#9till5

So this is a series of blog post that I have been meaning to start for a while now. I will be uploading content about controversial topics from different ends of the spectrum. I am merely trying to express my thoughts on certain topics looking at things from all different angles. In this aspect I hope to create a discussion to see what people think. This goes along with my interest of psychology and trying to understand how different people think and what their cognitive processes are.

This post is about modern day slavery. I would like all readers to read this with an open mind and be open for discussion. First, we must define what is slavery. There are many definitions for it however I will be taking oxford dictionary as a base definition. Slavery is defined as “the practice or system of owning slaves”. Now, when you ask someone what slavery is they, generally speaking, will have some sort of reference to the slavery of African people to the United States. However, slavery has been around for as long as we can predate. This predated slavery is rare among hunter-gatherer populations because it is developed as a system of social stratification.

When we think of these barbaric acts we have committed towards other human beings for our own gain we are in somewhat belief that we have developed from slavery. Or have we?

Slavery has evolved to be a part of social norms. We accept it into our daily life as a social norm and believe we are free. But are we really free? Slavery has evolved to take up so many different forms that to be honest I cannot not cover in this blog post. There is slavery to a job, slavery to society, female domestic slavery, child slavery, slavery to live, slavery to abide by law, slavery to family and many many more.

We live in a society now where we believe we are free and capable of our own actions. However, we are merely puppets with strings that have been extended to a distance where we can not see that we are controlled. Modern day slavery is all around us.

We are a slave to society. I know some people may disagree and look at it in a way that we have freedom in modern society to develop. In contrast to this opinion, this can be far from the truth. You may only have the right to develop if you follow the law and path set by society. Yes, there are outliers just like any scientific experiment but for the mass majority of the population, we are just a part of modern day slavery disillusioned to the fact we have more freedom than our ancestors have had in the past. Having more freedom does not mean we are completely free and when we are given freedom in one aspect, freedom of another form is taken away from us.

Now for the some that use logic and numbers. Here is a fact for you. In 2020 the age of retirement in the UK is 66 for women and men. By 2026 it is expected to rise to 67 or more. Now some of you may be wondering what retirement age has to do with modern day slavery. Read that fact again. And again. We are slaves to modern society, told when we can or can not retire. Sounds a lot like slavery to me if you were to ask!

These multi-billion dollar companies make money from our hard work. The general population is just a farming ground for these corporations to exploit. Modern day slavery is all around us. For an average human it is 79 years that we are here to witness this amazing gift given to us. For the first 21 years we are educated. Given the chance to expand our minds and explore. Then for the most we live our life from 21 till 66 working 9am till 5pm. We work to make others richer and in return we get the bread crumbs that they leave behind. Thats 35 years of our life. After retirement our bodies are too frail to do the things we could have done at the prime of our life.

You ask well what can we do? I am still stumped to find an answer to that question. However, here are more facts for you.

“The number of synapses in the human brain is larger than the number of galaxies in the observable universe. Also, there are more synapses in an average human brain than there are stars in our Milky Way galaxy.” - The Neural Spark

Now you sit there and explain to me that with such a gift like this. That we are supposed to live our lives as modern slaves?

By Ricky Hirani