Modern slaves
Humanity moves on a restless planet, integrated into constantly recurring processes of nature. The daily human life is also shaped by repetition. Family life, school, education, work, contact with neighbors, colleagues and friends, consumption, leisure time, social and cultural activities, sleep — all this determines our comprehension of normality. In sociology, normality is described as the self-evident of a society that does not need to be constantly questioned. The global pandemic is now casting doubt on this self-image, thus changing our everyday lives. Social and economic life is at a standstill in large parts of the world. The consequences affect everyone, but not everyone is equally affected. We are trying to defy the circumstances and to keep up social ties, we are fighting for our economic existence and are striving to maintain communities.
There is nothing that we wish more than a return to normality. But what does a return to normality mean? Perhaps there won’t be a return in the months or years to come. Our surroundings will change. This pandemic is not a whim of nature, it is related to the expansive penetration of humans into natural habitats and the increasing destruction of biodiversity. Not all, but many people are responsible for these developments through their way of life. Also environmental destruction and climate change will presumably accelerate these interactions. The consequences for many are still in the future and are not yet tangible, but it is conceivable that climate change will cause an increasing number of deaths and that we will have to face scenarios that are not familiar with our imaginary world of today. It is questionable whether we can prevent climate change. Perhaps we can exert ourselves to mitigate the consequences. We have to protect our ecosystems to preserve our basis of life. Many people are already struggling for their basis of life, as a result of environmental destruction or global inequality between nations and within nations.
The list of sustainable development goals formulated by the United Nations is long: “No poverty, zero hunger, good health and well-being, quality education, gender equality, clean water and sanitation, affordable and clean energy, decent work and economic growth, industry, innovation and infrastructure, reduced inequalities, sustainable cities and communities, responsible consumption and production, climate action, life below water, life on land, peace, justice and strong institutions, partnerships for the goals“. If you bear all the sub-goals in mind, there are 180 targets in total.
In rich countries, many of these goals are perceived by large parts of the population as fundamental and self-evident. Unrestrained consumption and unrestricted mobility have also become a matter of course for many. The fact that our high level of economic power and prosperity is only possible at the expense of others is often forgotten or suppressed. Our consumer behavior is ruthless, and we accept that nature is being exploited or that cheap and exchangeable workers are working in unfavorable conditions. Their exploitation resembles modern slavery. No one identifies with the destruction of ecosystems or the exploitation of modern wage slaves. We identify with the latest smartphone and many other status symbols, which we worship like gods and for which we sacrifice a lot. We must expend a great deal of time and energy for this high standard of living. We deprive ourselves of our ease of mind and the leisure time for reflection. We are in a permanent state of unrest and hardly notice how we gradually become prisoners or even slaves of ourselves.
The ambivalence between individualism and community spirit brought people into a quandary thousands of years ago, including Seneca, one of the greatest moral philosophers. Seneca was a follower of the Stoa, a school of philosophers founded 300 years before Christ, whose ideal was a rational, natural life, free of passions and affections. Seneca complained about the debauchery and greed of his contemporaries, but was himself one of Rome’s wealthiest citizens. So he was a man full of contradictions. Proceeding from the moral weakness of man, he demanded moral strictness with one’s own self and a gentleness with his fellow human beings, including slaves. Seneca saw humanity as a great kinship and human beings as fundamentally equal. He wrote, “You should take into consideration that the one you call your slave has emerged of the same seed, enjoys the same sky, breathes the same, lives the same, and dies equally.” (Epistulae Morales 47) Nevertheless, Seneca himself owned countless slaves who cultivated his lands and thus contributed to his wealth. Although he was quite critical of slavery and called for a more humane treatment of slaves, he lacked the ability to question slavery in general. His thinking only existed within the system.
Is this also true for our thinking? Is our imagination limited, as well?
It has taken a long time for slavery to be officially abolished, and it seems that the ideas of equality and emancipation have only been partially realized to this day. But can the validity of good ideas be measured by their failure so far? What makes a responsible and fulfilling life? We may not perceive this until we have to restrain ourselves.
In the end, is there only the wish that things will soon get better again or that everything will return to normal? Or are we trying to question our understanding of normality, to look at the world with different eyes, and to learn from it?
The American writer John Steinbeck wrote in his work “America and the Americans” in the mid-twentieth century: “Our ability to conserve has not grown with our power to create; … Almost daily, the pressure of outrage among Americans grows. We are no longer content to destroy our beloved country. We are slow to learn; but we learn.”
How do we learn? How fast? And for what? To prevent crises or adjust ourselves to their consequences?
