When any system has for its goal the advancement of the system over the betterment of its individual members, such a system is embedded in slavery.
Interpretation
A system prioritizing itself over its individuals leads to oppression.
In this quote, Gerry Spence expresses a profound concern about systems—be they political, social, or institutional—that prioritize their own advancement, often at the expense of the well-being and progress of the individuals that comprise them. He suggests that such a system results in a form of slavery, where personal freedoms and growth are sacrificed for the sake of the system's goals.
In practice
In a speech about corporate ethics, one could use this quote to discuss the importance of prioritizing employee welfare over profit.
Today the insatiable quest for profit promotes the new slavery. In bewildering ways, the new is more pernicious than the old, for the New American Slave is told he is free, and he clings to that myth as if his life depended upon it, a suspicion that cannot be totally ignored.
The best antidote for crime is justice. The irony we often fail to appreciate is that the more justice people enjoy, the fewer crimes they commit. Crime is the natural offspring of an unjust society.
The erosion of a nation's concern for life and for individual rights, has always preceded the intrusion of tyranny.
The true test of liberty is the right to test it, the right to question it, the right to speak to my neighbors, to grab them by the shoulders and look into their eyes and ask, “Are we free?” I have thought that if we are free, the answer cannot hurt us. And if we are not free, must we not hear the answer?
The function of the law is not to provide justice or to preserve freedom. The function of the law is to keep those who hold power, in power.
The ultimate enemy of Democracy is not the drug dealer of the crooked politician or the crazed skinhead. The ultimate enemy is the New King that has become so powerful it can murder its own citizens with impunity.
The wretch condemn'd with life to part,_x000D_ _x000D_ Still, still on hope relies;_x000D_ _x000D_ And every pang that rends the heart_x000D_ _x000D_ Bids expectation rise.
Cocoa-buttered girls were stretched out on the public beach in apparently random alignments, but maybe if a weather satellite zoomed in on one of those bodies and then zoomed back out, the photos would show the curving beach itself was another woman, a fractal image made up of the particulate sunbathers. All the beaches pressed together might form female landmasses, female continents, female planets and galaxies. No wonder men felt tense.
Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.
It happens that the stage sets collapse. Rising, streetcar, four hours in the office or the factory, meal, streetcar, four hours of work, meal, sleep, and Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday and Saturday according to the same rhythm – this path is easily followed most of the time. But one day the “why” arises and everything begins in that weariness tinged with amazement.
The earth has enough resources for our need, but not for our greed.
It is the denial of death that is partially responsible for people living empty, purposeless lives; for when you live as if you'll live forever, it becomes too easy to postpone the things you know that you must do.
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