The psychology of slavery - we are not slaves. The psychology of slavery - we are not slaves There is no slavery more hopeless than the slavery of those slaves who consider themselves Free from shackles

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After watching yet another report about the victims of scammers, you probably experience a feeling similar to pride, and thoughts like: “Well, these scammers definitely couldn’t fool me.” Don’t flatter yourself - swindlers have long learned to “deceive” even the most cautious and distrustful smart people, among whom you count yourself. Fraudsters, as a rule, are well aware of the psychology of potential victims, which allows them to foresee all scenarios and use your weaknesses against you. If you do not want to fall into the networks set up by criminals, familiarize yourself with the most common methods of emptying the pockets of ordinary people.

1. "Fallen Melon"

Every decent person, through whose fault someone else's expensive item broke, will offer its owner compensation for the damage. This kind of honesty is often taken advantage of by scammers who can set up, for example, an “accidental” collision on the street or in a store.

Such scams were very common in the Land of the Rising Sun during times of crazy high prices for fruits and melons in particular. The attackers with melons in their hands deliberately crashed into tourists and, having dropped their burden, demanded compensation. As a rule, travelers preferred to pay in order to quickly hush up the conflict.

Of course, scammers still use the “fallen melon” method in our time, only instead of fruit they drop household appliances (which were most likely broken long before the fall) or boxes with “expensive vases” (that is, with broken glass), according to them , “bought as a gift for my wife” (as an option - for my mother-in-law). The most careful and experienced scammers even acquire counterfeit checks, which they present as proof of the value of the “damaged item.”

2. "Gift of Fate"

Perhaps you have encountered a similar scam, if not, use your imagination: you are approached on the street by a complete stranger who claims that he found a wallet with a large amount of money and does not know what to do with it. During the discussion of the situation, your interlocutor or you yourself voice the idea that the funds should be divided. The scammer calls his “lawyer”, who “advises” that you take the money for safekeeping, the pretexts can be different: “it’s better to wait until the owner of the wallet shows up” or something like that. The scammers ask you to leave them a smaller amount as a guarantee of future receipt of the find; you succumb to persuasion, since you already imagine how much you can buy with the fortune that “fell from the sky.” It is not difficult to predict the further development of events - when you look into your wallet, you find there “tickets from the joke bank” or packs of “bills” printed on a printer.

There are various variations of this scam, but one way or another, the attackers “trust a large sum” or “valuable thing” only in exchange for collateral. Be careful - if a stranger agrees to give you a lot of money for a significantly smaller deposit, he is either a complete idiot or a follower of the Great Schemer.

3. "Ring"

Like the “gift of fate,” this type of scam is designed for extremely greedy and pragmatic or, conversely, unselfish and responsive people. Most often, scammers act as follows: on the street you meet a heartbroken, charming girl who asks if you have found her gold wedding ring, lost somewhere nearby. Having received a negative answer, the beauty promises a large reward for the return of the jewelry and leaves a contact number so that if the ring is found, you can contact her. After some time, you “miraculously” come across a stranger who “literally today” found a gold ring “worth fabulous money” and, of course, the find was made exactly in the area where the “upset bride” approached you.

The fool understands that the ring belongs to her and you decide to buy the ring in order to give it to the “victim”, keep it for yourself or sell it (the last two options are for the most callous and heartless). Having paid a tidy sum for the jewelry, you take it to the jeweler and ask him to evaluate the “successful purchase”, and he says that this piece of copper is worth a little less than nothing.

If you don’t want to get into such trouble, try to stay away from strangers who are thirsty for your help, even very nice ones, and under no circumstances buy jewelry or other things that look very valuable from random passers-by.

4. "Winning the lottery"

There are a huge number of varieties of this fraud, but its principle remains unchanged - the victim is convinced to outbid the “winnings” from a fake “lottery winner” who, for some reason, cannot receive the prize. When mobile phones were not common enough, scammers even produced fake newspapers with “proof of winning” tables of winning tickets, but now the victim can check the true price of a ticket at any time, so scammers no longer print newspapers, having learned other ways to convince the client to part with money .

Sometimes the “winner” claims, for example, that he owes the bank a large sum of money, so the bailiffs will certainly confiscate his winnings. In other cases, the problem is the lack of registration or identification document - the imagination of attackers is limitless. The “sucker” is offered to become the owner of the coveted ticket for quite modest (compared to the “prize”) money, and when he comes for the “legitimate reward”, he is surprised to understand what he paid his hard-earned money for.

