#servitude — Public Fediverse posts

A quotation from Montesquieu

The gods […] have attached to liberty almost as many misfortunes as to servitude.
 
[Les dieux […] ont attaché à la liberté presque autant de malheurs qu’à la servitude.]

Charles-Lewis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu (1689-1755) French political philosopher
Essay (1724-02), “Dialogue of Sulla and Eucrates [Dialogue de Sylla et d’Eucrate] [Sulla], Mercure de France [tr. Carrithers / Stewart (2020)]

More about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/montesquieu/85165/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #montesquieu #freedom #liberty #servitude #tyranny

Anthropic abandonne sa promesse de sécurité fondamentale au milieu d’un combat sur la ligne rouge de l’IA avec le Pentagone
🔴 L'entreprise Anthropic se soumet au dictat du gouvernement américain
https://www.cnn.com/2026/02/25/tech/anthropic-safety-policy-change
#USA #gouvernement #Pentagon #armée #guerre #surveillance #contrôle #militaire #IA #Anthropic #chantage #servitude #affaire #diktat #dictat #CNN #média

#52booksin52weeks Bookface - The Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud #power #Corruption #ambition #Inequality #isolation #Revenge #servitude #slavery #freedom #yafantasy #yabooks #bookstagram #booktok #booksky #ttrpgpodcast #gamemastersbookclub https://www.k-squareproductions.com/gmbc

→ Les robots ont-ils un cœur et une âme ?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8IBgqQULSpQ

“Les servitudes domestiques, militaires ou sexuelles ne sont finalement que les faces d’une même logique, celle de la domination des concepteurs humains sur les artificiels.”

#robot #humain #servitude #domination

A quotation from Aldous Huxley

States function as smoothly as they do, because the greater part of the population is not very intelligent, dreads responsibility, and desires nothing better than to be told what to do. Provided the rulers do not interfere with its material comforts and its cherished beliefs, it is perfectly happy to let itself be ruled.

Aldous Huxley (1894-1963) English novelist, essayist and critic
Essay (1927-10), “A Note on Eugenics,” Proper Studies (1927)

More info about this quote: wist.info/huxley-aldous/79966/

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #aldoushuxley #eugenics #humancondition #humannature #materialist #obedience #passivity #people #population #servitude

A quotation from Cicero

And if now (but may the immortal gods avert the omen!) that worst of fates shall befall the republic, then, as brave gladiators take care to perish with honor, let us too, who are the chief men of all countries and nations, take care to fall with dignity rather than to live as slaves with ignominy.
 
[Quodsi iam, quod di omen avertant! fatum extremum rei publicae venit, quod gladiatores nobiles faciunt, ut honeste decumbant, faciamus nos principes orbis terrarum gentiumque omnium, ut cum dignitate potius cadamus quam cum ignominia serviamus.]

Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BC) Roman orator, statesman, philosopher
Philippics [Philippicae; Antonian Orations], No. 3, ch. 14 / sec. 35 (2.14/3.35.3) (44-12-20 BC) [tr. Yonge (1903)]

More info about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/cicero-marcus-tulliu…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #cicero #death #defiance #dignity #enslavement #honor #ignominy #servitude #tyranny

www.propublica.org/article/educ... Gutting #education which usually ends up affecting mostly the #poor forces them into #indentured #servitude if not outright slavery.

RE: https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:npmlkxztzkcjt6x4cdggyflg/post/3m2p7sivzo22v

These Activists Want to Disman...

RE: https://mastodon.social/@TinJar/115339842995894737

https://www.propublica.org/article/education-department-public-schools-activists-linda-mcmahon-trump

Gutting #education which usually ends up affecting mostly the #poor forces them into #indentured #servitude if not outright slavery.

A quotation from Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

If a man has a genuine, sincere, hearty wish to get rid of his liberty, if he is really bent upon becoming a slave, nothing can stop him. And the temptation is to some natures a very great one.

