A thought experiment

Let’s play with a scenario. Imagine a situation in which I am driving down a street I have never been before. On this street there are structures that I’m not familiar with. They look far different from what I am used to. I come to one of these structures and I just enter. No knocking, or anything like that — why would I? I just discovered the structures, and besides I have a legal document from the jurisdiction I’m from that gives me the right to lay claim to anything I find. So I’m doing that. Even though I discovered your house, it doesn’t matter. I have the legal right. And you don’t.

As I’m going through the structure, I find you. We don’t speak the same language. Clearly you are uneducated because you would know my language if you were educated. You can’t hardly be considered human — I mean look at what you are wearing. So I decide that I can claim this structure and everything in it. And you. So I take the land and everything in it, and I sell you off — feeding you is a financial burden.

I imagine that you are pretty upset by all of this. I imagine that you are saying something like “that isn’t right!” It’s illegal! But remember, I have a document from a government that I recognize saying I can do this. Your opinion doesn’t matter actually.

You might even demand justice!

And what would justice be in this case? At the very least, freeing you, and either returning property back to you, or compensating you for what was taken from you. And if we’re really doing justice, we might recognize that…