The East India Company is now a global algorithm
(The original article I wrote compared the current system to Nazi concentration camps. It was pointed out to me that this was an incorrect analogy so I've changed the article to compare the current system to the East India Company which I also feel is a more appropriate comparison.)
To me, one of the most chilling aspects of the East India Company was not the slavery itself but the intent and the neglect. It was not that the British Empire wanted to rule over a nation, it was that the exploitation was simply an economic conduit for Britain's priorities.
Indian lives did not matter, just as the lives of Jews did not matter to Hitler. Winston Churchill referred to Indians as "a beastly people with a beastly religion" - a clear racial position, and that too, at a time when Indian soldiers were serving in the British Army. When the Viceroy of India sent desperate requests for the most basic necessity - food - Winston Churchill's response was simply that it was that it was not possible since the Indians were "breeding like rabbits".
But, while India got its freedom, and in general the public is up in-arms against racism, how much has the underlying system that enables such atrocities changed? Very little. In fact, it didn't even tarnish Churchill's image.
The horrendous reality today is that we still value money more than lives. The GDP is sacred. Governments can gut healthcare and let people die, but oh heavens, should the GDP go down, that would be unthinkable. The Iran war was a blatant display of this archaic and barbaric theology. Trump was literally dodging the US Treasury bond yield rates. When it went down, he roared. When it went up, he tucked his tail between his legs and simpered down. What he didn't say plainly which his actions clearly showed, was that he was definitely against Iran having nuclear weapons, but of course, not at the cost of his money. That the US is perfectly fine with having it's cities blown up by nuclear bombs, but hell, the economy? That thing better not go down.
Whats worse, is that while Trump is grotesque and visible. His supporters' brutal factories, carry on, unhindered, with the same ruthless goal. Their army, not so visible. Quiet algorithms chugging away under a CPU fan, optimizing their businesses for peak profit without a care about the humans who make their businesses run. Algorithms that neither feel the heat of the sun, nor smell the leaky sewage in the warehouse. All they do is flip bits to achieve company goals, while people die. Dare you say anything about this pathetic work environment? and you're the traitor, an anti-national, because you're hurting the holy and sacred GDP - more important than ethics, more important than dignity, more important than health, more important than education, and let's admit it openly - more important than human lives.
Given that this is the current global system applied fairly and evenly to all societies across the globe, we must question ourselves, what should we call the phase that the world is going through in these times?
Well, I don't know about you, but I can come up with only one answer.
It's simply an automated, global expansion of the East India Company.