- Joined
- Jun 2, 2017
- Messages
- 21,986
- Reaction score
- 4,959
- Location
- In your head
- Gender
- Male
- Political Leaning
- Other
Yes the question was serious, but I'll rephrase it to make it easier for you:
Assume that owning __[fill in the blank]__ was "legal", but no one would talk to anyone who owned __[fill in the blank]__, and no one would sell anything to anyone who owned __[fill in the blank]__, and no one would buy anything from anyone who owned __[fill in the blank]__, and everyone completely ignored (except to insult) anyone who owned __[fill in the blank]__, would there be any need for a law that "outlawed owning __[fill in the blank]__"?
Please note that the key element in that question IS "would there be any NEED" and IS NOT "would it be a good idea to pass a law that there isn't actually any need for, but which makes a statement about what we believe".
No rephrasing necessary. The question itself just seemed a bit too contrived.
If our country was still accepting of slaver. Then this would no issue for those who lived in such a country. The idea that no one would talk to them, or do business with them simply because they were doing something that was still completely legal is a notion that just doesn't make sense. Because how did they purchase their slaves in the first, if that were the case?
Now say if the country was more closes aligned to the way ours works now and it was only at the state level that slavery remained legal. Then yes, that would be more applicable. Though I doubt it would affect much if people, who didn't participate in such a practice, treated them as such. Because they would still have their own internal system to work with. Not an easily maintained system. But one that could exist with some effort.
Also, passing laws without the need for one is something that the united states has actually been doing for some time. We have states where it's illegal to eat ice cream in bed, so such an occurrence is not unusual.