A diamond the size of a refrigerator

[Landlord]

There are also more people in the world than there has ever been at any time in human history. There are more than 6 billion people in the world today.

 

 

Quite right, and point received, but the inhumane treatment of other humans is arguably just as bad as it's ever been. It's just not as opaque as past sins were, because we're conditioned to it and because it isn't as visible publicly.

[Undone]

Agreed, Landlord. Those statistics are staggering, regardless of the ratio of population growth to slavery.

[knapplc]

There are also more people in the world than there has ever been at any time in human history. There are more than 6 billion people in the world today.

 

 

Quite right, and point received, but the inhumane treatment of other humans is arguably just as bad as it's ever been. It's just not as opaque as past sins were, because we're conditioned to it and because it isn't as visible publicly.

 

You don't have to go too far back in history to see that this is simply not true. The spread of democracy and the advent of civil rights movements across the globe has really changed the way humans live their lives today. This is reflected in the ever-rising life expectancy rates worldwide.

 

The fact that there is still slavery in the world does not mean that we haven't made progress on a global scale. It means we still have work to do.

[Undone]

The fact that there is still slavery in the world does not mean that we haven't made progress on a global scale. It means we still have work to do.

Agreed there. I think Landlord's point was probably more to point out that a lot of us Westerners don't realize that slavery (in its various, evil forms) still exists in large quantities. It may not be present (or overtly present) in 1st world countries, and so we take that for granted. It's not a topic that really gets any news coverage, and it happens largely in the third world.

[knapplc]

Landlord is rebutting strigori's comment that human rights are at their best now than ever before. strigori specifically stated that he was talking about the Western culture, but Landlord's rebuttal focused on global slavery. Yet even that rebuttal, true though it may be, doesn't obviate the point strigori made. Human rights as a concept barely existed 200-300 years ago. Now it's the norm across a huge swath of the globe, and it's gaining ground daily. Yes, there are setbacks and yes, there are places where even basic human rights are utterly denied, but those places are the exception today, not the rule.

[carlfense]

Landlord is rebutting strigori's comment that human rights are at their best now than ever before. strigori specifically stated that he was talking about the Western culture, but Landlord's rebuttal focused on global slavery. Yet even that rebuttal, true though it may be, doesn't obviate the point strigori made. Human rights as a concept barely existed 200-300 years ago. Now it's the norm across a huge swath of the globe, and it's gaining ground daily. Yes, there are setbacks and yes, there are places where even basic human rights are utterly denied, but those places are the exception today, not the rule.

These are good things to remember when the media is panicking about the latest manufactured crisis.

[strigori]

There are also more people in the world than there has ever been at any time in human history. There are more than 6 billion people in the world today.

 

 

Quite right, and point received, but the inhumane treatment of other humans is arguably just as bad as it's ever been. It's just not as opaque as past sins were, because we're conditioned to it and because it isn't as visible publicly.

 

 

My point was about Western culture. And here we are at the high point in human history. Go talk to your parents and grandparents about the rights women and minorities had when they were young. I have living relatives who were born before women had equal property rights, and the right to vote. Segregation was a fact of life. If you were not a white male, you had limited options in life. That is changed, to the point where it can be hard to explain to some of the youth of today. This is progress. And only made by throwing off the old thoughts of the past. And in every case religion has been used as a bedrock argument against the changes.

 

I would debate 'as bad as its ever been' Eras of history slavery was simply accepted in nearly every part of the world. The feudal system alone is worse than anything that exists today. Humans simply tend to lack a sense of perspective.

 

Yes, there are absolute horrors in some areas of the world, but by those like us in the Western world, we see it as such. And try to help change it. Though to really effect that kind of change, the people in those areas of the world need to come to the epiphanies than Western cultures have come to over time.