Day 16: Need is not leverage.

Have a think: Need is not leverage.

The walk: The moment someone cannot easily walk away, an ordinary offer can become coercive. A fee, deadline, data request, or favor may look voluntary to the person setting the terms and unavoidable to the person receiving them.

The thought: Justice notices unequal freedom. It refuses to turn another person’s emergency into a better bargain for the powerful. The clean question is not merely whether consent was recorded, but whether a humane alternative was possible.

A task for today: Find one penalty, condition, or demand imposed on someone with little room to refuse. Remove it, reduce it, or create a real alternative.

Sources:
Exodus · Seneca · Consumer protection and fair-lending principles · Islamic prohibition of riba