5. "The Spanish Prisoner"

“The Spanish Prisoner” is one of the oldest tricks of scammers (a similar case is described in one of the books of the 16th century, in honor of which the trick got its exotic name), but gullible and narrow-minded ordinary people still fall for it. The point is this: the scammer convinces the “sucker” that he is a very high-ranking and influential person (possibly from another country) who needs to quietly receive the money that belongs to him. All possible financial assistance is required from the victim, in return the “American businessman” (“Arab sheikh”, “Nigerian prince” - the legend can be anything) promises a substantial reward and assures that he will provide any services, naturally, only after receiving his money. During the “rescue of capital”, more and more new difficulties arise, which can only be overcome by injecting additional funds from the victim’s pocket - the extortion continues until the client runs out of money or suspects fraud.

Fraudsters of our time are often more careful and inventive than their colleagues who lived centuries earlier. For example, a swindler, posing as an assistant to a foreign diplomat or industrialist, tells you that he needs to buy back an extremely valuable product lying in a warehouse, but does not have the full amount on hand. You are offered to invest your money, because the deal is very profitable - the money spent will be returned tenfold. Then it turns out that getting the goods is not so easy - you need to “give it to the paw” of an official or other official, so if you please fork out money again and so on... Don’t hesitate, pay, because “the profit will more than cover all the costs” - joke , Certainly. Real business tycoons will never involve outsiders in large transactions; do not let the thirst for freebies take precedence over common sense.

6. “The auditor is coming to see you!”

You, like any reasonable person, would not tell just anyone information about your bank accounts, however, scammers can fraudulently gain access to your funds.

Most often, swindlers carry out their frauds with the help of an accomplice working in a bank. For example, you are told that the account is frozen for “verification of details”, due to “suspicion of its fictitiousness” or for any other reason (the main thing is that it be as convincing as possible), and while you are trying to figure out what’s what, attackers transfer money to their account and cover up the traces of illegal transactions. Scammers use a wide variety of schemes, so if you think that a bank employee is misleading you, immediately request a meeting with his boss - this will help clarify the situation, of course, if the top manager is not in on the deal.

7. “Overpayment”

For fraudsters, the shortcomings of the banking system and “holes” in the legislation are like faithful accomplices. Fraudsters have long used tricks such as opening fictitious accounts and forging bank checks; among the most popular types of such scams is writing a check for an amount exceeding the purchase price. When the seller discovers an “overpayment” and reports it to the attacker, he offers to transfer the “extra money” to another account or send cash to the specified address. When attempting to cash a check, the unlucky victim discovers that the account is closed or never existed in the first place.

One of the world's most famous masters of bank fraud is American Frank Abagnale Jr. In the 1960s, Frank carried out many illegal transactions worth more than $2.5 million. His extraordinary acting skills helped him evade the police for quite a long time, but in the end Abagnale was captured and sentenced to 12 years in prison. He served only part of his sentence, and after leaving prison he became a consultant to large corporations and governments of various countries on economic security issues. In 2002, the film “Catch Me If You Can” was released, which was based on Abagnale’s autobiography.

8. “Did you call a plumber?”

Scammers often disguise themselves as employees of utility services and government organizations, which allows them to quickly gain the trust of a potential victim. Under the pretext of checking meters or identifying illegal redevelopment, scammers enter the home and, distracting the owner’s attention, take out household appliances and other valuables.

Fortunately, it is quite easy to counter this type of scam - just call the management company. If the real housing and communal services workers do not know anything about the unscheduled visit of a plumber or electrician, you can safely chase away the impostors, but it is better to call the police and, pretending that you do not suspect anything, stall for time until the valiant law enforcement forces arrive so that the intruders are caught red-handed.

9. "Stain on the Tie"

Many scammers' tricks are quite simple, but no less effective. Let's say you're walking down the street and suddenly a stranger discovers a stain on your tie (or other item of clothing) and offers to wipe it off. Before you even have time to blink an eye, the “benefactor” will remove the contamination, and along with it, your wallet.

Most often, scammers themselves discreetly put stains on clothes to make their offer of help look convincing. Typically, people become confused and start looking at their clothes when someone tells them about a stain, so scammers act very quickly and confidently. In such a situation, try not to come into close contact with the stranger, politely but firmly decline the offer of help and wipe the stain yourself.

10. “We’ll settle the matter on the spot.”

