesn't have to be the state's own motivation for the state to end up doing something. Countless government policies and programs exist which give no legitimate benefit to the state or the people, no legit…

Relevant in that the directly upthread poster argued there was “zero financial motivation for the state for prevention or rehab or any other activities to reduce imprisonment rates”, which I claim is incorrect.

Re: Woman in Brazil enslaved for 55 years by 3 generations of the same family

#213

Post by geraneum »

singpolyma3 wrote: post #186
geraneum wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hire not enslave! Like how you might hire a driver, or housemaid, or anyone to do a salaried or contract job? How does that perpetuates the problem?

I'm pretty sure there's a reason we frown on people hiring servants in general, such as a driver or a housemaid. It's far too similar to slavery for anyone's comfort

Do also frown upon people working in nursing homes? Or your uber driver? No one frowns upon the people who work/help people who need it.

Re: Woman in Brazil enslaved for 55 years by 3 generations of the same family

#214

Post by oblio »

RetroTechie wrote: post #160
oblio wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because they go together. The hallmark of developed countries is that they're even, mostly egalitarian and developed everywhere. The hallmark of developing or underdeveloped countries is precisely the staggering levels of inequality. Not everyone is poor in a developing/underdeveloped country. Quite a few people there live lives that would make upper middle classes in developed countries blush. Life "just" sucks for…

> The hallmark of developed countries is that they're even, mostly egalitarian and developed everywhere. Nope: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sovereign_states_by_we... Developed-but-very-unequal, and less-developed-but-more-equal are a thing.

Wealth is a lagging indicator.

Also, I have my own standard (https://xkcd.com/927/):

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gini_coefficient

Re: Woman in Brazil enslaved for 55 years by 3 generations of the same family

#215

Post by oblio »

argentinian wrote: post #130
59percentmore wrote: post #112

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The terrible labor laws exist because of the inequality. The people with servants write the laws and, in their magnaminity, don't let the servants vote.

You are writing about democratic countries. Everyone votes. I sense that you're pointing to a different problem.

Even in democracies, voting can be distorted. Gerrymandering, lobbying, revolving doors, plain old bribes, etc.

Re: Woman in Brazil enslaved for 55 years by 3 generations of the same family

#216

Post by oblio »

argentinian wrote: post #93
oblio wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because they go together. The hallmark of developed countries is that they're even, mostly egalitarian and developed everywhere. The hallmark of developing or underdeveloped countries is precisely the staggering levels of inequality. Not everyone is poor in a developing/underdeveloped country. Quite a few people there live lives that would make upper middle classes in developed countries blush. Life "just" sucks for…

Correlation is not causation. Would you say USA is a developed country, considering for example Los Angeles slums? And there's a bigger inequality between Elon musk and a well paid software developer than between a poor person in a developing country and a rich politician from that country.

> Would you say USA is a developed country

I'm not saying anything (directly). We have definitions for these things:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Developed_country

According to any way we currently categorize developed countries, the US is one of them.

Re: Woman in Brazil enslaved for 55 years by 3 generations of the same family

#217

Post by [deleted] »

ffsm8 wrote: post #205
olelele wrote: post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m sorry but the current NK regime and the Kim family consolidating power is in large part due to American aggression indochina. The Korean War was more or less genocide on the part of the Americans and history would be different without Douglas MacArthur…

That's just fake history. The US didn't start the Korean war, they helped SK stand free of the oppression of the seriously evil NK government. China then interfered because they didn't want a US aligned country at their border. However there have been decades since the affair settled - and I stand by my opinion that if the US and by extension NATO cares whatsoever, they'd have just told China "we won't interfere as l…

[deleted]

Re: Woman in Brazil enslaved for 55 years by 3 generations of the same family

#218

Post by archagon »

forinti wrote: post #11

Its a common occurrence for families to take in poor girls to do house work in exchange for food and lodging. And with the insidious nature of Brazilian racism, they will pretend that she is part of the family. They might even take her on vacations (to work, of course). If you grow up with this mentality it might even be hard for you to see the injustice. Brazil abolished slavery in 1888, the last country in the Amer…

Not Brazil — Mexico — but the movie Roma does an amazing job at dissecting this sort of dynamic.

Re: Woman in Brazil enslaved for 55 years by 3 generations of the same family

#219

Post by phyzome »

encom wrote: post #81
phyzome wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Correction: The US still has not abolished slavery. It is still legal in the case of prisoners: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirteenth_Amendment_to_the_Un...

Prisoners are not slaves, because they are not the property of the prison or any other entity. It's called involuntary servitude. I'm sure the people affected do not care about the distinction, but words matter. It's also trivially easy to not end up in involuntary servitude.

I did not say that prisoners are slaves. I said that it is legal to enslave them.

Re: Woman in Brazil enslaved for 55 years by 3 generations of the same family

#220

Post by phyzome »

elmer2 wrote: post #90
phyzome wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Correction: The US still has not abolished slavery. It is still legal in the case of prisoners: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thirteenth_Amendment_to_the_Un...

I suppose using this logic, murder is legal, because of self defense. Theft is legal because of tax laws. Prisoners aren't 'slaves'. They are being punished for crimes they committed. Very dofferent than being born into it and bought/sold to the highest bidder.

I did not say that all prisoners are slaves. I said that it would be legal to enslave them.
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