slavery in novels is annoying

[TotallyHuman]

It's a rant fueled by frustruation, rather than a rational critisism of a trope, but I hate it when they add slavery into a setting and then virtue-signal (is it the right word? Hell if I know) their mc to hate it.

"Oh look these people have SlaVEs, what fucking savages, I am so triggered, but I hate slavery and I will free them so I am so much better than them - never mind that the author added slavery themselves for the sole and cheap reason of letting me act all nice and just for a reason nobody can argue against. The author didn't even bother to add any depth to the social circumstances and the characters painting all the slavers as absolutely evil and predatory in some way or form and the whole setting is completely self-serving and adds nothing to a possible social commentary, or a way for characters' growth. It's just there to be to be a convenient evil. But still, since it is there and I am acting against it, I'm a good character!"

An analogy I'd like to make is landlords. Landlords fundamentally are evil. They make a living off of leeching of those who cannot afford their own housing - which makes for arguably one of the most vulnerable layers of society.
Does it make hating landlords justified? Sure, go at it. Would you feel annoyed if somebody generalised it and said that landlords all were personally evil people? I sure would.
If some person went around racketing people's property from landlords and gave them to the homeless that would make them, at least to me, rather morally grey, and very offputting (but based but that's of topic)

It's the way how these scenarios are usually written here when, say, a person from another world, arrives there and encounters a practice that is, from their point of view, barbaric and evil, and choose to force their values on a population (and thus indirectly on the readers by assuming for them that something is good or bad) that makes me annoyed.

And don't get me wrong, I do not support slavery of any sort, but I am sure that the authors could work with it a bit more tastefully.

rant over.

 

[Lloyd]

I support slavery as well.

 

[melchi]

I mean it wasn't until the 19th century that slavery started getting banned.

If someone owed money they could take the case to authorities. In a world without collections and a credit score how do you collect dept?

 

[SailusGebel]

I support slavery as well.

BASED.

 

[Prince_Azmiran_Myrian]

 

[georgelee5786]

Yeah. Where are the MCs who condone slavery?! /s, /s!

 

[owotrucked]

When I see employees, I too have the intrusive urge to free them from corporate slavery by kidnapping them

 

[LilRora]

The best argument I've seen against that kind of behavior is how freeing a slave can ruin their life completely. Most authors make it seem like freeing them is going to make them happy people out of the blue, while the more likely outcome is dying or falling into slavery again because of lack any kind of interpersonal and management skills that need to be trained for months to be usable and years to match an average adult.

 

[K5Rakitan]

It's a trope. What do you expect?

 

[Lloyd]

I support slavery as well.

In novels

 

[Gryphon]

Seriously though, I can kind of agree. It's sort of my issue with something like Rising of the Shield Hero and its portrayal of slavery in its setting(and most isekai in general). It seems like the authors will put in slavery into their stories, and instead of it feeling like a natural, but still very heinous part of the world, the only reason it seems to be in the story is so that the MC can have easy hero points.

Shield Hero tries to do something different by making him in support of slavery because he has benefitted off of the system by acquiring Raphtalea, but it's just one scene where he outright justifies it and it's never developed upon again. Its inclusion into the story wasn't as a world detail or as a way to show the difference between the MC's original world and the new one he found himself in. It was in the story to make the MC seem more like an antihero than a full-out-and-out hero.

What really grinds my gears is how Raphtalea, the literal slave in the show, after he's called out for not being the most morally upright guy begins to defend him. One of her lines was, and I'm paraphrasing here, was something like "Everyone should own more slaves."

Again, by itself, this could be an interesting idea to take the story down, especially in the more darker side of the story. Shield Hero always tried to delve into dark fantasy but it wouldn't go all the way with it, leaving the tone feeling very confused. If it goes in the direction where the MC tries more and more to justify his actions while dragging the person he technically owns down into hell with him, it could be an interesting tale. It would also give the MC flaws, which at this point in time he doesn't really seem to have except for his anger issues.

However, in the scene where the literal slave shouts out, "People should own more slaves," there's happy music. People look at her like she's saying something profound. And it feels really uncomfortable watching it. Not uncomfortable in the sense that the story is intentionally trying to make the audience feel uncomfortable, but more of, "Is this the author's real thoughts, or is he just really bad at writing tone?"

Again the scene looks as if the literal slave just confessed to the MC, her owner, and it's meant to be taken as lighthearted and not tragic or at the very least rightly uncomfortable. And then it boosts the slave owners sale of slaves, and again, it's really not known if the author is trying to make the MC look like a good guy or at least a troubled hero. Either the author is very tone deaf, or he's incredibly dense as crap.