For a motorist, there is nothing worse than hitting a pedestrian: at best, you will have to spend a lot of time and money on court hearings, not to mention paying compensation, and at worst, there is a risk of ending up in jail. Wanting to avoid serious problems, many drivers prefer to settle disagreements right on the spot, which is skillfully exploited by criminals who deliberately throw themselves under the wheels of a car and then blackmail the motorist into forking over money. It must be said that this method of fraud requires a certain courage from the swindler, because in a collision there is always a danger of serious injury.

Recently, a type of scam that is safer for scammers has been gaining popularity. It looks like this: after an accident, the “victim” declares that he feels fine, but bad luck, his tablet (optionally a laptop or smartphone) was smashed to smithereens by the impact of the bumper. The driver, overjoyed (“the pedestrian is alive and, apparently, has no desire to sue”) offers to give the “victim” an amount that is enough to buy a new gadget. If the motorist is in no hurry to get the money, in the crowd of onlookers there is immediately a “well-wisher” (or “angry witness”) who advises not to delay with compensation, because “legal litigation will cost much more.” Needless to say, the “pedestrian” and the “well-wisher” are in cahoots.

If you happen to hit a pedestrian, first of all, call the police, an ambulance and find independent witnesses to the incident - this will help avoid blackmail and bring the crooks to light.

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Do you think the fantasies and realities of domestic slavery are a problem only in FemDom? Nothing like that! What is the value of the ancient button accordion “I am a sexual slave, not a household slave!”

The desires of the Tops (cleanliness, comfort, delicious home-cooked food, etc.) do not coincide with the desires of the Bottoms (to serve naked, bend over in a maid costume, crawl on your knees in a fetish apron, wash stockings in your mouth, etc.). And it doesn't depend on gender. The woman-bottom in the topic does not want to be a servant, at most - to play, and in exactly the same way as the man-bottom - purely fetish. Real housework is not exciting. And in the era of the promoted brand “BDSM is erotic games” without arousal (at a minimum), any such actions do not inspire “labor” feats.

As my friend Domina said, you don’t have to finish washing the dishes - you need to wash the dishes well. And the bottom one, having stood at the stove for a couple of hours, is unlikely to want to be a table girl anymore.

The top ones are also not at all happy to stand with a stack over the incompetent woman and poke their nose to their heart's content at the HJMing "household slave" in, for some reason, women's underwear.

Most bottoms do not hand over control of themselves in order to receive a list of household responsibilities in return. A pleasant exception is usually the practice of “caring for the Master’s body,” but it still refers to pageism, and not to the notorious everyday slavery. And outsiders are usually not allowed into this.

Of course, there are those who offer services of domestic slavery, but this is just that, an offer of services, with a completely natural expectation of reward (humiliation, strap-on, cunnilingus, etc.). Mutually beneficial terms of the game. The quality of work remains questionable.

No, you can also enjoy cleaning, washing, and cooking, I don’t argue. Only - with your long-time partner, and not with a barely familiar person, even with the absolute similarity of thematic preferences. Why only this, you ask? Yes, simply because in an established couple, especially when living together, and without any “slavery,” household chores are naturally performed by the lower partner - such is his active service (as opposed to sessional subordination), his concern for the Upper. This is part of the life of a couple, including a Thematic one.

But the fetish for domestic slavery really exists. But most often he is burdened with additional fetishes - for latex or depersonalization, for example. Less often, masochism is present. The practice of feminization in everyday life is impractical. There are well-trained lower servants, and there are sincere household slaves. But they are a tiny fraction of a percent.

It’s easier to train your partner to regularly and efficiently do really useful things and do them out of a desire to please and please, of your own free will, than to embark on adventures with the search for “household slaves in stockings.” I say simpler, but that doesn’t mean simple. Everything comes down to the very question of the good will of the lower one, which should not contradict the desire of the Upper one.

We are, of course, talking about D/s couples, in which exactly the same difficulties arise as everyone else, but there is an algorithm for solving such issues - voluntary inequality. And then how does one cope with pride, laziness, greed - both the lower ones and the Upper ones...

My profile: man, lower 45 years old, 180/80, looking for a Powerful Woman who chooses a house servant or a household slave. Very submissive, I will serve you faithfully, do all the housework and all household errands without asking for anything in return.

I'll tell you my story of meeting the Upper Lady on this site.

My profile: man, lower 45 years old, 180/80, looking for a Powerful Woman who chooses a house servant or a household slave. Very submissive, I will serve you faithfully, do all the housework and all household errands without asking for anything in return. Not financially interested in any way. Among his interests he noted: boot and foot worship, forced masturbation, control and prohibition of orgasm.

