this post was submitted on 09 Aug 2025
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But he keeps going. Freely. So it is volunteering now. The first 15 hours was not volunteering by definition, but it is afterwards.
I pretty clearly addressed this already.
If you are required to go, it is not volunteering.
And this kid doesn’t continue because he enjoyed slavery. It’s because he wanted to be around cats again, and then discovered that, when not being forced into slavery, he actually enjoys giving his time freely. Not because he enjoyed slavery.
Your entire assertion is ridiculous
Edit: and if the only way you know how to teach kids to enjoy volunteering is to force them into institutionalized slavery, then you’re a shitty teacher and a shitty parent.
Talk about absolutism. You didn’t address this, and you didn’t read my comment. I’m done.
Some words are binary: a thing either is or is not X. A word like “volunteer” does not have degrees. It either is is not volunteering. It either does or does not match the definition.
There are plenty of other words in the English language which can apply to a wide variety of possible situations and circumstances or subjects, but we’re not talking about one of those words.
And you’re really not helping your argument by making me correct you, once again, on your vocabulary.
Bro, the reason the school calls them "volunteer hours" is because the places that need help are asking for volunteers. Even though it's mandatory for students, these are hours at a volunteering opportunity. Interacting with the community is part of growing up, and part of their education. It's not slavery.
Just because the location is asking for “volunteers “and the school sends child slave labor doesn’t make that child slave labor magically “volunteering”.
Words have meanings. The meanings of words don’t just magically change because you happen to be wrong.
Bro
They do change contextually, though? That's sorta the whole basis of language.
That is not the basis of language, lol
It quite literally is. All encoding of information is definitionally contextual, language (formal or not) is no exception. This doesn't change because the language is spoken.
You’re funny. You should go on tour.
This is so hilariously wrong
Nah fam, this is near enough a perfect universal truth.
This doesn’t say what you think it does. Lol.
Lmfao buddy, so what does it say then? Because I'm getting the feeling you're not exactly familiar with anything to do with linguistic theory, and it sure would be easy and satisfying to disabuse me of that notion. Look at me, I'm right here, calling your bluff while taking a biiiiiig ol' sip of my coffee. Make me eat my tasty (and context dependent) words, and pull a comedy spit-take in the process! The power is yours, the ball is in your court, dazzle us oh knower-of-truths!
Reading this whole thread is so baffling, but this is my favourite response I've seen lmaoo
You’re ranting like a crazy person. Calm down.
If if this is how you react when people tell you, you’re wrong, then I’ve no interest in continuing this conversation.
Go touch grass. Blocked.
Yeah, that's kinda what I thought...
By this logic isn't school just slavery?
you aren't strictly forced to go to school, it's your parents who will suffer the consequences for you not going, but yes forcing kids to go to school when they clearly don't want to is an extremely shitty thing and leads to lots of issues.
I have heard this very intelligently argued more than once over the last 30 years. I’m not gonna get into the arguments, because they are all actually kind of different and all very complicated.
Suffice it to say, I don’t really think so. Because I don’t, personally, view school as “work” or “labor”. Nobody would get paid to go to school as an occupation— other than (post)doctoral students, I suppose. That’s not really the same thing, working off of grants.
And, in a huge portion of cases, people actually pay a premium to go to school.
But if you’re trying to ask if I think any compulsory activity for children, or anyone else, is tantamount about slavery, no I don’t. Obviously, it’s a very nuanced subject.
Thanks for the response, I appreciate it.
do you think homework is slavery too?
Maybe if you did your homework, you know the meaning of the word “slave”
maybe if you did yours you'd understand that "and" means both conditions need to be fulfilled for a statement to be true. so how is that child considered a property of anyone in this situation?
Talk about cherry picking, lol
the definition part of the definition is the paragraph next to "1." the bullet points below it are examples of how it applies. you provided that definition, are you telling me that on top of not understanding the meaning of "and" you also failed to understand the formatting itself?
I love how you are enraged by this hypertechnicality, but children are property of their parents, in every legal way, but the name.
So you can continue being enraged by this hypertechnicality, but it doesn’t actually exist. You made yourself very angry over nothing. Lol.
It must suck to be so bored that you have to invent reasons to be mad. Lol.
i'm really not enraged, not even close to that. i'm calmly bewildered by your far-reaching thought process
it's you who picked a hypertechnicality ("property of their parents" who btw. aren't the ones making the kid do work here? it's the school doing that, in case you forgot) to be mad about
Classy.
Your astounding level of hypocrisy literally made me laugh out loud
sigh
They are using volunteer to imply that the work cannot be payed