So, this will be contentious, but I think we are only 2 or 3 steps away from meat processing plants and other industrial sites becoming forced labor camps where prisoners are being worked to death.
These steps are not inevitable. But that's how close we are to that outcome.
These steps are not inevitable. But that's how close we are to that outcome.
At the point we are at now, Donald Trump has declared that these sites are essential national infrastructure that *must* stay open and in production, while not actually doing anything about the conditions that were closing them.
The next step comes as they lose workers to attrition from all sources (people getting sick, people dying, people deciding to quit) to stay in operation.
Trump has declared they *must* operate. It's an emergency. And we have a culture of prison labor for private companies.
Trump has declared they *must* operate. It's an emergency. And we have a culture of prison labor for private companies.
Yeah, we are already trending here.
Now, we've seen the public at large has mostly turned a shrug of indifference to the idea of incarcerated people dying from COVID-19. We have a culture in this country, that contrary to our foundational myths about ourselves, is just fine with cruel and unusual punishments.
The thinking that has been cultivated in our culture is that if someone's locked up, they did something to deserve it, which means they also deserve whatever happens next, even if it's not part of their sentence.
Once we start using prison labor to keep the plants running... the companies very quickly realize that it's not just cheaper in terms of labor overhead, but it's "safer" from a PR standpoint. They will never consent to spending the money to keep their employees safe.
On the other hand, the public at large and people in charge won't expect them to spend money to keep prison laborers safe.
Especially as it becomes normal very quickly.
Especially as it becomes normal very quickly.
Once we've gone from "it is a national imperative to keep the plants running" to "so let's staff them with prison labor", it becomes a national imperative to keep up the pool of prison labor.
Pretext for mass round-ups of immigrants (and people "suspected of" being immigrants).
Pretext for mass round-ups of immigrants (and people "suspected of" being immigrants).
Again, none of this is inevitable. But none of it is far away.
If the use of prison labor in processing plants ramps up, watch how quickly the rhetoric develops for rounding up immigrants and "putting them to work for America". Watch how quickly it's accepted.
If the use of prison labor in processing plants ramps up, watch how quickly the rhetoric develops for rounding up immigrants and "putting them to work for America". Watch how quickly it's accepted.
The right-wing drive to make this all palatable to the mild moderate middle will be aided by the mild moderate middle's drive to meet right-wing extremism halfway, the drive by the media to recast Trump's most extreme or baffling pronouncements into something they can report.
Heck, there's a small but noisy fringe of right-wing extremists who spend all day every day clamoring for the begin of "mass arrests". They'll be imagining Hillary Clinton and Tom Hanks and all the other devils that populate their nightmares are next in line for the death camps.
