# The Future of Slavery **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [July 2, 2008, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-of-slavery/455101 "2008-07-02T21:30:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2008, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-of-slavery/455101/1 "2008-07-02T21:30:17Z")
It’s not cool to post a contentless OP aside, I’ll have to go back through the following clip again to decide what all comments I would want to make about it. But I’d like to post it for others first. And being a short video clip, I don’t think there’s too much of a TLDR issue here: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/aMdQcv7DYKQ/hqdefault.jpg "Slavery - TYM") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMdQcv7DYKQ) ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2008, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-of-slavery/455101/2 "2008-07-02T21:59:15Z")
That was a waste of 2 minutes. I can come to any conclusion I want, too, if I just make up a bunch of assumptions not grounded in facts. ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2008, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-of-slavery/455101/3 "2008-07-02T22:17:14Z")
. Too lame, didn’t read? Faulty premise, flawed conclusion, irrelevant hypothetical. . ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2008, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-of-slavery/455101/4 "2008-07-02T23:11:18Z")
I really don’t get it. And that guy’s sibilant S sounds like a mangled tape reel on a Todd Rundgren recording. I could hardly bear it. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2008, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-of-slavery/455101/5 "2008-07-02T23:29:00Z")
I don’t get it. So when people who aren’t Americans or Europeans work, it’s slavery? Is that it? “And the beauty of this system of slavery is that the slave doesn’t have to be enslaved!” Huh? ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2008, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-of-slavery/455101/6 "2008-07-02T23:37:13Z")
Well I was thinking more about some of the things he brings up than his overall point when I started the thread. The speech is intended as satire I believe, so debating the end point is pointless, I agree. But, would slavery have been able to last versus outsourced labour as time went on? Would slavery be something that your average American might enjoy the prospect of if they had no moral disinclination against it, or would they simply view a slave as being more cost than they were worth? Would the average American be able to afford a slave to live in their residence and/or receive enough work in payment to pay for the “upkeep”? And so on. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2008, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-of-slavery/455101/7 "2008-07-03T18:11:23Z")
It’s hard to really evaluate what he’s saying when the video cuts him off mid-sentence. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2008, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-of-slavery/455101/8 "2008-07-03T19:21:14Z")
It made sense to me. The key points are: 1. There are countless slaves all over the world even if they don’t know it. 2. The 3rd World has some really cheap housing costs and kick-ass thrift stores. 3. The Civil War really should be called the War of Northern Aggression. 4. Finnish accents are remarkably similar to those in San Francisco. It all seems self-apparent to me. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2008, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-of-slavery/455101/9 "2008-07-03T19:33:59Z")
> [@Sage Rat](#): > > But, would slavery have been able to last versus outsourced labour as time went on? I thought most slaves in the Western world were imported as agricultural workers, especially in cotton and sugar plantations. How do you outsource that? If your economy is agriculturally based, you need workers on-site. It’s not like locating your help desk in India. If the question becomes “would slavery died away on its own as the economy shifted from agriculture to manufacturing and then to post-industrial”, possibly. The video’s idea that all cheap labor is slavery is kind of goofy. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2008, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-of-slavery/455101/10 "2008-07-03T20:24:15Z")
The whole point is that it’s goofy. This is the Yes Men. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2008, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-of-slavery/455101/11 "2008-07-03T21:12:36Z")
I’ve not heard of the Yes Men. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2008, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-of-slavery/455101/12 "2008-07-03T21:18:00Z")
[QUOTE=Shagnasty] It made sense to me. The key points are: 1. There are countless slaves all over the world even if they don’t know it. 2. The 3rd World has some really cheap housing costs and kick-ass thrift stores. 3. The Civil War really should be called the War of Northern Aggression. 4. Finnish accents are remarkably similar to those in San Francisco. It all seems self-apparent to me. [/QUOTE] Wow. It’s all crystal clear now! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2008, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-of-slavery/455101/13 "2008-07-03T21:26:04Z")
[QUOTE=Cisco] It’s hard to really evaluate what he’s saying when the video cuts him off mid-sentence. [/QUOTE] Yea, I was kind of curious where he was going, but we never get to hear what his actual point was. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2008, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-of-slavery/455101/14 "2008-07-03T21:59:36Z")
[QUOTE=Shodan] I’ve not heard of the Yes Men. Regards, Shodan [/QUOTE] Here’s their website: > **[Home](https://theyesmen.org/)** > > We’re an ever-expanding and increasingly diverse group of co-conspirators who, mainly, partner with activist groups on creative tactics to further campaigns. They’re anti-globalization/anti-corporate performance artists/activists who pose as government or corporate officials and make satirical or shocking statements. That clip is from when they were pretending to be WTO officials advocating for a return to slavery. They’ve also done things like posed as HUD officials in a press conference in New Orleans, saying that HUD planned to reopen public housing, crashed an oil conference claiming to be officials who were supposed to give a speech on oil production where as Wikipedia puts it: > [@](#): > > On June 14, 2007, the Yes Men acted during Canada’s largest oil conference in Calgary, Alberta, posing as ExxonMobil and National Petroleum Council (NPC) representatives. In front of more than 300 oilmen, the NPC was expected to deliver the long-awaited conclusions of a study commissioned by U.S. Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman. The NPC is headed by former ExxonMobil CEO Lee Raymond, who is also the chair of the study. > > In the actual speech, the “NPC rep” announced that current U.S. and Canadian energy policies (notably the massive, carbon-intensive exploitation of Alberta’s oil sands, and the development of liquid coal) are increasing the chances of huge global calamities. But he reassured the audience that in the worst case scenario, the oil industry could “keep fuel flowing” by transforming the billions of people who would die into oil ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2008, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-of-slavery/455101/15 "2008-07-04T13:25:32Z")
Thanks, **Captain Amazing**. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [July 4, 2008, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-future-of-slavery/455101/16 "2008-07-04T14:29:29Z")
Personally, I think their funniest stunt was their demonstration of future executive wear, the “Management Leisure Suit”, which consisted of a skin-tight gold lamé suit for personal climate control and a built-in monitor to keep an eye on employee operations, such monitor mounted to the suit on a large tube attached to the pelvis and resembling a giant phallus. They’re the modern descendants of Jonathan Swift, modestly proposing things left and right. [Large pdf file from 2003 explaining their mission to ridicule the WTO](http://www.theyesmen.org/bookproposal/wholebook.pdf).