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr. (1809-1894) American poet, essayist, scholar
Article (1860-09), “The Professor’s Story [Elsie Venner],” ch. 18, Atlantic Monthly, Vol. 6, No. 35

Sourcing, notes: wist.info/holmes-sr-oliver-wen…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #autonomy #character #conformity #freedom #liberty #obedience #orthodoxy #servility #servitude #slavery #compliance

A quotation from Cicero

Nothing is more detestable than disgrace, nothing more shameful than slavery. We have been born for glory and freedom — let us either hold on to these things or die with dignity.
 
[Nihil est detestabilius dedecore, nihil foedius servitute. Ad decus et ad libertatem nati sumus; aut haec teneamus aut cum dignitate moriamur.]

Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BC) Roman orator, statesman, philosopher
Philippics [Philippicae; Antonian Orations], No. 3, ch. 14 / sec. 36 (3.14/3.36) (44-12-20 BC) [tr. @sentantiq (2019)]

Sourcing, notes, other translations: wist.info/cicero-marcus-tulliu…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #cicero #defeat #dignity #disgrace #dishonor #freedom #glory #liberty #servitude #slavery

So, will they go straight to a pro-slavery stance or will they slowly introduce #indentured #servitude first?

#slavery #chattelslavery #wageslave #wageslavery

A quotation from Cicero

He won over the ignorant masses with shows, building projects, largesses, and banquets. His followers he bound to him by rewards, his opponents by an apparent clemency. In short, he succeeded in bringing a free country, partly because of its fear, partly because of its passivity, to an acceptance of servitude.
 
[Muneribus, monumentis, congiariis, epulis multitudinem imperitam delenierat; suos praemiis, adversarios clementiae specie devinxerat. Quid multa? Attulerat iam liberae civitati partim metu partim patientia consuetudinem serviendi.]

Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BC) Roman orator, statesman, philosopher
Philippics [Philippicae; Antonian Orations], No. 2, ch. 45 / sec. 116 (2.45/2.116) (44-10-24 BC) [tr. Berry (2006)]

Sourcing, notes, other translations: wist.info/cicero-marcus-tulliu…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #cicero #juliuscaesar #acquiescence #breadandcircuses #freedom #masses #passivity #politicalpower #populace #power #rewards #servitude

A quotation from Cicero

Peace indeed is both sweet in name and wholesome in reality; but there is all the difference in the world between peace and slavery. Peace is the calmness of freedom, slavery the worst of all evils, to be kept off at the cost not only of war, but even of life itself.
 
[Et nomen pacis dulce est et ipsa res salutaris; sed inter pacem et servitutem plurimum interest. Pax est tranquilla libertas, servitus postremum malorum omnium, non modo bello sed morte etiam repellendum.]

Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-43 BC) Roman orator, statesman, philosopher
Philippics [Philippicae; Antonian Orations], No. 2, ch. 44 / sec. 113 (2,44/2.113) (44-10-24 BC) [tr. King (1877)]

Sourcing, notes, other translations: wist.info/cicero-marcus-tulliu…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #cicero #evil #freedom #liberty #lifeanddeath #peace #servitude #slavery #tranquility #war

Tying #PTO to #student #loan #repayment and #forgiveness is next level #indentured #servitude even for #America

https://fortune.com/2025/07/05/best-employer-benefits-student-loan-borrower-workers/

Boris Cyrulnik - Le laboureur et les mangeurs de #vent : #liberte intérieure et confortable #servitude

"Certains ont tellement besoin d'appartenir à un groupe, comme ils ont appartenu à leur mère, qu'ils recherchent, voire chérissent, le confort de l'embrigadement. Ils acceptent mensonges et manipulations, plongeant dans le malheur des sociétés entières."

De l'absence du père ...

https://mastodon.social/@cobrate/114388189282969831

#livre #mastolivre #books #bookstodon #BorisCyrulnik #psychology #psy #citation

Tout #peuple qui s'endort en #Liberté, se réveillera en #servitude (Alain)

Il faut arrêter de se demander #de #quel #côté de l' #Histoire nous aurions été, et commencer à se demander #de #quel #côté de l' #Histoire nous voulons être #aujourd'hui ?

