October 23, 2024
There has been so much thought and energy devoted to hostages over the last year. Let's take a closer look at what it means to be a hostage.
As with prisoners and slaves, hostages are completely subservient to the masters of their domain. If they enjoy limited freedom of movement, they are very fortunate. Under no circumstances are they free to leave. Any attempt to do so will result in extreme punishment and worsening conditions from that point forward.
Their time no longer belongs to them. Their masters decide their schedule from morning to night, including when and if they eat or sleep. Any “free time” they enjoy is at the whim and good graces of their master, and can be revoked at any time. Hence, they do not really have any free time. They are not free at all.
Indeed, the master grants them leisure time, food, and other basic amenities not for their sake, but his own. After all, the master has a vested interest in keeping the hostages alive and reasonably healthy. It is for this reason and this reason alone that he invests resources in them. They are commodities, like animals or expensive toys, not human beings with souls. Their personal and spiritual wellbeing as human beings are of interest to him only to the extent that it serves his interests. Accordingly, the master will invest in them the minimum required to extract the most value from them.
As with prisoners and slaves, they may be forced to perform labor or various tasks for the masters. This increases their value and serves as a constant reminder that they are subservient. They will sometimes be given degrading, frustrating tasks that serve no actual purpose, except to remind them of this.
Like prisoners and slaves, hostages are not free to choose what they wear, and will often be dressed in uniforms for the sake of identifying them, stripping them of individuality, and, by extension, dehumanizing them. They will often be identified primarily by a number instead of their name to further dehumanize them.
They are not free to ever question the commands they are given, let alone hesitate in performing them, or disobey. Any display of rebelliousness, no matter how small, is likely to result in extreme punishment.
Any display of individuality, independent thought, critical thinking, assertiveness, and fear of a Higher Power that supersedes the authority of the masters is an act of rebellion that threatens the master/slave dynamic. The master will use physical and psychological torture to break the hostage/slave/prisoner who asserts himself as a spiritually free human being.
The master may order the hostage to perform dangerous, life-threatening tasks. Even if the order seems unreasonable, and the task can be performed in less dangerous ways, the hostage is not free to challenge or refuse the order. His life is not his own.
This is the life of a hostage. This is the life of a prisoner. This is the life of a slave.
This is the life of a soldier.
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