Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="billd91" data-source="post: 7980488" data-attributes="member: 3400">I would argue that's a misread of capitalism. The Abolitionists were, in part, fueled by a capitalist vision of free labor as in free market labor, meaning fundamentally that the workers weren't owned, the capitalists weren't responsible for the laborer's shelter, food, and all around health, the workers could shop around for the best work in a free market, and would have the incentive to work hard for better pay rather than resist and commit sabotage because of the oppression they live under. The Republican Party, when it was formed, was a coalition of anti-slavery forces also generally in favor of an industrial free market rather than the agrarian plantation system.I would also argue that the progression from slavery being widespread and normal, even expected, in societies to being widely considered immoral indicates that &quot;evil&quot; is subjective and dependent on broader developments in philosophical, legal, political, and economic theories. It's hard to look back at a time when slavery wasn't broadly considered evil (the opinions of the slaves, most likely, excepted) without wondering how they can feel that way. But then, we have the privilege of living at a time when alternatives are viable and favored. There will come a time when people may look back at our own moral structures and wonder the same thing because they may develop substantially different ideals that we cannot predict any more than our ancestors could have predicted ours.That, however, is different from D&amp;D where there has existed, for a long time, various definitions of good and evil that are, largely, anachronistic for the medieval-style setting - but easy enough to understand for those of us living in the modern world.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="billd91, post: 7980488, member: 3400"] I would argue that's a misread of capitalism. The Abolitionists were, in part, fueled by a capitalist vision of free labor as in [B]free market[/B] labor, meaning fundamentally that the workers weren't owned, the capitalists weren't responsible for the laborer's shelter, food, and all around health, the workers could shop around for the best work in a free market, and would have the incentive to work hard for better pay rather than resist and commit sabotage because of the oppression they live under. The Republican Party, when it was formed, was a coalition of anti-slavery forces also generally in favor of an industrial free market rather than the agrarian plantation system. I would also argue that the progression from slavery being widespread and normal, even expected, in societies to being widely considered immoral indicates that "evil" is subjective and dependent on broader developments in philosophical, legal, political, and economic theories. It's hard to look back at a time when slavery wasn't broadly considered evil (the opinions of the slaves, most likely, excepted) without wondering how they can feel that way. But then, we have the privilege of living at a time when alternatives are viable and favored. There will come a time when people may look back at our own moral structures and wonder the same thing because they may develop substantially different ideals that we cannot predict any more than our ancestors could have predicted ours. That, however, is different from D&D where there has existed, for a long time, various definitions of good and evil that are, largely, anachronistic for the medieval-style setting - but easy enough to understand for those of us living in the modern world. [/QUOTE]

Verification