-64

Was banning human slavery an authoritarian decision? (monyet.cc)

submitted 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) by DragonWasabi@monyet.cc to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

67 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Obviously it was a good thing that it was banned, but I'm just wondering if it would technically be considered authoritarian.

As in, is any law that restricts people's freedom to do something (yes, even if it's done to also free other people from oppression as in that case, since it technically restricts the slave owner's freedom to own slaves), considered authoritarian, even if at the time that the law is passed, it's only a small section of people that are still wanting to do those things and forcibly having their legal ability to do them revoked?

Or would it only be considered authoritarian if a large part of society had their ability to do a particular thing taken away from them forcibly?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[-] jmcs@discuss.tchncs.de 5 points 6 months ago

When we talk about human rights we usually talk about the "what", and talking about just the "what" leads to misconceptions like that. So the question is why we have human rights. And the formulation human right treaties take is some form of "Human dignity is inviolable", which means that all human lives are worth the same, and that value can't be diminished in any way. Human rights are then listed in order to protect that ideal.

When you consider this, it becomes obvious that owning humans can't be a form of the right to private property because it relies on some humans being above others.

That's also the reason why free speech doesn't include things like slander or ordering someone killed.

this post was submitted on 18 May 2024

-64 points (21.4% liked)

Asklemmy

43941 readers

521 users here now

A loosely moderated place to ask open-ended questions

Search asklemmy 🔍

If your post meets the following criteria, it's welcome here!

Open-ended question
Not offensive: at this point, we do not have the bandwidth to moderate overtly political discussions. Assume best intent and be excellent to each other.
Not regarding using or support for Lemmy: context, see the list of support communities and tools for finding communities below
Not ad nauseam inducing: please make sure it is a question that would be new to most members
An actual topic of discussion

Looking for support?

Looking for a community?

Lemmyverse: community search
sub.rehab: maps old subreddits to fediverse options, marks official as such
!lemmy411@lemmy.ca: a community for finding communities

~Icon~ ~by~ ~@Double_A@discuss.tchncs.de~

founded 5 years ago

MODERATORS