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by seti0Cha 959 days ago
> It's not voluntary unless/until you can find me a place where housing/land is free.

Prison.

> The end result is that you work or you die (out of exposure, medical bills, etc). Not much different from the slavery from the old days?

Sounds like your definition of slavery is nobody taking care of you.
2 comments
sudosysgen 959 days ago
In much of the US you actually have to either work or pay rent in prison, so no.
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seti0Cha 959 days ago
Really? I've never heard this and a quick google doesn't bear this out. Also, it's not clear to me what they would actually do to you if you didn't...put you in prison? Release you as punishment?
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nebula8804 959 days ago
13th amendment: "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.

Which leads to this: https://innocenceproject.org/how-the-13th-amendment-kept-sla...

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seti0Cha 959 days ago
Wow, til. Thanks for the serious response to an admittedly flippant remark.
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Nextgrid 959 days ago
> Prison.

If people start using prison as this "one weird trick they don't want you to know" to not pay rent, this problem will be solved pretty quickly too (if it isn't already, as the other commenter suggests forced prison labor is a thing in some places).

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seti0Cha 959 days ago
You only addressed the lighthearted part of my response. I'd be much more interested in your reaction to my main point - you appear to be defining slavery as having to care for yourself. Surely you do not believe that you are owed a life of leisure do you?
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Nextgrid 959 days ago
> Surely you do not believe that you are owed a life of leisure do you?

I believe shelter and basic necessities should be a human right. So many problems would be solved/improved if people didn't have to spend half (or more, for the lower classes) of their earnings on perpetually renting.

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argiopetech 959 days ago
You may believe that, but there has to be a means to that end (preferably one that doesn't require the oppression of others).

Shelter has to be built on a property and maintained indefinitely, food has to be painstakingly extracted from the land, etc. People have to do that, because there is no extant alternative.

Ignoring land ownership for now, are the maintainers and farmers not to be compensated? That would be actual slavery.

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