Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction. Section 1. Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.
It’s amazing how such a short, seemingly benign paragraph has had such a monumental impact on the United States for 150 years. The other thing that is striking is that this topics is only marginally discussed, and not only that, but prisoners are spoken of in such derogatory terms such as “do the crime, do the time”, that prisoners are dehumanized to the extent that many people wouldn’t bat an eye at the treatment of inmates as modern day slavery. They deserved it, right?
Honestly I think that this isn’t in inherent to the modern world, in earlier ages it “they” was probably attributed to gods and what not. “Why does lightning spark fires in the fields”: “They (the Gods) are probably angry at our insolence”. Fast forward to the present where religion and the supernatural have less hold on human thinking and that type of idea is shifted to a nameless, faceless “they”, orchestrating and manipulating events in secret.
For a fun look at this occurrence, read James Tynion’s fantastic Department of Truth comic that deals with the truth and popular American conspiracy theories.