@salomesaque
@salomesaque.bsky.social

https://mamot.fr/@talou/113997595890586310

Modern-day blackbirding and Australia's food supply chain

"60,000 South Sea Islanders came to Australia as slaves or cheap labour from 1863."

"Now, 123 years after many were forced back to South Sea Islands, Australia's latest Pacific worker scheme is attracting allegations of exploitation, which are being investigated by the Anti-Slavery Commissioner in New South Wales, James Cockayne." >>
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-01-03/30-year-anniversary-of-pacific-blackbirding-recognition-slavery/104739826
#food #exploitation #work #servitude #PALM #IR #mobility #HumanRights #NSW #Pacific #blackbirding #slavery #plantations #sugar #cotton #SupplyChains #australia

‘We have to look at racism, first of all, as a weapon of the ruling class.’
~Angela Davis

#USPol #USPolitics #politics #history #slavery #Restoration #colonyBuilding #indentures #servitude #bondage #racism #raceMaking #America #USA #Virginia #labor #exploitation #capitalism #work #poverty #ownership #democracy #TheSouth #whiteSupremacy #elections #vote #LiberalDemocracy #AngelaDavis #trumpism

Fruit and veg from NSW plantations of servitude

"The NSW Anti-slavery Commissioner says there are several thousand absconded PALM workers in Australia, without access to health insurance and formal income. Among them are women with unplanned pregnancies denied antenatal care due to ineligibility for Medicare. A report by the NSW Anti-slavery Commissioner entitled Be Our Guests has identified signs of debt bondage, deceptive recruiting, forced labour and, in extreme cases, servitude, sexual servitude and human trafficking."
>>
https://theconversation.com/promoted-as-a-win-win-australias-pacific-island-guest-worker-scheme-is-putting-those-workers-at-risk-240333
#Food #IndustrialRelations #plantations #exploitation #NSW #servitude #slavery #Pacific #Australia #RuralNSW #Work #PALM

#Involuntary #servitude still exists in California. -- A ballot measure in November could change that

If voted into law, #Proposition6 would ✅ abolish forced labor as a criminal punishment in the state’s prisons

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/oct/04/california-prop-6-prison-slavery-election?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Just so you know, I am losing my The Black Dahlia Murder virginity right now.

Sounds good.

🎵 Aftermath by #TheBlackDahliaMurder
💿 Servitude, 2024
▶️ https://song.link/y/6uUR4Xf2pBA

#TomsMusic #NowPlaying #Servitude #DeathMetal

#AldousHuxley:
- #LeMeilleurDesMondes (1931)
- Retour au meilleur des mondes

"la #dictature parfaite [...]. Une #prison sans murs dont les prisonniers ne songeraient pas à s'évader. Un système d' #esclavage où, grace à la #consommation et au divertissement, les esclaves auraient l' #amour de leur #servitude."

#GeorgeOrwell :
- 1984 (1949)
- #LaFermeDesAnimaux

-> #NeilPostman : https://mastodon.social/@cobrate/115005629623826499

#Livre #psy #manipulation #obscurantisme #mastolivre #AldousHuxley #GeorgeOrwell

#LaBoetie #Discours de la #Servitude #Volontaire

https://mastodon.social/@cobrate/113533024083701231

#Comprendre #Reflechir #Livre #mastolivre #amreading #bookstodon #laboetie

Servitude: the thread about why James Craig’s New Town isn’t as regular as he would have liked

Have you ever wondered why at the far western end of Queen Street, where it meets North Charlotte Street, the regular, right-angled Georgian grid of the First New Town does something odd and has a bevelled corner? You have? Great! Lets find out why that is.

No, the Georgians weren’t future-proofing the street corner here for a 20th century traffic engineer’s filter lane. This has to do with something much more predictable than that – land ownership disputes!

