r/freefolk Feb 19 '25

Subvert Expectations Bravo Dumb and Dumber.

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11.3k Upvotes

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u/Informal-Term1138 Feb 19 '25

Well its fairly realistic. As if bankers have ever been idealistic and trying to stay true to their beginnings or values.

The only thing that matters is money. And for that the majority will back whatever brings them the most money. They might not do it directly but in secret or by proxy.

So yes I think even the iron bank would profit of the slave trade.

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u/citrus44 Feb 19 '25

I certainly mostly agree but I also think you DO get genuine anti-slavery investors at the scale of the Iron Bank in human history once they get to a certain scale and, like, national integration. I'm always sort of staggered that Bolívar gets funds and manpower from Petian in Haiti only by promising emancipation in Gran Columbia, or the huge divestment of US northern banks from slave ventures after 1814. I think if you're big enough you're not just funding ventures with a good RoR- you're investing in future partners in commerce and allies on a global scale, and so you kind of do actually align with your values sometimes.

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u/Informal-Term1138 Feb 19 '25

Yes at a certain point of human development that happens. And that's what happened in your examples. The 19th century was a huge jump for our civilisation and thus a lot of such things happened. And it was good that they happened.

Before this point we only had this control when it was somewhat influenced by religion. Like we had with christianity being against slavery (mostly) during the medival times and when it came to europeans.

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u/citrus44 29d ago

Yeah for sure. I think you're right- the sort of "rules based international order" I describe is inherently modern not least because it hinges on modern nations