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<blockquote data-quote="John Morrow" data-source="post: 1917091" data-attributes="member: 27012">I do think you are selecting evidence from among the worst examples.&nbsp; A person I know once wrote her Master's thesis about the evolution from Roman Slave to Medieval Serf and argued that people were better off as Roman Slaves than Medieval Serfs because the slaves had a much better life.&nbsp; In fact, one of the wealthiest houses unearthed in Pompeii belonged to an ex-slave who made good.&nbsp; In many ancient societies, slaves could own property (in fact, some owned their own slaves), could purchase their own freedom, could have free children, etc.&nbsp; Not all slavery was done the way it was the anti-bellum American South or like the Hebrews in Egypt in the Bible.Yes, it's hard to argue that a slave wouldn't prefer to be free but consider that I'd also prefer to be a millionaire.&nbsp; That doesn't mean that it's Evil that I'm not a millionaire.&nbsp; That a society forces people to life a life less than what they'd choose or less than what others have does not make that society Evil.&nbsp; If it did, then every society that ever existed has been Evil.&nbsp; Every one.It's not, and I'm certainly not arguing that it is.&nbsp; But just because something is not Good does not mean it's Evil.&nbsp; Evil in D&amp;D is not simply the absence of Good.&nbsp; It's pro-active violence and cruelty.&nbsp; Slavery is not Good.&nbsp; But in the absence of Good, slavery is not necessarily Evil, either.D&amp;D sticks &quot;Neutral&quot; between Good and Evil for a reason.&nbsp; A lot of things that people do are neither Good nor Evil or are a little bit of both.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="John Morrow, post: 1917091, member: 27012"] I do think you are selecting evidence from among the worst examples. A person I know once wrote her Master's thesis about the evolution from Roman Slave to Medieval Serf and argued that people were better off as Roman Slaves than Medieval Serfs because the slaves had a much better life. In fact, one of the wealthiest houses unearthed in Pompeii belonged to an ex-slave who made good. In many ancient societies, slaves could own property (in fact, some owned their own slaves), could purchase their own freedom, could have free children, etc. Not all slavery was done the way it was the anti-bellum American South or like the Hebrews in Egypt in the Bible. Yes, it's hard to argue that a slave wouldn't prefer to be free but consider that I'd also prefer to be a millionaire. That doesn't mean that it's Evil that I'm not a millionaire. That a society forces people to life a life less than what they'd choose or less than what others have does not make that society Evil. If it did, then every society that ever existed has been Evil. Every one. It's not, and I'm certainly not arguing that it is. But just because something is not Good does not mean it's Evil. Evil in D&D is not simply the absence of Good. It's pro-active violence and cruelty. Slavery is not Good. But in the absence of Good, slavery is not necessarily Evil, either. D&D sticks "Neutral" between Good and Evil for a reason. A lot of things that people do are neither Good nor Evil or are a little bit of both. [/QUOTE]

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