What is Slavery?
The 13th Amendment did not end human slavery in the United States.
Actually, it legalized slavery.
But, only as a punishment for crime.
That's another, very important, story. Prisoners are being used as state slaves, and their labor is stolen from
them for profit.
But, it will have to wait for another day.
Because people with psychiatric disabilities who are "treated" against their will under Chapter 51, Section 20, have
not committed a crime. (There are other provisions in Chapter 51 for mentally disabled people who have been convicted
of a felony. We do not comment on those provisions as of this date.)
Since they have not committed a crime, it is not legal to enslave them.
At least, not officially.
But, what have we really done, after all?
There is nothing else to call it.
We have enslaved our fellow human beings.
Funk & Wagnall's Standard Desk Dictionary, 1985 edition, defines slavery as:
- The holding of human beings as property or chattels; also, the condition of a slave.
- Mental, moral, or spiritual bondage.
- Slavish toil.
All three of these meanings are applicable when a normal human being is turned into a "patient" by Chapter 51,
Section 20.
The first part of the first meaning, "held as property or chattels" may seem a bit far-fetched for the 21st century.
Yet, the 51.20 order, involuntarily committing a citizen, for "treatment" is no different from a title deed.
That order confers exactly the same rights to the state and its "treatment providers" over the citizen's body and mind
as a deed of entitlement would.
If a person, group or agency has complete access to and control over a citizen's body and mind, and there are no limits
to what that group can do to that body and that mind, and there is no accountability, and there is complete secrecy, then
that citizen has been enslaved and that group or agency is holding that citizen as chattel.
This used to be the case with parents and kids. Parents, despite a few toothless "humane" laws, could and did inflict any
injury on a child, without fear of reprisal. A child was like property in some ways, in the eyes of the law.
Anything the parent did to the child, including physical assault, was seen as that parent's right. Children had no one
to speak for them. No parent was held accountable.
The term "child abuse," was only coined in the early 60's. Before that, it was unknown at law, and in the popular culture.
There was no name for it.
This also used to be the case with husbands and wives.
Wives were essentially property in the eyes of the law. Even as recently as the early 50's, an article in the Harvard Law
Review (cite and link) articulated the concept that laws against rape were really meant to protect the "property rights" of
the husband of a married woman. The article "explained" this was the reason that the rape of a single woman was an entirely
different matter.
It was only a few decades ago that spouses or domestic partners who were physically abused had no specific remedy at law.
The terms, "marital rape" and "domestic violence" have only been coined since the 70's.
Before that, these concepts were unknown at law and in the popular culture. There was no name for them.
We pride ourselves that we are becoming a more humane, democratic, open society. Now, spouses cannot rape and assault each
other; parents cannot abuse their kids, and rape is unacceptable regardless of its victim's marital state.
Wives and children were once held as property, and that was where the confusion entered. Now, wives and children are human
beings in their own rights.
No such luck for our fellow citizens who are committed under Chapter 51.
They are still property.
So far, the discussion hasn't even gone into numbers two and three of the Funk & Wagnalls' definition.
Those are slightly less important, but no less fitting. It's self-evident that there is moral and mental bondage with involuntary
outpatient commitment.
Just to clarify this further, here is the Funk & Wagnalls' definition for slave:
- A person over whose life, liberty and property someone has absolute control.
- A person in mental or moral subjection to a habit, vice, or influence.
- One who labors like a slave; a drudge.
It is very clear that the county has absolute control over the life, liberty and property of citizens committed under Chapter
51, Section 20.
