• 𝘋𝘪𝘳𝘬@lemmy.ml
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    15 hours ago

    People likely voted for not repealing the provision allowing involuntary servitude as a punishment for crime and not for keeping slavery.

    Whoever thought combining those two things in one vote was a good idea is an idiot

        • Furbag@lemmy.world
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          5 hours ago

          Let me know if you change your position on that if you’re ever convicted and sentenced to prison for a crime you did not commit.

          Maybe we should be treating people humanely regardless of their criminal record? They are in prison to become reformed citizens, not to be our slave laborers.

        • underwire212@lemm.ee
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          11 hours ago

          You’re making the following statements, lmk if this is inaccurate:

          -Involuntary servitude is not considered slavery, but rather a punishment.

          -Involuntary servitude is OK as long as it’s used on prisoners (those who have been convicted of crimes).

          Inference made: Constitutional protections and rights do NOT apply to those going against the rule of law.

          Questions for you:

          -If involuntary servitude isn’t considered slavery, then what would you consider slavery to be?

          -Is this a form of punishment that helps to reform and correct those deemed currently unsuitable for society (without going into the meaninglessness of Orwellian naming conventions, they are called the “Department of Corrections”, aren’t they?)

          -Do you think the rule of law always corresponds with ethical standards?

          -I always like to ask myself the following: Who stands to benefit from allowing slaver- I mean, “involuntary servitude” to continue to be allowed? Who stands to benefit from all this cheap labor?

          I’m curious as to your answers here.

        • ProIsh@lemmy.world
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          14 hours ago

          You must be either young and ignorant or don’t know how crime is set up here in America.

            • Womdat10@lemmy.world
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              40 minutes ago

              In the several states where it is a crime to be homeless. Such as the 24 states with laws restricting “loitering” in public spaces. Or the 16 states that do the same, but in all spaces. Or the 15 states where pitching a tent in public locations is illegal. Or the 4 states that do that, but in all spaces. Or the 6 states where sleeping or lying down in public is illegal. Or the 4 states where it is illegal to sleep in a vehicle.

        • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world
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          13 hours ago

          It’s slavery as punishment. Which is still slavery.

          It can be avoided by not committing crimes.

          In a justice system functioning perfectly? Sure! In the US one, on the other hand…

        • darthelmet@lemmy.world
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          13 hours ago

          You should read literally anything about the US prison industry, mass incarceration, or war on drugs. The fact that America has the world’s largest prison population, that companies make money from this, and that the people who get imprisoned are largely non-white couldn’t possibly be related right?

        • Mirshe@lemmy.world
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          14 hours ago

          Nah, slavery is still slavery. Tons of US businesses are currently propped up by prisoner workers who they don’t have to pay practically anything, and who can’t walk off the job, and who can’t really complain too much, AND, conveniently, aren’t employed by that company so they can bypass labor laws like break times, safety regulations, and working hours.

            • surewhynotlem@lemmy.world
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              11 hours ago

              Teach you how forcing someone to do labor and be treated like a financial asset is slavery?

              Well that’s easy. You open up your English textbook, you look up the word slavery, and you look at the definition.

              Here, I’ll do the work for you:

              “plural noun: slaves 1. a person who is forced to work for and obey another and is considered to be their property; an enslaved person.”

              Or do you mean, how is this situation slavery? It’s also pretty simple. The American prison system is for-profit. The government is incentivized to arrest more people because they have minimum quotas to meet when putting people in prison. Otherwise they pay extra on the contracts. The prison employees are considered assets in this situation. And those prison employees are put to work with no or little pay.

              But I do understand. English is a very complicated language and the intricacies of the US prison system are not well known in other countries, I imagine. Thank you for asking for help.

    • Stovetop@lemmy.world
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      14 hours ago

      You can be enslaved in the US for the crime of not having enough money to afford a place to live.

        • Miaou@jlai.lu
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          6 hours ago

          Yeah unlike all those people I see living in the streets in Germany, who do that by choice

        • Stovetop@lemmy.world
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          7 hours ago

          Maybe it’d be a good idea to familiarize yourself with the problems in the US before making sweeping statements about them, in that case.

    • vithigar@lemmy.ca
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      14 hours ago

      …what other slavery currently exists (legally) that this would have addressed? This isn’t combining two things. Barring slavery in any form includes punitive servitude. Calling them separate issues is like calling “we should fix this leak” a separate concern from “this pipe should not have any leaks”.

      • 𝘋𝘪𝘳𝘬@lemmy.ml
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        11 hours ago

        Calling them separate issues is like calling “we should fix this leak” a separate concern from “this pipe should not have any leaks”.

        Yes, those are two different things that should be addressed separately.

        One is emergency plumbing, the other is maintenance.