I tried to communicate with the Mistresses for several days and offer myself as a house servant, or, as they say here, a household slave.

The experience was unsuccessful.

The ladies answered reluctantly, every other time or did not answer me at all; by the way, that was the majority.

In general, I realized that no one is particularly interested in me and certainly does not need me.

I tried to understand what was going on, naturally the questionnaire was not interesting and without a photo. Next - married. No one is interested in married people, the reasons are probably clear to everyone, well, maybe except me

I began to look further and realized that most women here are mainly interested in free, wealthy men, not constrained financially and with their own meeting place. The latter was unacceptable for me, because I did not have such a place, and if I organized it, for example, by renting a hotel room, then it was not entirely suitable for me, or rather, it was not suitable at all.

Well, judge for yourself: a slave rents a hotel room in order to clean it, namely wash dishes, wash clothes, wash floors in the presence of his mistress, who would enjoy what is happening. If it is pleasant for some slave to wash the floors in a hotel or rented apartment, I can still admit that, then I could not imagine that a woman would be pleased to look at this when she gets out of the house or after work, spending her precious time on it. And he probably did the right thing.

Completely desperate to find a Mistress, I decided to delete my profile, but after thinking about it, I still left it, I simply stopped going to the site, and still no one communicated with me.

I had already forgotten about this site when I received a letter in the mail about a personal message received on the site. I went to the site and read a message from a top lady, 52 years old, without a photo.

The message contained just a couple of words: Photos and email address have arrived. mail.

I immediately sent the photo to the specified address and began to wait.

The next day, another letter arrived in the mail, from the address to which I sent my photo. The letter was again terse: Call today, followed by a phone number.

I plucked up my courage and called the number indicated, and a woman with a hard voice answered.

I began to explain that I was calling from a dating site and wanted to be your servant, but the woman interrupted me and said:

I understood everything, wait, don’t jabber! Listen to what I have to say. I just need a slave like you, who would live in my area, come and clean my apartment, sometimes go shopping, and do some repair work around the house.

Do you live somewhere nearby?

In terms of sexual pleasures, this probably won’t happen, but sometimes a good cunnilingus, on demand, may not hurt.

Are you good at cunnilingus?

I was very excited by this moment and answered in a trembling voice that I would try very hard and that I was learning everything very quickly... And I live very close, almost at the next metro station.

Well, good, said the Lady. I think sex with us will be completely excluded, and of course you won’t come with me... Stop!

In your wishes it is written about orgasm control...

In general, I don’t promise you a guaranteed orgasm, but let’s say once a month or two weeks I’ll allow you to jerk off on your knees in front of me, as a reward for good service.

Sometimes I will punish with spanking, but don’t worry too much, I don’t really like spanking, so it will be very, very rare when I will be very hungry in this regard. But be prepared for the fact that it will be very painful! I want to warn you right away that there will be traces. You're a married man. Can you serve under such circumstances?

Then we’ll meet tomorrow, have coffee somewhere, I’ll take a look at you first, and if everything suits me, then you’ll get started right away!

We met next to the cafe. I was very worried and brought a huge bouquet of blood red roses. The lady was 40 minutes late. I was already starting to think that she wouldn’t come when I heard a voice behind me: Young man, are you going for an interview about a job?

I turned around, standing in front of me was a tall woman, about 50 years old, wearing dark glasses.

Slender legs in tight jeans and high boots, a stately figure, a beige short jacket, just above the waist

She took off her glasses, took one of the glasses into her mouth, biting it slightly with her teeth and asked again: Why are you silent? Do you need a servant vacancy or not?

I came to my senses and answered that yes, it was me.

Why did you bring these flowers? Are you here for a date? Do you want to pick me up? And then fuck you!? Yes? She smiled.

Yes, that’s what she said: And then fuck!?

I blushed deeply and was completely confused.

No, that you are Mistress! I just thought it was somehow inconvenient to come to a meeting with a Woman empty-handed.

Stupid, don't you understand that you are compromising me with your bouquet?

Okay, coffee is cancelled, the cafe staff are already staring at us, I’ll slowly go to that little park, there are a lot of benches there and it’s very quiet, and you run and buy me a pack of parliament somewhere and at the same time throw away this broom.

Come quickly, catch up! You still have a chance, you haven't ruined everything yet!

The lady walked towards the square and I ran across the road to the store for cigarettes.

I put the bouquet in a trash can near the store. When I came out, the Lady was no longer visible and I quickly walked, almost ran, to the park. In the park I looked around and saw her on one bench. I walked over and handed her a pack of cigarettes. Open the pack and give me a cigarette. Did you think of buying a lighter?