You see, when Town Council first had a plan of land ownership drawn up for the planning of the New Town, they didn’t actually yet own all the land on which they intended to build. In fact, they only owned about three quarters of it. Standing in the way to the west was “Allan’s Park“, owned by Dean of Guild Allan (Thomas Allan), and “Barjarg’s Feu” – owned by James Erskine, Lord Barjarg of Drumsheugh House.

Allan’s Park was relatively easy to acquire, and was done so by the time the above plan was released to James Craig and other prospective architects for the design competition in April 1766, but Barjarg’s Feu still formed a salient into it. But planning proceeded on the basis that the Council hoped to acquire the land anyway and James Craig’s winning entry therefore drew the western town blocks over it.

Building commenced at the eastern end within short order and by the late 1760s or early 1770s, the New Town was creeping westwards. By the time it reached the boundary of Barjarg’s Feu in 1785, in the vicinity of Castle Street, the the owner – by now styled Lord Alva having inherited that estate – agreed to sell to the council and the plan could continue uninterrupted (although it took until 1820 to conclude, and was not on entirely favourable terms for the Cityand subsequent proprietors). But if we look closer at the western edge of Craig’s plan, and compare it with what is on the ground, we notice that Queen Street should meet North Charlotte Street on a regular grid (it doesn’t) and both Queen Street and the city grid should extend for another block west from where it does (it doesn’t!). Something else stood in the way. (P.S. Charlotte Square was originally to be St. George’s Square)

So what went wrong? Well, it wasn’t just Lord Alva’s land in the way. In 1782, the Trustees of Heriot’s Hospital (who had sold much of the land for the northern portion of the New Town to the city) had sold a portion of land to Francis Stuart, 9th Earl of Moray and on this he had built for himself a mansion, Moray House, and laid out extensive gardens. And Moray wasn’t for selling, so the New Town plans had to be hurriedly altered to build around his land.

This explains why the north western corner could not be completed as planned, and why Queen Street stopped short at North Charlotte Street, but not why they build that awkward and incongruous bevel on the corner? Well that’s because of a little legal thing called “servitude”. What does servitude mean? “A right that an owner of heritable property has over property owned by another. A servitude runs with the land and not the owner“. The Earl of Moray and Lord Alva had servitude over each other that neither could built within 90 feet of their boundary. When Edinburgh bought the land from Alva, Moray maintained his servitude over it. And can you guess what the distance from the bevelled façade on the corner of Queen Street and North Charlotte Street is from the boundary with the Earl of Moray’s land? Yes, that’s right, it’s *exactly* 90 feet.

This old boundary cut through what is now Glenfinlas Street and explains why the pavement suddenly changes width about 1/3 of the way down – it was built at two different times.

It wasn’t until the intransigent Earl of Moray’s son began to be feu the ground in 1822 that the owners of the properties on the north side of Charlotte Square got the change to buy the rest of “their” gardens. The maps below show 1817 compared with 1849 (slide to compare). You can see at this time, a garden wall still existed on the old boundary at the very west of these gardens, and that the formal portions (marked out by the perimeter paths) also conform to the boundary.

You can find the result of this boundary dispute in other places too. It is the reason for instance that Randolph Lane takes an odd, irregular form if you follow it northwards.

Amazingly, the last of the legal niceties over this portion of land weren’t resolved along this boundary for almost 170 years! Those nicely cleaned and restored “Georgian” townhouses at 1-3 Glenfinlas Street? They were only built in 1990 to finally finish this corner of the New Town (almost) as planned.

There’s actually a few more of these incongruous and awkwardly non-right angles scattered through the New Town – it’s always about old boundaries. This thread details the Gabriel’s Road boundary and the line it still cleaves across the New Town. If you want to understand why any New Town street in Edinburgh isn’t on a right angle – overlay an old land boundary plan on it (in this case, the eastern end of John Laurie’s 1766 plan) and it will probably reveal the answer. Broughton Street and York Lane? Cathedral Lane and the foot of Leith Street? St. James Square and Gabriel’s Road? Truncated southern side of Abercrombie Place? Property boundaries are your answer.

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