Non Sequitur by Wiley Miller for January 19, 2014

Never a good way to start a new morning. But, the MBA books all recommend taking an aggressive lead and demanding upfront at least 3 weeks paid vacation and an early dismissal bonus clause in the contract.

This is a lot darker than this strip usually gets…

Darker and bleaker, and very well done.

Really, NG?After something as well done as today’s strip, you spit up a weak “economic enslavement” line. Pathetic.

Nice art.

Well that took a decidedly serious turn….. Artwork is good

Great strip Wiley!

Erk!

It is, Ypoons7666, it is.

The real economic enslavement is just to be upper middle class and having to pay the tab for everyone else’s party, rich, poor, or the self-proclaimed aristocracy that manages to get themselves elected.

I could see how that would be confusing, but no. Slave comes from a Latin root, “Sclavus” while Slav comes from an old eastern European root word “Slovene.”

Wakes up in cube…

This is not funny. Also I think that this is a repeat.

Wow, Wiley, didn’t see that coming.

nothing….

So they say, eh? No offense meant, but a slave is a slave is a slave.

Did the art just suddenly get a lot better for the flashbacks, or did I miss it before?

Methinks this is going to take awhile…

I doubt people ever got assaulted and turned into slaves in Rome, that’s a modern concept.

These days we get to choose who our masters are… it’s called election.

….and up till a mere 150 years ago, this was perfectly legal in the “freedom loving” United States, the last civilized country to condone it.

In the case of an ‘ordinary’ war of conquest prisoners of warmight be sold into slavery. Putting down a revolt could involve the men being slaughtered and the women and child-ren being sold as slaves. […if memory serves, I could bewrong.]

I have never understood the Black Muslim movement. TheArabs [Muslims] were as heavily involved in the slave trade atthe African end as were the Europeans in the Africa to theAmericas to Europe and back to Africa journeys by theslavers, and the merchantmen with their cotton, tobacco andsuger.

Then there’s the extremely ironic line in ‘Rule, Britannia:’“Britons never, never, never shall be slaves.”

As with all people, there are good and bad people. Slavery was a way of life back then. I am sure that there were those that sadly mistreated their slaves and slave owners that treated them better. To say that “Jews had slaves, but they were well treated” , is just stupid.There were slaves here in the US, most were treated well(well, considering the times), that doesn’t make it right.

I am really enjoying this continuing story.

So homer is now a slave, noticing the girl’s lack of adornment and bleak gray clothing,she might also be a slave…..interesting turn.

This arc is a VERY interesting positioning of events, going from the simple shepherding to the extreme drama of Vesuvius’ blow and now to our shepherd being shanghaied into slavery, and of course all of it being a flashback. And presumably to be reunited with his dog at some point (before the Pearly Gates, I hope). And the differing art styles are very intriguing. I’m loving this!

The clown always wants to play Hamlet…but this dog won’t hunt.

Welcome to the “free” market, Homer — only you’re the merchandise…

(From what I’ve read, the Roman mercantile system was about as Libertarian as it gets — no regulations, no taxes if you knew the right people, and any contracts made generally tended to favor the seller. Is it any wonder that “Let the buyer beware” [“Caveat emptor”] is of Roman origin?)

-The USA pioneered using just blacks as slaves-I’m sorry, Night-Gaunt49, but African tribes themselves enslaved other Africans long before the Atlantic slave trade (with Amerca) began. Much was similar to endentured servantry, where the slaves were given certain rights, but chattel slavery (where people were treated as property) also existed. Once the international Atlantic slave trade came along, slavery increased in Africa, but it existed before the US slave trade, and still exists today.

-Most folks don’t know enough about their ancestry to know that they descended from slaves, so you can’t make any kind of uniform statement about how ‘most folks got over it.’-Slavery is unacceptable. Period.

The art is beautiful and the topic is horrible. Guess I’ll sit this one out…

You really have to be negro to understand it…

As I recall she was calling him “Slave”…..after all he is chained, she is not.

Context:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_in_ancient_Rome

I’ve heard, a couple of times, people arguing for bringing back slavery (which they call indentured servitude) as a way of helping get people back on their feet. In each case, it’s been a christian who suggested it, and in each case, as above, buttressed their argument with the supposedly less-harsh biblically ordained slavery.

As Night-Gaunt49 pointed out, none of the abrahamic religions condemned slavery in their holy books, nor for many centuries; it took a lot of hard work by unbelievers to turn the tide (see Susan Jacoby’s book Freethinkers for the historical details).

Or, as Sam Harris put it: “Nothing in Christian theology remedies the appalling deficiencies of the Bible on what is perhaps the greatest—and easiest—moral question our society has ever had to face.” (Letter to a Christian Nation, p. 18)

i’m enjoying this tale! you write some great adventures!