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Quote by Stephanie E. Smallwood

“The imperatives of a market that valued people as commodities interposed a nearly impassable gulf between captives and any community that might claim them as new members. Captives learned that when they reached the littoral, their exchangeability on the Atlantic market outweighed any social value they might have. The price put on their persons pushed most captives beyond the possibility of eventual reintegration as members in any community. The crisis of captivity on that coast, in other words, was that only with great difficulty or great luck could the prisoners’ ‘commodity potential’ be masked or converted back into social currency.”

Quote by Stephanie E. Smallwood

Book:Saltwater Slavery: A Middle Passage from Africa to American Diaspora

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Saltwater Slavery: A Middle Passage from Africa to American Diaspora

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Stephanie E. Smallwood

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“Undoing their objectivization as goods to be bought and sold, therefore, required not only that captives escape the physical hold exerted on them by the forts, factories, and other coastal facilities used to incarcerate them but, more difficult still, that they reverse their own transformation into commodities, by returning to a web of social bonds that would tether them safely to the African landscape, within the fold of kinship and community. For most, as we have seen, distance made return to their home communities impossible. The market, they learned, made return to any form of social belonging impossible as well. If they managed to escape from the waterside forts and factories, their value resided not in their potential to join communities as slave laborers, wives, soldiers, or in some other capacity, but rather in their market price. For most, the power of the market made it impossible to return to their previous state, that of belonging to (being ‘owned’ by) a community—to being possessed, that is, of an identity as a subject. Rather, the strangers the runaways encountered shared the vision of the officials at Cape Coast Castle: the laws of the market made fellow human beings see it as their primary interest to own as commodities these escaped captives, rather than to connection them as social subjects. More often than not, then, captives escaped only to be sold again. As Snelgrave’s language articulates so clearly, the logic of the market meant that enslavement was a misfortune for which no buyer needed to feel the burden of accountability. Indeed, according to the mercantile logic in force, buyers (of whatever nationality) could not bear the weight of political accountability. Buying people who had no evidence social value was not a violation or an act of questionable morality but rather a keen and appropriate response to opportunity; for this was precisely what one was supposed to do in the market: create value by exchange, recycle someone else’s castoffs into objects of worth. Thus, then, did the market exert its power—through its language, its categories, its logic. The alchemy of the market derived from its effectiveness in producing a counterfeit representation; it had become plausible that human beings could be so completely drained of social value, so severed from the community, that their lives were no longer beyond price: they could be made freely available in exchange for currency. The market painted in colors sufficiently believable as to seem true the appalling notion that ‘a human being could fail to be a person.”

Community Slavery Exclusion Commodification Social Death

Book:Saltwater Slavery: A Middle Passage from Africa to American Diaspora

Source: Saltwater Slavery: A Middle Passage from Africa to American Diaspora

“The ledger’s double-entry pages and the neat grid of the invoice gave purposeful shape to the story they told. Through their graphic simplicity and economy, invoices and ledgers effaced the personal histories that fueled the slaving economy. Containing only what could fit within the clean lines of their columns and rows, they reduced an enormous system of traffic in human commodities to a concise chronicle of quantitative ‘facts.’ Thus, Mary Poove writes, ‘like the closet, the conventions of double-entry bookkeeping were intended to manage or contain excess.’ Instruments such as these did their work, then, while concealing the messiness of history, erasing from view the politics that underlay the neat account keeping. The slave traders (and much of the modern economic literature on the slave trade) regarded the slave ship’s need for volume as a self-evident ‘fact’ of economic rationalization: the Board of Trade’s reports, the balance pursued in the Royal African Company’s double-entry ledgers, the calculations that determined how many captive bodies a ship could ‘conveniently stow,’ the simple equation by which an agent at the company’s factory at Whydah promised ‘to Complie with delivering in every ten days 100 Negroes.’ But the perceptions of the African captives themselves differed from the slave trader’s economies of scale and rationalized efficiency of production. What appears in the European quantitative account as a seamless expansion in the volume of slave exports—evidence of the natural workings of the market—took the form of violent rifts in the political geography of the Gold Coast. People for whom the Atlantic market had been a distant and hazy presence with little direct consequence for their lives now found themselves swept up in wars and siphoned into a type of captivity without precedent.”

Efficiency Rationalization Dehumanization Production Commodification

Book:Saltwater Slavery: A Middle Passage from Africa to American Diaspora

Source: Saltwater Slavery: A Middle Passage from Africa to American Diaspora

“In my approach, each racialized person counts the same, as racialized and therefore commodified. There is not in this approach some conceptually privileged racialized group (some uncommodified racial group), either on account of access to power or proximity to suffering. To be racialized just is to be commodified.”

Race And Racism In America Commodification

Book:Asian Americans and the Spirit of Racial Capitalism

Source: Asian Americans and the Spirit of Racial Capitalism

“We're seeing the world through a prism now; digital capitalism has refined the algorithm to monetize out attention. Peace, contentment, nuance, subtlety, cooperation - all of these things are list as algorithms filter our online communications for maximum engagement. What holds away, of course, is hyperbole, shock, outrage, sensationalism.”