No, I didn’t guess, I mumbled.

Well, then use mine, she handed me a red disposable lighter. In response, I handed her an open pack, she took a cigarette and let her light it.

Keep your cigarettes and lighter with you. When you are nearby, you will provide it to me upon request.

Just make sure you don’t forget, otherwise I’ll fire you.

What are you, what are you!? I will always carry with me... I wanted to sit on the edge of the bench, but the lady got ahead of me: Don’t do that! I don't like such liberties. When I talk to you, in public, you will stand in similar cases, at my home, when I am alone, you will stand in front of me in the same way, only on your knees. Do you have any idea about etiquette? Have you ever served a real Mistress or just jerked off alone?

No, Madam, I have no real experience of serving, but I am learning very quickly and I am sure that you will be pleased with me!

Here you go! No work experience! I assumed this would be the case! And on the second question!? I asked you!? Did you jerk off, dreaming of serving? Since you didn’t have a Mistress and you wanted to serve, that means you were fantasizing! So he jerked off! Answer! Or do you think that I don’t know that lower men jerk off? And not only the lower ones.

Yes Mistress, I jerked off.

Here! How often are you used to masturbating!? And what are your fantasies about at this moment! Answer quickly before I lose interest in you. I'm already tired of pulling information out of you in pincers! Answer as is, don’t think! Sincerity is very important to me. Understand, fool! I can’t let anyone into the house! So answer!

I jerk off almost every day, Mistress. Sometimes several times a day, 2 or 3 times. At this moment I’m fantasizing about being on my knees in front of a woman like you and masturbating with her permission and on her orders. A woman, to help me cum, puts her foot on my face, wearing shoes or with a bare foot, I hear the wonderful smell of her feet and almost immediately cum, asking her permission, then I lick the sperm from the floor with my tongue or rub it in with a napkin and put it in my pocket .

Well, that's nothing yet! Quite adequate thinking and quite normal real fantasies.

Otherwise, sometimes you’ll hear something like that from your brother: stand or fall! I have to fire the applicant even before hiring him.

I hope you don’t feel the need to secretly put on your Mistress’s lingerie, panties, stockings, and tights?

No, what are you? I don't have that!

Look! The day before yesterday I just fired a servant for this! It turned out that he was stealing my worn tights and panties!

By the way! Although I will rarely pamper you, when it does happen, you don’t need to lick the sperm from the floor with your tongue! It's not very hygienic! And your tongue will occasionally work in those places where exceptional cleanliness is needed!

I think you understand me?

Yes, of course my Lady!

Now no one is looking at us, quickly get on your knees and show me your tongue, I want to see it! Without looking around, I fell to my knees in front of my goddess and opened my mouth, sticking out my tongue as much as I could.

Great! You're accepted! Let's go to work, a lot of things have accumulated in the 2-3 days that I was left without a servant.

The lady motioned for me to stand up and we went to her house.

On the way, she briefly explained to me my responsibilities, what and how I should do, and what I would have to do right now.

I worked for my mistress for several months, then she got tired of me and she set me free. That’s what she said: You are a good slave, I have nothing to fire you for, but I’m bored with you, I want to try something new, I’m not kicking you out, I’m just giving you freedom! I begged the Lady to leave me, cried and said that I couldn’t live without her now, but she was adamant. The only thing I can do for you is to promise you that I will recommend you to my friends from the forum. I thanked her by showering kisses on her boots. He cried and said: Thank you, thank you. Madam!

True, I never received any offers. She probably forgot about me immediately when she pushed me away with her boot at the moment of the kiss.

Pull yourself together, stop drooling, you're a man! (continued in part 2)

There is a common misconception that a slave is a person in chains, only thinking about how to break free. A real slave is most often not locked with a key. The main horror of slavery is not that a person is not free, but that he cannot and does not want to live differently. When I came across Kevin Bales's study, which explains the psychology of modern slaves in the West and Southeast Asia, I was surprised at how much it explains about our Russian life.

