Would being a 'slave' be better than being homeless?
More like indentured servitude than slavery but I figured from the list slave would stir curiosity better.
On my way to Home Depot yesterday I recalled that in the summer there was a guy with a sign saying "will work for food" outside the Home Depot I was going to and that memory sparked the line of thought for this question.
Backstory; I live alone(cat and dog are freeloaders) in a 2 bed 1 bath house with a full unfinished basement and 1 car garage on a 12,800 sqr ft plot of land(not sure if it's moderate or small so I had to be descriptive), I work a 40+ hour week and have some to-do's on my list to 'fix-up' my house that I'm always too whiny to do.
It dawned on me that if someone lived with me and basically cared for the house doing the things I either don't know how to do or didn't have time to, then me providing them with shelter, amenities, and food would be similar to ancient slavery, Rome/Greek era, F colonial slavery.
I couldn't pay them, if I could then I could hire a "professional"(maid,butler,gardner,handyman or whatever), and if they're homeless they would likely prefer stability opposed to me paying them too little to go out and live on.
They clean, patch up walls, mow, rake or shovel snow and in exchange have a 'home' but never see cash. While here they could get a job and eventually move out since they have a residence to receive mail but I'd expect them to keep up their end of the arrangement. I may be describing a halfway house or something but this would be something everyone could do for others. Forget for the moment that we have an innate aversion to trust strangers, sadly the homeless being at the top of that distrust.
Thus I pose the question; wouldn't some kind of indentured servitude be better than being homeless?
2
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17 comments
Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.My People were enslaved. Not happening. Although, it is sad to see mental slavery happening.
AtheismIsLife
Level 6
Jan 16, 2018
1
Indentured servitude and slavery are far from the same thing. Being indentured means your getting something for your service and is entered into freely. Slavery implies ownership.
What you describe looks to me like a barter arraignment, which is something else again i- not uncommon for RV parks managers, mom and pop motel managers, and the like
RobCampbell
Level 7
Jan 15, 2018
3
My x-mother-in-law and her third husband took in a homeless man who helped her with her art projects. She lived in a loft near the mission in DTLA. He lived with her for about 17 years. He was given food, a room, clean clothes, and a small stipend for helping with her art projects (carrying marble and wood to her studio). He also made art: Stained glass windows which were beautiful. He would disappear to get "high" once or twice a year. She tried so hard to keep him "clean." He was smart, kind, funny, sweet, talented, and hard working. He was hit by a truck on one of his journeys to get high. She found him and took him to "County" where he wasn't even triaged and told to go home and sleep it off. He died in her house from internal bleeding. She wasn't allowed to claim the body because she wasn't family.
Then a few years later she took in another homeless man who is still living with her (he's been with her for 27 years). He does the chores and drives her to dialysis. He's kind and caring and grateful to have a roof over his head and food in his tummy. He is now family.
Both men ran away from home as teenagers because they were abused and neglected there.
Hope4Zoe
Level 6
Jan 15, 2018
2
You are defined, by the whole of the federal and state governments, by a social security number first...and then your date of birth, followed by your name. You are a slave.
Jack-of-scythes
Level 6
Jan 15, 2018
3
Yes and if you make less than it actually costs to live decently then you truly are a slave, a wage slave but a slave none the less!
We have a terrible situation here in Australia, working visas for backpackers. People are almost forced into cheap labour, minimal pay, much of which is is kept as board/rent on substandard accommodation provided by he farmer/employer. Most Australian backpackers will not do it, and the employers don't want Australians because they are not desperate to get their visas approved. The incidence sexual harassment seems quite high as well. A better system though there are also bad stories, are the woofers, many get their accommodation in exchange for one day a week work, a far better way to go.
Rugglesby
Level 8
Jan 15, 2018
3
I heard that is how dubai built the pretty buildings with slave foreigners.
Wow, there was a time when I was a kid my dad wanted to pack the family up and immigrate to Australia.