By the end of the first season, it's pretty much shown the MC isn't an antihero and he's more like a traditional hero. At least that's what the tone of the story indicates. Slavery isn't shown as this morally weird but natural part of the world. It's more like a plot point to make the story look darker than it actually is.

The MC isn't shown as morally bouncy, or at the very least morally ambiguous for his actions in both partaking of and increasing the profitability of the slave trade within his world. The tone doesn't indicate that the world has a dark side to it. Instead, it outrightly ignores it at best, or it supports the awful stuff at worst.

TLDR of this sort of rant: Rising of the Shield Hero's author cannot write tone worth crap, and they're either incredibly dense or tone deaf.

 

[Lloyd]

Seriously though, I can kind of agree. It's sort of my issue with something like Rising of the Shield Hero and its portrayal of slavery in its setting(and most isekai in general). It seems like the authors will put in slavery into their stories, and instead of it feeling like a natural, but still very heinous part of the world, the only reason it seems to be in the story is so that the MC can have easy hero points.

Shield Hero tries to do something different by making him in support of slavery because he has benefitted off of the system by acquiring Raphtalea, but it's just one scene where he outright justifies it and it's never developed upon again. Its inclusion into the story wasn't as a world detail or as a way to show the difference between the MC's original world and the new one he found himself in. It was in the story to make the MC seem more like an antihero than a full-out-and-out hero.

What really grinds my gears is how Raphtalea, the literal slave in the show, after he's called out for not being the most morally upright guy begins to defend him. One of her lines was, and I'm paraphrasing here, was something like "Everyone should own more slaves."

Again, by itself, this could be an interesting idea to take the story down, especially in the more darker side of the story. Shield Hero always tried to delve into dark fantasy but it wouldn't go all the way with it, leaving the tone feeling very confused. If it goes in the direction where the MC tries more and more to justify his actions while dragging the person he technically owns down into hell with him, it could be an interesting tale. It would also give the MC flaws, which at this point in time he doesn't really seem to have except for his anger issues.

However, in the scene where the literal slave shouts out, "People should own more slaves," there's happy music. People look at her like she's saying something profound. And it feels really uncomfortable watching it. Not uncomfortable in the sense that the story is intentionally trying to make the audience feel uncomfortable, but more of, "Is this the author's real thoughts, or is he just really bad at writing tone?"

Again the scene looks as if the literal slave just confessed to the MC, her owner, and it's meant to be taken as lighthearted and not tragic or at the very least rightly uncomfortable. And then it boosts the slave owners sale of slaves, and again, it's really not known if the author is trying to make the MC look like a good guy or at least a troubled hero. Either the author is very tone deaf, or he's incredibly dense as crap.

By the end of the first season, it's pretty much shown the MC isn't an antihero and he's more like a traditional hero. At least that's what the tone of the story indicates. Slavery isn't shown as this morally weird but natural part of the world. It's more like a plot point to make the story look darker than it actually is.

The MC isn't shown as morally bouncy, or at the very least morally ambiguous for his actions in both partaking of and increasing the profitability of the slave trade within his world. The tone doesn't indicate that the world has a dark side to it. Instead, it outrightly ignores it at best, or it supports the awful stuff at worst.

TLDR of this sort of rant: Rising of the Shield Hero's author cannot write tone worth crap, and they're either incredibly dense or tone deaf.

Raphtalea saying more people should get slaves is like the one good part of the show.

 

[Prince_Azmiran_Myrian]

Seriously though, I can kind of agree. It's sort of my issue with something like Rising of the Shield Hero and its portrayal of slavery in its setting(and most isekai in general). It seems like the authors will put in slavery into their stories, and instead of it feeling like a natural, but still very heinous part of the world, the only reason it seems to be in the story is so that the MC can have easy hero points.

Shield Hero tries to do something different by making him in support of slavery because he has benefitted off of the system by acquiring Raphtalea, but it's just one scene where he outright justifies it and it's never developed upon again. Its inclusion into the story wasn't as a world detail or as a way to show the difference between the MC's original world and the new one he found himself in. It was in the story to make the MC seem more like an antihero than a full-out-and-out hero.

What really grinds my gears is how Raphtalea, the literal slave in the show, after he's called out for not being the most morally upright guy begins to defend him. One of her lines was, and I'm paraphrasing here, was something like "Everyone should own more slaves."

