Leaving the Plantation is Tricky

An exercise in mental gymnastics.

Hypothetical situation.

Let’s say the Civil War just ended. You’re one of the Republican Abolitionists tasked with trying to tell all the slaves that they aren’t slaves anymore.

Okay, you might think, just show up to a plantation and tell them all “You are free now!”

You seriously think it’s gonna be that easy?

Hell no.

Here’s the deal. Slave owners don’t want to give up their slaves. Even after they lost the war they still don’t want their slaves to go away. Likewise, the slaves who have known no other life than hard labor working the fields and having a guarantee bowl of slop and a roof over their heads are also not keen to end the only lifestyle they’ve ever known. Your promises mean nothing to them, because they cannot envision any other life. It’s not like they know anything about the “outside world” or the world outside the Plantation. Rumors eek in from new slaves from time to time, sure, that up north there’s something called a “Freeman” but they cannot parse the idea that they could ever be free because they have no basis for comparison. The life they know is that a Slave is a Slave, a Master is a Master, and a Slave can never become a Master; neither a Master of Others or even of their Self.

The truth is, people don’t like change because change is scary. Slaves prefer to be slaves because people prefer things to be predictable. Freedom is scary. Being told “You’re free! You’re on your own.” is a scary prospect. It’s even scarier when the person coming to tell you has guns and a platoon of soldiers in tow.

On top of that, it’s not like every slave had a smart phone they could fire up and see what news is out and about. How would they even know the Emancipation Proclamation went through?

Here’s the truth. Slaves fought for slavery. They didn’t know any better, and the ones who did know better often fought anyways because they, like Cipher in the Matrix, preferred a life of slavery than the reality of True Freedom.

True Freedom means you are Free to Fail.

You cannot have one without the other.

That fear of failure is enough for the captive to fight on behalf of their captors. Stockholm Syndrome and the like.

Most people want to be told what to do, so they don’t have to bear the brunt of responsibility if things don’t work out. People are constantly looking for excuses for why they consistently fail to achieve — someone or something to blame. The greatest allure of a false idol is that you can blame your own shortcomings on the failures of “those in power.” That’s when false gods become boogeymen.

You fail because you don’t dare try in the first place.

Besides that, there is the simple confusion of the moment, which can be exploited by the Slave Master to trick the Slave into fighting the Abolitionists.

The Slave Master says that the Abolitionists are bad men here to kill all the slaves — that they’ll be here within the week and that the slaves need to ignore all the false promises of the “Men from the North.”

“They are liars from the North. They are tricksters. Hucksters. They’ll load you up on carts and then slit your throat in the night. They'll have their way with your children. Mastuh is your friend, I’ve treated you lot well, have I not? Trust me, ignore them and their lies, and fight these pillagers and rapists as they come to murder you all!”

How, as the Abolitionist, do you break this spell of manipulation; this brainwashing? How do you tell the Slaves that they are free, truly free, and that it’s a good thing? How do you approach the Plantation when they have been instructed to kill or run on sight of you?

This is the last-ditch strategy of the Slave Master. It is unassailable should they find themselves cornered and threatened enough to play it. There is no clean way to “round them up” and tell the Slaves the “truth” because the only reality they have ever known has been one of predictability and they will cheerfully fight to the death to ensure things stay exactly how they have always been.

Their greatest act of deception is to convince the Slaves that their Savior is their Oppressor, and their Oppressor is their Savior.

Do you not think the enemy is cunning? Do you not recognize their devious nature? Do you truly believe they will lay down and let you take their cattle from them without a fight? Do you not think they would burn it all down to rule over the ashes before handing their POSSESSIONS over to you?

This is who we are dealing with.

This is why it’s taking a long time.

Because the obvious strategy is not to show up one day and try to convince a hostile army of Slaves that it’s a good thing their way of life is about to come to an end…

The obvious strategy is to infiltrate the plantation with individuals willing to go undercover and inject ideas that the “Men from the North” aren’t here to kill everyone. They are here to save everyone.

Insurgency goes both ways…

There is no other way to free the Slaves from the Plantation without bloodshed. Even then, it’s not a sure thing. The Slaves must be SHOWN the truth, rather than told it. The truth is abhorrent in the face of what is otherwise predictable, familiar, and convenient. Slaves will die trying to defend a system they understand, just as an addict will fight those trying to intervene and free them from being slave to their vice.

The Slaves have to WANT Freedom. They have to be told tales of the “better way” without Slavery, where Freemen roam — Free to Fail, yes, but also Free to Succeed. This is not a band-aide that can easily be torn off.