Few are held back by slavery, the majority hold on to their slavery.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca

In India, where formal slavery has long ceased to exist, the practice of debt bondage is very common and can be passed on from generation to generation. In this practice, when a person borrows money, he gives himself and his descendants into slavery to the lender. But this is a boring backstory, and I hope to interest you in the story of the Indian Baldev, a hereditary debt slave. This is a positive, happy story. Indeed, one fine day his wife received an inheritance, and Baldev was able to repay the debt. Further, the story of Baldev himself:

« After my wife received her inheritance and we paid off the debt, we were free to do as we pleased. But I was worried all the time. What if one of my children gets sick? What if I have a bad harvest? What if the government demands money from me? Since we no longer belonged to the landowner, we no longer received food from him every day as before. Finally, I went to the landowner and asked to take us back. I didn't have to borrow money from him, but he agreed to take me back as a debt slave. Now I don't worry about anything anymore. I know what to do» .

Do you think this is a specificity of Indian psychology? Alas, as Edmund Burke said, “slavery is a weed that grows in any soil.”

Reflex of slavish obedience

There is no more hopeless slavery
Than the slavery of those slaves
Who believes himself
Free from shackles.

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Do you know that the abolition of serfdom in Russia in 1861 did not cause any rejoicing among the people? In the first 5 months after the abolition of serfdom, 1340 mass unrest of peasants occurred. Of course, socialist historians explained these riots as unjust conditions of liberation. Even if we forget that Alexander II sold Alaska to provide peasants with a 49-year loan to buy land, the phrase “unfair conditions of liberation” is puzzling.

• First, doesn't liberation have its own value? What, freedom in itself is unfair and is not needed by anyone?
• Secondly, both the land and the serfs were the property of the landowners. Under the terms of the reform, a significant part of their property - labor - is taken away from landowners without any ransom. Moreover, in some cases this labor leaves along with the allotment of land. But it is not the robbed who rebel, but the liberated!

Let's take another leap in time and visit Stockholm in 1973, where two robbers armed with pistols and dynamite took over a bank, took four hostages (three women and one man) and held them for 131 hours. What is interesting about this story is how the hostages began to behave after their release. These people, who were threatened and abused for a long time, began to defend these robbers during the investigation, one of the women fell in love with one of the attackers, and another former hostage began a campaign to raise funds for a lawyer for the criminals. This story gave the name “Stockholm syndrome” to a very common psychological phenomenon - the reflex of slave dependence.

This is how Pavlov describes this syndrome: “ It is obvious that along with the reflex of freedom there is also an innate reflex of slavish obedience. It is a well-known fact that puppies and small dogs often fall on their backs in front of large dogs. This is, surrendering oneself to the will of the strongest, an analogue of a human throwing himself to his knees and falling prostrate - a reflex of slavery, of course, which has its own definite justification in life. The deliberate passive posture of the weakest naturally leads to a decline in the aggressive reaction of the stronger, while, even if powerless, the resistance of the weaker only intensifies the destructive excitement of the strongest. How often and in many ways the slavery reflex manifests itself on Russian soil, and how useful it is to be aware of this! Let's give one literary example. Kuprin’s short story “River of Life” describes the suicide of a student whose conscience was eaten up due to the betrayal of his comrades in the secret police. From the letter of the suicide it is clear that the student became a victim of the slavery reflex inherited from his mother. If he understood this well, he, firstly, would judge himself more fairly, and secondly, he could, through systematic measures, develop in himself the successful inhibition and suppression of this reflex» .

Perhaps Pavlov’s example sounds somewhat controversial, but the suicide of a freed slave is not fiction, but a fact of our time.

Christina Talenz, an employee of the Committee Against Modern Slavery, told the following story from her own experience in Paris of the liberation of slave servants brought with them by Asian diplomats. “Despite the violence and appalling living and working conditions, people in slavery have a certain integrity of their worldview and protective mechanisms of thinking. They even enjoy certain aspects of their lives, such as safety or their understanding of how the world works. If you destroy their world order, everything gets confused in their heads. Some freed women attempted suicide. It is easy to explain everything by the violence they have been subjected to all their lives. However, for some of these women, slavery was the cornerstone of their lives. When slavery was taken away from them, they lost the meaning of life."

But let's return to the “reflex of slavery on Russian soil.” One of the striking manifestations of the “Stockholm syndrome” is the love of Russians for Stalin, who innocently killed many millions of our compatriots. It is characteristic that even the children of the repressed showed love for him. This syndrome was so strongly developed among the people that its rudiments are visible to this day.

Since we are talking about the times of the Soviet Union, we should deal with one ideological confusion that arose at that time.

One of the cornerstones of communist ideology was the slogan about the absolute value of freedom. It was understood that a socialist person is free, although poor, and a worker under capitalism is a slave, even if he lives much better. This example of Orwellian “doublethink” greatly distorted the consciousness of Russians. As a result, to this day we perceive freedom as an absolute good, without thinking about its meaning.