Again, by itself, this could be an interesting idea to take the story down, especially in the more darker side of the story. Shield Hero always tried to delve into dark fantasy but it wouldn't go all the way with it, leaving the tone feeling very confused. If it goes in the direction where the MC tries more and more to justify his actions while dragging the person he technically owns down into hell with him, it could be an interesting tale. It would also give the MC flaws, which at this point in time he doesn't really seem to have except for his anger issues.

However, in the scene where the literal slave shouts out, "People should own more slaves," there's happy music. People look at her like she's saying something profound. And it feels really uncomfortable watching it. Not uncomfortable in the sense that the story is intentionally trying to make the audience feel uncomfortable, but more of, "Is this the author's real thoughts, or is he just really bad at writing tone?"

Again the scene looks as if the literal slave just confessed to the MC, her owner, and it's meant to be taken as lighthearted and not tragic or at the very least rightly uncomfortable. And then it boosts the slave owners sale of slaves, and again, it's really not known if the author is trying to make the MC look like a good guy or at least a troubled hero. Either the author is very tone deaf, or he's incredibly dense as crap.

By the end of the first season, it's pretty much shown the MC isn't an antihero and he's more like a traditional hero. At least that's what the tone of the story indicates. Slavery isn't shown as this morally weird but natural part of the world. It's more like a plot point to make the story look darker than it actually is.

The MC isn't shown as morally bouncy, or at the very least morally ambiguous for his actions in both partaking of and increasing the profitability of the slave trade within his world. The tone doesn't indicate that the world has a dark side to it. Instead, it outrightly ignores it at best, or it supports the awful stuff at worst.

TLDR of this sort of rant: Rising of the Shield Hero's author cannot write tone worth crap, and they're either incredibly dense or tone deaf.

I thought one of the best focuses of that story was trust, that is one of the largest issues Naofumi faces. Slaves can't betray him so that's why he uses them.
Though, i never read the story, only saw the anime where he is more sympathetic as a character from what I hear.

 

[Gryphon]

I thought one of the best focuses of that story was trust, that is one of the largest issues Naofumi faces. Slaves can't betray him so that's why he uses them.
Though, i never read the story, only saw the anime where he is more sympathetic as a character from what I hear.

You see the problem with that is that, Naofumi is one thing. He's kind of portrayed as the antihero with a heart of gold, though by the end he's not really a antihero. However, telling more people to buy slaves is also telling the people that will regularly assault and abuse those slaves to buy them. It also doesn't make sense considering Raphtalea's backstory.

It makes sense if the line was changed from, "Everyone should buy slaves," to "I'm okay with serving him." It would also line up with the worldbuilding considering the shield hero is a sort of deity to beastfolk in that world, so she'd be made into a sort of pseudo prophet.

Like, who knows what kind of monsters she created with that line. She single handedly boosted the popularity of the service that took away her freedom to begin with which started her major trust issues at the beginning of the story. It just doesn't make sense along with being a morally dubious line.

 

[georgelee5786]

When I see employees, I too have the intrusive urge to free them from corporate slavery by kidnapping them

I have the intrusive urge to free people from life

 

[ForestDweller]

An analogy I'd like to make is landlords. Landlords fundamentally are evil. They make a living off of leeching of those who cannot afford their own housing - which makes for arguably one of the most vulnerable layers of society.

No land ownership? Sounds like we got a commie here boys!

 

[mitkopom]

I see many people fawn over slavery but i wonder will they keep their opinion the same if they become slaves. I bet it will be "wait a minute this really sucks to be someone's pet that can be abused as much as its master desires.

 

[Lloyd]

I see many people fawn over slavery but i wonder will they keep their opinion the same if they become slaves. I bet it will be "wait a minute this really sucks to be someone's pet that can be abused as much as its master desires.

That's why only Christians should be allowed to have slaves. Good morals are necessary to rule over people. This is why surfs in the middle ages actually had it better than most people do now or ever in the entire history of the planet.

 

[proxybaba]

That's why only Christians should be allowed to have slaves.

dude take it easy, on religion and people's sexual orientation, I said something similar in the past and it was not offensive either and then my fiction got one star spammed from right and left. it was a hard time for me to fight them, so I'm just warning you to avoid using these words.

its advice you can take it with breakfast or throw in the dumpster
ps - it was not in this site tough

 

[Lloyd]

dude take it easy, on religion and people's sexual orientation, I said something similar in the past and it was not offensive either and then my fiction got one star spammed from right and left. it was a hard time for me to fight them, so I'm just warning you to avoid using these words.

its advice you can take it with breakfast or throw in the dumpster

You must be new here. This is kind of my specialty.