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Monday, June 6, 2011

"Am I not a Man, and a Brother?"

Are slaves humans? Should be a silly question. And yet, to be human does not shield against injustice, it not even protects life. Soldiers, criminals, embryos, children, spouses, cab drivers ... Are they humans? And yet they all get murdered. Circumstances? Bad luck? Was Konrad Lorenz right in observing that in humans the protective reflex does not function, i.e., the inhibition to kill as soon as the succumbing dog exposes its throat? In humans, humility arouses libido? What is going on when, after a man has been overwhelmed and shackled, subservience is perceived to be natural and right? Perhaps, the dominator -- in view of the inhibited freedom of the slave -- looses his freedom to free the slave. Humility makes tyrants.