If you were an employer wishing to reduce your labour costs to the absolute bare minimum, to the extent that maybe all you had to pay your workers was food and water to stay alive and give them a place to sleep, then which sector of society could you exploit? Would you maybe employ women workers? After all, in some parts of the World, they are frail in numbers and have few rights! Maybe you could employ teenagers or old people, again both groups are weak without a real voice to speak out for them!
What about children? Of course, why didn't we think of it before? Children are the absolute weakest sector of society and completely, totally exploitable. Fantastic, bring in the kids! They'll clean your toilets and never complain, they'll pick your crops and never raise an eyebrow, they'll sew your textiles and never ask for clothes for themselves and they'll even do all sorts of other things that your sick mind can concoct and never shed a tear, at least not until they grow up and realize what you did to them. Children - The perfect solution to exploitable labour right?
This type of exploitation is what I call LCD Syndrome or 'Least Common Denominator Syndrome'. What this means is that in some parts of the World (and that includes 'civilized' developed countries), humanity has reached such low levels of depravation, that even if it tried, it couldn't stoop any lower. Essentially, it has reached the 'least common denominator' stage of exploitation. It's the same as the mathematical term - LCD, whereby LCD is defined as the smallest number that is a common denominator of a given set of fractions.
Currently, there are at least 8.4 million child slaves in the world, many of them held as forced labour. (12-Jun-2013 - Aljazeera) When we consider this staggering statistic, it's really not so hard to see that the people who engage in activities which make this statistic true, are indeed propagating the effects of 'LCD syndrome', whereby even the remotest sense of ethics, basic human decency or compassion have completely escaped their emotionally dead souls in favour of greed, sheer cruelty or simply an open and easy opportunity to exploit others.
Now, let's look at what other forms of LCD Syndrome exist in our world today. We can see LCD syndrome raise it's vile and ugly head in almost every facet of society:
- Human Trafficking - 21 Million Victims Worldwide. Amazingly, many within highly developed countries including the US.
- Crack Cocaine, crystal meth and other instantly addictive drugs. Why are these part of the LCD syndrome group? Well, if we think about it, if a drug is so instantly addictive that just one or two uses instantly imprisons the user into a rapid downward spiral of addiction, eventually leading to a complete decimation of their lives and possibly death, could it get any worse? Hence, Crack Cocaine and other instantly addictive drugs definitely fall into the LCD syndrome group.
The World's most dangerous drug Part 1:
Part 2:
- Invoiced killings - In Pakistan, there are thousands of reported incidents where, an invoice or 'Parchi' is given by a gang member to a member of the public. It could be anyone, not necessarily a wealthy person. The value of the invoice can vary. The recipient is given instructions on when and how to pay. If payment is not made, the person is killed. There is no question or negotiation involved, just a straightforward killing, often in public. Definitely LCD syndrome operating here. The perpetrators are not serial murderers, rapists or people who are mentally sick or abused. These are rational people, able to make choices and well thought-out decisions who simply decide that if the law allows it, or where the law overlooks it, they can more or less go to the level of LCD in whichever activity they decide to engage in. And it is precisely because they are rational and capable of deciding for themselves what is right or wrong, yet willingly opt to stoop to the lowest levels of depravity, that makes such events and acts such a very sad indictment of our modern world.
- Exploitation of the natural world to virtual extinction, including industrial exploitation of animals to the most painful extent possible. All these are cases for LCD syndrome worldwide.
- People living in the sewers of Colombia and Brazil to escape being killed on the streets by private security companies hired to provide 'social cleansing' services.
- And the list goes on...........and on................and on......................
It seems to me that despite the greatness of the human spirit and the richness of our endeavours, our race equally possesses a dark side which drives us to commit the most atrocious acts towards ourselves, towards others and towards the natural world.
Juxtaposed against our huge advances in science, medicine, engineering, the arts, politics, ethics and almost every sphere of achievement that Mankind has touched in a positive way - we see an emerging picture of a world in disarray where the worst side of human nature is equally visible in a contrast as sharp as day and night.
Why is there this 'duality' in the nature of man? What happens when LCD behaviour becomes the norm in the societies of the future? What happens when todays children and tomorrows adults become de-sensitized to the atrocities? What then?
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