sᴛʀᴜᴄᴛᴜʀᴀʟ ᴄᴏɴᴅɪᴛɪᴏɴɪɴɢ, ᴀ ғᴏʀᴍ ᴏғ sʟᴀᴠᴇʀʏ.
In my part of the world, when you mention the word slavery, it brings back memories. It is a familiar concept even to many who never truly experienced the full extent of it but somehow the memories of it lives on. I guess some painful act are just too gruesome to be buried in history books, it keeps finding ways to live on through those that live still.
As painful as some memories might seem, it saddens my heart when I still watch my people walk the same path we bled and suffered immensely. It is hard to tell when it started but this I know my people have been fed with all manner of ill treatment to the extent that most people are incapable of knowing what goodness looks like, it is like we have grown numb to pain. I wouldn't blame anyone, when a human is treated in a specific way consistently, the human mind have a way of suddenly developing tolerance for such ill treatment.
When you think about slavery, it is just a word but there are issues that exist within it E.g injustice, inhumane treatment, inequality, poverty, segregation, racism e.t.c don't you find it quite strange that it is said that slavery is illegal but all these issues that was like an element of slavery still exist in our society legally.
It is like when the government of my country realised people were against SARS due to the atrocities committed by them, the government decided to change their name to SWAT, Same people, same mentality but with different logo. Is it not laughable? this has always been the tactics used by the government to redesign something odd into something that will be legally acceptable.
I once heard someone said, Nigerians adores poverty because it is the only reality we know. I was so offended by this statement, it sounds inhumane. Is it really possible to enjoy poverty? I kept thinking of our past and realise the statement isn't all false. My people have been structurally conditioned to believe specific way of life isn't meant for us. When you talk to a Nigerian about the possibility of 24hrs electricity, he/she will suddenly become defensive and be like such things is not meant for our country. We don't really care if it was a good thing or bad thing, all we know is that such development is alien to us. We have been mentally conditioned to believe so.
I mean who wouldn't, how many years has it been since we gained independence and here we are still struggling with same issues we were left with. It suddenly feels like instead of moving forward, we are moving in reverse. Due to the consistent disappointing of citizens by the government, hopelessness sets in and does something far worse. The reality we have been exposed to as now become a way of life for us, like a culture.
To most politicians, citizens are like hawks and vultures who would feed on anything thrown at them. How else would you explain why a local government chairman would be sharing bread while campaign, sometimes raw meat and others 2/3 pieces of noodles or a governor sharing wheelbarrow to empower people. We have been treated this way for far too long to the extent that these things have become what we deserve, no one sees anything wrong about it.
Injustice have become a meal we all enjoy consuming. Most Nigerians prefer to keep quiet about a criminal act than go to the police because they know, it takes nothing for the so called police to turn a crime reporter to an offender. Having to live under constant economic hardship and Injustice, if this isn't modern slavery, I don't know what else is.
Is there a way to eradicate? If there was one, I think we would have found it already. Probably I have been mentally conditioned to believe there is no solution to our current issues. I mean how many times have we stood against this treatment? How many innocent lives and properties have been lost? Yet evil still strives. This issue is like cancer cell in a human body, we all go around with it, it is bad but yet we live with it.
This write-up was inspired by weekly featured content titled Modern day slavery in hive learners community.
Cover image - 𝖣𝖾𝗌𝗂𝗀𝗇𝖾𝖽 𝗎𝗌𝗂𝗇𝗀 𝖼𝖺𝗇𝗏𝖺
Image 1 - Source
Image 2 - Source
Hmm... sadly, all your points are legit. This kind of conditioning system is worse than ancient times. At least then,they knew that they were slaves but now, people speak about freedom but they are tied to a pole going in circles rather than forward.
Exactly.
Modern slavery is like a sugarcoated pill.
True ..I like this analogy
Congratulations @emrysjobber! You have completed the following achievement on the Hive blockchain And have been rewarded with New badge(s)
Your next target is to reach 46000 upvotes.
You can view your badges on your board and compare yourself to others in the Ranking
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word
STOP