Communication Capitalism Algorithm Digital Media Commodification Dumbing Down

Book:The Analog Sea Review: Number Four

Source: The Analog Sea Review: Number Four

“We dwell in homes or work in sites that once displaced animals, we pay federal taxes that legalize the slaughter of animals for profit or pleasure, we travel in cars with leather seats over roads unfenced to prevent roadkill, we attend schools that allow animal experiments in biology classes, we take drugs once tested on animals, we buy newspapers that carry adds for the meat, egg, dairy and fur industries, we shop in stores that profit from the sale of animal products, we vote for politicians who pass laws favoring the meat, dairy, egg and hunting lobbies, we pay the salaries of federal and state judges who interpret a constitution that says nothing about the welfare or rights of animals and we embrace religions that give humans dominion over animals; and it’s a rare sermon where the sacredness of animals is sounded. ~ Colman McCarthy”

Animals Commodification Anthropocentrism Human Animal Relations Human Exceptionalism Interspecies Inequality Systemic Exploitation

Book:Animals and War: Confronting the Military-Animal Industrial Complex

Source: Animals and War: Confronting the Military-Animal Industrial Complex

“Bizzaro Time by Stewart Stafford I took dawn selfies on a bridge, Geneva worms conferred in slime, A woman's dog slithered serpentine, It snapped and hissed in bizarro time. A businessman's briefcase in flight, Went public in a philanthropist sky, Umbrellas blossomed into trees, Peacenik pigeon medal caught the eye. Coffee shops served liquid light, Brewed up pagan code of yore, Pedestrians' morphed molten form, Glass-blown in tangerine pour. We shared loop shrugs, muted pleas, Sober intoxication's escapist twist, A uniquely-marketed Tuesday morn, Dreamt up to commodify every tryst. © 2025, Stewart Stafford. All rights reserved.”

Technology Authenticity Satire Dystopian Surrealism Social Commentary Absurdism Commodification Social Commentary Humor Social Commentary Satire

Author:Stewart Stafford

“There exists a culture shared even by those who are dissatisfied with mass culture, and it is among the most dangerous precisely because it is dazzling—deceptive. It is a culture that belongs to those who are "dissatisfied with the world as it is." This manifests in the following ways: They still carry a certain belief and hope in humanity. If they suffer, they might dream that their suffering will one day “be heard by everyone.” Through their works, they may fantasize about becoming popular. They might romanticize the psychiatric term "trauma." They might aim to "fix and recover" things or people. They might set their minds on leaving a "meaningful impact" and become activists. They might frequently “discuss” on philosophy forums. They might be aiming at “dark vibes.” They might cling to mottos like “forever alone.” They might refer to themselves as "just a random book lover.” They might have interests in “just some random weird stuff.” They might still be screaming into the void. They might try to “prove their depth” publicly. They might refer to themselves as "lost souls" to the point of weariness, even internalizing this very term—coined by the system to reduce by classifying them—implying a form of domesticated rebellion. And so on. These supposed outsiders are actually on the inside, worshipping at the altar of visibility, validation, and vague worldly hope. Their beliefs—“art-as-cure,” “literature-as-refuge,” “activism-as-purpose”—are not radical to the point of exile but packaged and predictable. They don't reject the system; they only ask to be understood within its boundaries. They weep, but with an eye to applause. They write, but always with a publisher in mind. They compose, but just to make money. They mourn, but only to be noticed. They claim detachment, but still speak as if begging to be liked and heard. They imagine themselves as “wild,” but only within the categories that subcultures and language allow. After all, there are two ends to the ruins: on one end, these kinds of “loners” who are still tied to conventional wisdom; and on the other, the utterly unknown, mystic, cosmic, and free spirits who have transcended everything human.”

Culture Rebellion Collapse Conventional Norm Alienation Outsider Subculture Homogeneity Commodification

Author:Sov8840

“Be careful of how you use Social Media. Some people are tweeting or posting about issues that affect society for vibes , to gain more followers, political points and for interactions. They can lead you astray in doing things you will regret. You might be taking advice or being influence by a psychopath , narcissist , egocentric or a criminal. Be careful don't trust strangers especially online or on the internet.”

Philosophy Quotes Motivational Quotes Internet Stranger Encouragement Quotes Clout Or Twar Social Media Or Cyber Bullying

Author:De philosopher DJ Kyos

“People feel like they can say whatever they want to say on social media, because of whatever is happening, or they comment on. It Is far away from them. Until they learn that their words had a negative impact on the situation or on someone. Is then they preach to be kind to others trying to cleanse their soul and consciousness. What keyboard worriers don’t know. Most of their suffering, bad luck, misfortune, and a curse. It Is because of the things they said with their banner, catfish, and anonymous accounts. It is karma for their action.”

Motivational Quotes Internet Social Media Karma Trends Quotes And Philosophy Influencers Trolls Cyberbully Clout Or Twar

Author:De philosopher DJ Kyos

“Another way of remaining in intimacy with God is by remaining in His presence.”

Source: The Prince and the Pauper