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Message: <blockquote data-quote="John Morrow" data-source="post: 1918227" data-attributes="member: 27012">If you are using evidence of the elements of the worst form of slavery to define it as Evil, then pointing out that other forms of slavery did not have those elements is certainly a valid rebuttal.  And I'll say it in bold so that nobody misses it, I am not arguing that slavery is Good.  I am arguing that slavery can be Neutral or it can be Evil.And even if Mr. Twain got his details right, slavery as it was practiced in the Middle Ages is hardly the only form of slavery, just as slavery in the American South was hardly the only form of slavery.  Many forms of historical slavery better resembled Medieval serfdom which, by modern standards, is slavery.If that's true, then I would argue that the Law/Chaos axis of the D&D alignment tree is meaningless and all Paladins should be Chaotic Good rather than Lawful Good.  I think you are letting your own perspective of Good (illustrated more clearly below) get in the way here.I am not making the argument that slavery is not oppression.  I am making the argument that oppression comes in many forms and it not inherently Evil.  And, again, not that I am not arguing that opression is good.If you define "Evil" as "Not Good", then (A) there is no room for Neutrality in the alignment system and (B) it waters down the definition of what Evil is such that minor human rights violations become grouped alongside rape, murder, and torture as Evil.There are plenty of undesirable lifestyles in our country that have been considered undesirable throughout human history.  Most children don't say that they want to be a garbage collector, maid, or McDonalds clerk when they grow up but that doesn't mean that the presence of such jobs in a society is Evil.  Perhaps you think it does.  I don't agree.  And I think it's absurd to call that Evil when compared to the real Evil that has walked the world historically, from the Moche to the Khmer Rouge.And is keeping such people as slaves any less Evil than any other solution?I'm not guilty about it at all because, frankly, I don't agree with your characterization of things.  I don't consider the fact that people are required to do things that they don't necessarily want to do in order to survive inherently Evil or wrong.  I also have enough historical perspective to know what the alternatives are and what's often happened when people try to reshape society along other lines.In many ancient law codes including Ancient Near East codes (e.g., Summerian, Hittite, etc.) as well as the Roman law codes, slaves were hardly "meat robots" and did have rights.  Again, I agree that any form of slavery that gives a master the unrestricted right to do whatever they want to their slaves is Evil.That's fine, but where does Neutral fit into this argument, then?  I keep hearing people talk about Good and Evil and Evil and Good and how if you aren't Good, you are Evil and if you aren't Evil you are Good.  Where does that leave Neutral? Let me put it this way...How would a Neutral character view slavery, in your opinion?</blockquote>

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