House elves and some spoilers for Swordspoint LONG

[a_svirn]

No: HPFGUIDX 180787

> >> Magpie:
> > Here's where I get my impression that they see them as what we 
> would 
> > call slaves: They claim them as property. They have to do what 
> their 
> > masters say. They live to serve their masters. 
> > 
> > What does it mean to say they don't understand slavery the same 
> way 
> > we do? The only differences I see in the way they understand it 
> and 
> > the way we do is that they hold the belief that it is the natural 
> > order, that it's beneficial to the elf, that it isn't immoral on 
> the 
> > part of the owner. <SNIP>
> 
> Alla:
> 
> The beneficial to the slave part? I mean you ( generic you) keep 
> saying that elf's POV does not matter, but wizards ARE aware of 
that 
> POV that elves indeed live to serve the master, and to me it is 
> very  different from human slavery. That to me changes everything, 
I 
> mean if I want to keep owning house elf because it is good for him 
( 
> and of course good for me) is different from human slavery because 
> it is not good for human to be owned.

a_svirn:
But that's altogether different matter. It is one thing to say that 
elves aren't slaves. It is quite another thing to say that there is 
no harm in their being slaves since it is just the way they like it. 
But you seem to be agreeing with both these statements here. They are 
mutually exclusive, however. 
>  
> > Magpie:
> > Okay, so we're talking about "slavery" being a slippery term like 
> > child abuse that's in the eye of the beholder? So basically it's 
> like 
> > Wizards saying they're not enslaved enough to be considered 
> slaves? <SNIP>
> 
> Alla:
> 
> No not at all. We are talking about what is happening to house 
elves 
> to be considered slavery in one society and not one in another.

a_svirn:
And what is happening to them? They are being owned. They are being 
someone else's property. That mean they are being slaves. That would 
mean being slaves in any society. Whether it is beneficial or not is 
another issue. Though, of course, any self-respecting slave-owning 
society would deem such arrangement beneficial. 

a_svirn