Why and wherefore

Slavery was abolished from the world a long time ago.
But then, what is the term that should be given to a person of a middle class, who works hard, takes shit from, all and sundry. He cannot rebel, as he is the bread earner for his family, and he needs to be a part of the system, face its ire, idiosyncracies, bullshit stories about what he needs to continously do to get good karma and be happy.

He is worse than the slaves of the yesteryears. At least everybody knew that they were slaves, and they accepted their current state. But here, he is in a state of denial, which is the phase that hurts the most. I am a free bird, and can do anything in this world is what he believes. Feel sad and pity for him.

Religion tells him that you need to keep on continuing doing the good work, the results will come.
His business friends tell him, buddy you need to take risk in life, no pain no gain.
Family tells him buddy hold on to your job, it is important.
You need to do this, that, blah blah blah

The world outside is a piece of rotten shit that sticks. Expecting honesty and respect from people leads to pain. Not trusting people leads to isolation.

Is it capitalism, that is at the base of all this bullshit. Capitalism not only produces goods that people need, but it also often produces need for goods that can be cost-effectively produced. Porn is a great example. Focus on cost-effectiveness for a particular enterprise leads to it making trade-offs that are bad for the world in general. In an idealistic scenario the regulators should catch it. But the regulators are humans living in a capitalistic society, and in a capitalistic society, the main virtue is guess what? Money, power. So for an enterprise to succeed it needs to make these tradeoffs, its survival is at stake, and if having good relationships with the regulators helps, so be it. Mediocracy and bull shit ensues. There are thresholds at each level of power and wealth. You need to work the system to cross these thresholds. As you keep on working the system, crossing theshold after threshold, to escape it, you become a part of it. The difference is that you are nearer the top of the pyramid, than earlier. Now you have ample idle time to relax and enjoy. There is this innate need to connect to humans. But then, you live in a capitalstic system, there are people who have more than you, and there are people who have less than you. You need to protect yourself from people "lesser" than you, and people "bigger" than you, would not give you respect. But you have the cure for this: money. With this single most wonderful invention, you can buy spirituality, go to a spa, feel good when you eat food from a great restaurant. People "lesser" than you, recognize you, give respect to the money you have earned. The rest of the life is focussed on how to create more money, so that people do not leave you behind, and you do not become a failure. At the end of it, you make it. You have amassed as much money as it could. Yeah, it is not as much as Mr X, but still it is sizable and respectable. Death waits at the door. You have one last wish: to be able to connect with people, feel love and give it back. Yeah, you say, there are some compromises you need to make to succed, and this is one of them. Haven't you succeeded, you ask yourself, you have made so much money. With a smile, you welcome death, and feel happy on finally succeeding in life.