So let's first separate the flies from the cutlets and answer two questions:

How is freedom different from slavery?

Freedom is about facing situations

which you found yourself in of your own free will, and take full responsibility for them.

Jean-Paul Sartre

Let's first define the concept of “freedom”.

In the times of Socrates and Plato, freedom was understood as “freedom in destiny.” Further, the philosophical understanding of freedom revolves around the choice between good and evil. There is also a political interpretation of freedom. However, for our purposes of psychological analysis of slavery, all this is not relevant. Ozhegov’s explanatory dictionary offers the following interpretation of the word “freedom”: “in general - the absence of any restrictions, restrictions in anything,” which sounds extremely unrealistic, because it is impossible to be completely free from everything. So I suggest sticking to Sartre's definition: "Freedom“is the ability to make any decisions of your own free will and bear full responsibility for the consequences of the decisions made.” And the key word here is “responsibility,” which so frightened the hereditary slave Baldev.

It is impossible to understand what freedom is without understanding the concept of “slavery.” Real slavery is not quite what is usually understood by this word.

What is slavery?

“I want to offer you,” here the woman pulled out several
bright and snow-wet magazines - take a few magazines for the benefit of children
Germany. About fifty dollars a piece.
“No, I won’t take it,” Philip Philipovich answered briefly, glancing sideways at
magazines.
Complete amazement was expressed on their faces, and the woman became covered with a cranberry coating.
- Why do you refuse?
- Don't want.
—You don’t sympathize with the children of Germany?
- Sorry.
- Do you regret fifty dollars?
- No.
- So why?
- Don't want.

Bulgakov "Heart of a Dog"

In an article exploring the psychology of modern slavery, Kevin Bales writes: “The widespread idea of ​​a slave as a man in chains who is ready to escape at the slightest chance of freedom has nothing to do with reality. Baldev's story, like many other stories, proves that such an idea is naive. From my own experience I know that slaves often understand the illegality of their enslavement. However, coercion, violence, and psychological pressure force them to accept their position. Once slaves begin to accept their role and identify with their master, they no longer need to be forcibly kept under lock and key. They perceive their situation not as someone’s malicious actions against them, but as part of the normal, albeit not ideal, order of things.”

Bales studied the lives of illegal immigrant slaves in Western countries and debt slaves in India, but how accurately his observations reflect the evolution of the Soviet system! Let's remember the Soviet Union in Khrushchev and Brezhnev times. Anna Akhmatova called these times “vegetarian”. By that time, the punitive component of the Soviet regime had already been practically abolished. Not only were they not imprisoned for telling jokes and reading samizdat, but they weren’t even fired from their jobs. If a person wanted to be free from the system, he could work as a janitor or a stoker, think whatever he wanted, chat in the kitchen with like-minded people. However, there were only a few such people. The absolute majority of the Soviet people continued to play by the rules “with deep enthusiasm”: join the party and Komsomol, go to meetings and demonstrations, donate money to help children in Germany.

In Brezhnev's times, the people voluntarily delegated responsibility for their present and future to the party and government, no matter how meager this present may be and how unpromising this future may be. Doesn't matter. The main thing is release from responsibility.

But then perestroika struck. The brief euphoria of the 90s, when exotic food appeared in the refrigerator and beautiful clothes in the wardrobe, was replaced by deep disappointment by 1998. The Soviet people realized, like Baldev, that they had to bear complete, undivided responsibility for their fate. And he didn't like it. According to a recent Levada Center poll, only 13% of Russians believe that citizens should take care of themselves. And 73% are confident that the state should take care of them 5 . It seems that the Russian people are now repeating the path of Baldev.

And here we logically approach the second question posed above:

Is freedom an absolute good?

And what is will? So, smoke, mirage, fiction... The nonsense of these unfortunate democrats.

Bulgakov "Heart of a Dog"

In my favorite series Once upon a time The phrase “every magic comes with a price” is constantly heard. The magic of freedom doesn't come cheap!

• Market economic freedom comes at the cost of economic crises.
• For political freedom - by extremist parties and groups.
• For freedom of speech - the flourishing of sexual perversions.
• For the freedom to choose your own path - the possibility of error, disappointment, complete disappointment.

It seems that this postulate of communist ideology (that freedom is an absolute good) does not stand up to criticism. It is no coincidence that the absolute majority of the Russian population welcomes a return to the old order. They hope to shift responsibility for their lives, and at the same time for the future of the country, onto someone else.