@misstuffy don't get me wrong it is an awesome place, the world is full of awesome places, we have some extremely wealthy people, our poor (myself included) are well off compared to poor in most countries. We have some extremely intelligent people, maybe a higher percentage than some countries, but ....... I find the majority are not that bright and there is a large number of people that are downright dumb. We have many kind people,mot don't care about much and we do have a lot of uncaring self centered people, and our politicians seem to be made up largely of these hence the way our working visa system works, cheap labour for the farmers. Best jobs for the backpackers are in the tourist areas, work on the ski fields, on the reef, with tour companies, fair pay and great fun.Then they get to meet people like me, I have never traveled overseas, but have met people from all over the world, it is great.
In the sense that you are saying maybe you would. not all the slaves from before the war were happy about how they ended up. the bigger picture is the homeless are possibly the only people who aren't slaves and some by choice
LeighShelton
Level 8
Jan 14, 2018
2
somewhat agree re homeless, i know people who choose to be homeless, I have been homeless a few times, there is freedom in it.
Last I heard, that is called bartering.
As for indentured servitude/slavery being better than being homeless....... not for the homeless. Slavery implies non-consensual. Anything non-consensual is wrong.
kiramea
Level 7
Jan 14, 2018
6
Fair point that slavery, even in ancient times, was not by the will of the slave and I have come to grasp that how I interpreted the relationship is far less like slavery than I had initially believed. I suppose the capitalistic laws of minimum wage and cash payment for goods and services dominated and skewed my perception of the proposed arrangement.
Its not indentured servitude if they can leave whenever they want to.
sassygirl3869
Level 9
Jan 14, 2018
1
True, I guess for some reason the closest analog to me was that since they're not paid. But if you research slavery in ancient Rome/Greece the biggest difference was that a slave couldn't vote, and maybe not own land but somehow they would have their own place to live which might have been on their owner's land but it's been awhile since I read up on it. But usually the slaves were the people of a conquered region and they'd continue their normal job like baking, pottery or blacksmithing(olden day crap) while still being a servant to a Roman citizen.
Though that part of history doesn't quite apply here I still feel someone on the outside looking in would see it as a form of slavery, or @MrLizard mentioned bartering but regardless of what you call it, would giving someone food, shelter and other amenities in exchange for legal services not be better for them than living on the streets?
And yes they can leave, go back to being homeless or finally get a place of their own, but I think the 'issue' arises that it's almost as though the home owner is taking advantage of the homeless person's situation. So maybe that's how I should ask it; would taking in a homeless person in exchange for their labor be taking advantage of them?
I don't see problem with your thinking in the ideal. I do the think in practical terms problems would arise in most cases. I would have a hard time with trust. If I had history a with person who had fallen on hard times, I might consider it. Your basic premise is altruistic, and that a good thing.
Leutrelle
Level 7
Jan 14, 2018
2
I understand trust would be the deciding factor in executing this idea, which was why I said "Forget for the moment that we have an innate aversion to trust strangers, sadly the homeless being at the top of that distrust."
but you bring up a good point about their history which I don't know for certain may be obtained by background checks, assuming some weren't always homeless or did enough to generate history, some may not have a social and that I can't compensate for but yes the premise is to lend a hand to those in need and still get something in return...
There is a philosophical idea that no act is ever 100% altruistic but in this situation I think it would be even more difficult to get people to take in those in need if they weren't contributing in some way... help those who help themselves in a way, they show they're willing to do some work in exchange for the stability that shows initiative and a desire to be more than homeless I feel.
Difference is the person is free to come and go as they please, as long as the 'work' is done. rent, food and utilites adds up to a chunk of change every month. Having a base with a part-time 'job' of maid/butler/handyman could give the homeless person a chance to go to school, find higher paying work, etc. I would love to find a house and do a similar sort of thing.
silverotter11
Level 9
Jan 14, 2018
5
A sex slave to hot women overlords? OK, if I have to...
chuckles
Level 6
Jan 14, 2018
6
To be honest, I was thinking of the 'house wife' role the other day and I wouldn't mind being the 'house husband'. I don't hate my job but if I married/dated a woman who could support us both I would stay home to cook, clean and do all the things I listed above, my energy level or productiveness seems to be an either or kind of thing; work at a company or work at home(though I can't let my home get messy so I overcome it but that's just even more exhausting). I know child care is usually in that but I don't think I want any so there wouldn't be that to worry about.
I know two brothers who both did the same thing - their wives are corporate types, they are stay-home Dads. It's a system, it works for them...
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