865 Modern Feudalism

<p>Conservative Americans dismiss the threat of modern feudalism as an idea from Medieval times, not applicable in an era of personal liberty. But in a very real way, average people now are just as much vassals, and the elites are more than lords, than anytime in history. It's not a slavery situation, even in the past there was a veneer of commoners being paid in some way; low-wage jobs are the modern form of feudalism.</p> <p>How is a multi-billionaire that owns vast tracts of wilderness where only they can go, with imprisonment threatened against anyone who dares trespass, any different than the feudal penalties for hunting on lord's estates. French kings allowed peasants into the castle to see how royalty lived, including watching sexual congress between the gentry; and in these times, whole reality television series are centered around that very premise. It's all there: the modern fixation on movie & pop stars; the idolization of the rich & famous; the rise of the political & pundit class into dynasties; the same families intermarrying, doing business with each other and concentrating power among themselves. Even at the extremes; who doubts that the old custom of a lord sleeping with another man’s wife on their wedding night could be made common practice if enough money was involved?</p>