I hate to be a follower by talking about Plato’s allegory, but sometimes to be a leader, you first need to follow. Hopefully I will lead you into some new information. Plato’s allegory about the cave has so much to unpack in just the description itself. As does the topic of human trafficking. Far too much to cover in one blog post, but hopefully I will scratch the surface in my comparison of Plato’s cave to victims’ prisons.
The first thing I noticed in Plato's description was that the cave is described as an “underground den,” meaning the den is secluded. A simple passerby would not see it. Plato says the prisoners are in the cave “from childhood.” The prisoners “have their legs and necks chained,” meaning they are restricted- no freedom. Finally, the prisoners can only see “shadows” and hear “echoes” in their prison. What they are seeing and hearing may not be true. While the metaphorical meaning is truly powerful, simply trying to imagine being in this prison yourself is unbearable. This prison exists for some (Plato, pg. 132).
While there are multiple types of trafficking, I am going to focus on sex human trafficking since there are more known facts about it, and- like I said before- there is so much to unpack when it comes to this topic. Survivors say that they lived their lives in hotel rooms, secluded from the outside. One in four victims of human trafficking are children. They are introduced to drugs so as to keep them incapacitated and unable to run. Those that try and fail, die. As stated before, many of the victims are children. This world is all that they know. All they see is the evil that exists in the world. Their captors keep them ignorant to what is going on and who is fighting to help them on the outside. All they hear are the words of those who would keep them oppressed.
Now I’m going to get metaphorical. The prisoners in the allegory see the world for its shadows, not the colors that make it beautiful. Plato goes on to talk about if the prisoners were to break free. He says they would turn away from the light and cower back to the world they knew (pg. 133). When it comes to dark and dreary topics that show us the worst in the world, we tend to want to cower back into the blissful ignorance of a kind world. We want to believe the same illusion as the prisoners. The simple fact is that we don’t live in that world, but we could. It begins with forcing ourselves to turn away from the shadows, look at the light, endure the pain, and grow.
It is so important to be educated on these topics. Someone right in your backyard could be a victim.
The first thing I noticed in Plato's description was that the cave is described as an “underground den,” meaning the den is secluded. A simple passerby would not see it. Plato says the prisoners are in the cave “from childhood.” The prisoners “have their legs and necks chained,” meaning they are restricted- no freedom. Finally, the prisoners can only see “shadows” and hear “echoes” in their prison. What they are seeing and hearing may not be true. While the metaphorical meaning is truly powerful, simply trying to imagine being in this prison yourself is unbearable. This prison exists for some (Plato, pg. 132).
While there are multiple types of trafficking, I am going to focus on sex human trafficking since there are more known facts about it, and- like I said before- there is so much to unpack when it comes to this topic. Survivors say that they lived their lives in hotel rooms, secluded from the outside. One in four victims of human trafficking are children. They are introduced to drugs so as to keep them incapacitated and unable to run. Those that try and fail, die. As stated before, many of the victims are children. This world is all that they know. All they see is the evil that exists in the world. Their captors keep them ignorant to what is going on and who is fighting to help them on the outside. All they hear are the words of those who would keep them oppressed.
Now I’m going to get metaphorical. The prisoners in the allegory see the world for its shadows, not the colors that make it beautiful. Plato goes on to talk about if the prisoners were to break free. He says they would turn away from the light and cower back to the world they knew (pg. 133). When it comes to dark and dreary topics that show us the worst in the world, we tend to want to cower back into the blissful ignorance of a kind world. We want to believe the same illusion as the prisoners. The simple fact is that we don’t live in that world, but we could. It begins with forcing ourselves to turn away from the shadows, look at the light, endure the pain, and grow.
It is so important to be educated on these topics. Someone right in your backyard could be a victim.
P.S. I responded to Abbie Hedden and Hailey Morgan.
Isabelle, I have no words. I would recommend that you look up Chadian Dance Company. It’s based in Pensacola and the company performs through dance the stories of human trafficking victims. I actually reread the cave passage while reading your post and to be honest, you’re nowhere near wrong. And we really do force ourselves to shut out the bad things of this world when we really need to shine a light on them. Everywhere we look, bad things happen and they always will. But if we don’t stand up and speak out against them, who will?
ReplyDeleteYou have truly shown what it is to be a philosopher in your blog post today, Isabelle. Most people, myself included, would only see the good implications of the cave allegory. My presupposition of the goodness of God masked all of the negative implications of the allegory. God's love covers both, of course, but it is important to see all of the sides to a problem.
ReplyDeleteIt is like holding barbed wire to read about human trafficking, and yet we have a duty not to cower from it, but to learn about it and to work to prevent it in every way that we can. I also think about so many domestic violence and abuse victims who only know that world. They grow up victims, but are told that it's normal, or it's just a game, and by the time they realize what the truth is, their abuser already has a hold on them. Leaving that "cave" is so difficult and in too many cases, impossible. It breaks my heart knowing this goes on in so many homes and lives and you would never know unless you look past ignorant bliss.
ReplyDelete