As Nikolai Aleksandrovich Berdyaev said, “man is a slave because freedom is difficult, but slavery is easy.”

So what happens, “those born to crawl cannot fly”? Don't slaves need freedom?

Freedom reflex

Freedom is the main internal attribute of every creature created in the image and likeness of God:

This attribute contains the absolute perfection of the plan of creation.

Berdyaev

« For Meera, radical changes in her life began with one rupee. When a social worker came to the sad village of Mira in the mountains of Uttar Pradesh (India) three years ago, the entire population of the village was in hereditary debt slavery. The villagers could no longer remember when, in the time of their grandfathers or great-grandfathers, their families gave themselves into slavery for money loans. The debt was passed down from generation to generation. From the age of five, children began to work in quarries, crushing stones into sand. Dust, flying stone fragments, and dragging heavy objects made many village residents disabled.

A social worker gathered several women and proposed a radical plan. If 10 women band together and put aside one rupee every week from the meager money the lender gives them to buy rice, he will keep this money in a safe place for them, and in time the women, one by one, will be able to buy themselves out of slavery. Then Mira and nine other women formed the first group. The rupees gradually accumulated. After three months, the group had enough money to buy Mira out. She began to receive money for her work, which greatly accelerated the ransom of the other women. Now every month one of the women in their group became free.

The rest of the village followed their example. The social worker took me to this village twice,” says Kevin Bales. — Now all its residents are free, and their children have started going to school» .

This story is explained by Pavlov’s statement: “...The freedom reflex is a general property, a general reaction of animals, one of the most important innate reflexes. Without it, every slightest obstacle that the animal would encounter on its way would completely interrupt the course of its life.”

However, liberation from slave psychology is not always as painless as in the case of Mira and her fellow villagers.

Worse than prison and domestic violence

To be able to free oneself is nothing; it is difficult to be able to be free.

Andre Gide

Sidney Litton, an American psychiatrist who counseled freed slaves, notes: “ Human suffering hides under many masks, but the horror of slavery is difficult to hide and is clearly visible to those who experience it. Even if the person was not beaten or physically tortured, slavery leads to psychological degradation that makes the former slave unable to live in the outside world. I've worked with prisoners and victims of domestic violence, but slavery is much worse».

It is noteworthy that the psychology of slavery is shared not only by slaves, but also by slave owners. Kevin Bales states: " The psychology of slavery is mirrored by the slave owner. This is a deep mutual dependence, from which it is no easier for a slave owner to escape than for a slave." One government official from the area where Baldev lives also has debt slaves. Here are his words: “ There is nothing wrong with debt slavery. It benefits both parties. You know, the way it works, I'm like a father to my employees. This is a father-son relationship. I protect them, I guide them. Sometimes, of course, I have to punish them, like any father does.».

Kevin Bales insists on the need for psychological rehabilitation of both slaves and slave owners. Yes, in the West, freed slaves undergo long psychological rehabilitation.

The fact that Anton Pavlovich Chekhov spent his whole life squeezing a slave out of himself drop by drop is perhaps not such a figure of speech. Let's face it: we Russians, to one degree or another, are hereditary slaves or slave owners; we have inherited the psychology of slavery from many previous generations of our ancestors. It is no coincidence that at the beginning of the 20th century, when the socialist revolution won not only in Russia, but also in Germany and Hungary, the Soviet system took root only in Russia, where the rudiments of serfdom were alive in the psychology of the people, and Western Europe was already free from slavery for many generations.

Choice

Slavery is neither good nor bad. This is one of the ways of life. This is a feature of our national psychology. And freedom is not as attractive as it is portrayed. However, it is “one of the most important natural reflexes.”

We can follow the example of Baldev, or we can follow in the footsteps of Mira and Chekhov.

We always have a choice.

I’ll supplement the article with a quote from Boris Strugatsky:

“Freedom is not the GOAL of human life. Freedom is an indispensable CONDITION for a full and meaningful life.

Anyone who does not want to have the freedom to choose a creative path, simply the freedom to choose the area of ​​​​application of their strengths, is, in my opinion, worthy of the dishonorable title “idiot”. Unfortunately, there are a lot of such people. I would not say that this is their fault, rather it is a misfortune (“damned feudal-socialist education”), but, objectively, all together they constitute the same “corpse of a rotting albatross” that hangs like a heavy burden on Russia’s neck and is slowing down the transition today to a post-industrial society. That’s why I put so many unnecessary emotions into the term “idiot.”

According to my ideas, the percentage of “internally free” people in any society is at least 15% - quite a decent percentage.