
An Archive of Fugitive Slave Ads Sheds New Light on Lost Histories - samclemens
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/archive-fugitive-slave-ads-could-shed-new-light-lost-histories-180959194/?no-ist
======
abraae
I find these pretty disturbing. I like to think I'd never have stood by while
someone enslaved someone else. But the banality of these ads makes it all seem
quite commonplace and acceptable. Wicked times.

~~~
monort
Taxes are involuntary and people are locked in prison for not paying them,
that is resembling a slavery. Some rationalization for slavery was similar
too, e.g. people thought that it's not possible to have prosperity without
enslavement.

Probably in the future present times will be seen as wicked too.

~~~
pvg
Something being involuntary does not make it 'resemble' chattel slavery. It
takes a fair bit more than simply not paying your taxes to end up in prison.
Your children don't go to prison if you don't pay your taxes.

~~~
monort
Yes, it's more similar to a forced labor slavery, than chattel slavery. The
forced labor convention (which for some reason wasn't ratified by US)
specifically makes exception for civic obligations and compulsory military
service because they are fitting the definition.

Children in this analogy forced to go to prison too, when they reach 18 years
and refuse their taxes.

~~~
pvg
It's still not much of an analogy unless you believe that, say, driving on the
wrong side of the road, uninsured and without a license is somehow comparable
to any form of slavery.

~~~
monort
Am I correct that you invoke a social contract as a justification for
involuntary actions?

1) You are forced into this contract without your consent.

2) You can't quit this contract with your property intact.

This conditions wouldn't be enforceable if they were between ordinary parties,
especially when there is inequality of bargaining power, why do they hold
between a state and a person?

------
hoodoof
Some of the ads have a little icon that shows a slave running away. Like it's
a particular category of classified ad.

