Present Day Human Slavery

[Landlord]

As an American Christian that often gets incredibly disheartened by what my "team" chooses to make big and small matters of, such as Phil Robertson, I constantly find myself thinking, "I wish the church was as passionate and dedicated towards real issues that are poisoning our world as they are towards defending a millionaire hillbilly."

 

But I realize that I'm part of the problem by engaging in the discussions. I'm fueling the machine. And I hate that. So I'm trying to work on it, and do my individual part towards standing for something bigger.

 

So - enter human slavery. It still exists. Everywhere. I realize the world's population keeps growing, but there are more people enslaved now than at any point in human history, and this includes America. Combining sex trafficking victims, illegal child labor, imprisonment in quarries and farms and factories, there are over 27 million people in chains in the world today. So what are we as individuals and as a society to do? How do we actively stand against this injustice, since there is no real middle ground and being passive is the same thing as being condoning?

 

I think it starts with awareness, right? People are ignorant that this exists. You see a lot of talk of 'ignorance' in the Phil Robertson thread, and I don't understand why we condemn people for being ignorant. Especially as a bunch of white midwestern Americans. We're all ignorant, but that's not really all our fault, and we can learn and be taught and become informed.

 

Just curious what people's thoughts are on the state of the world in this regard, and what can and has to be done about it. If people even care.

 

 

 

Also:

 

[Creighton Duke]

Before taking a definitive stance, the definition of "slavery" has to be explained in greater detail. Sure, you have child labor that are literally whipped and chained a la "IJ and the Temple of Doom" but then you have sweatshops in SE Asia where your Nikes are being made by workers who are making about 40 cents per day, under horrible working conditions. Does the latter not count as slavery just because the workers get to go back to their "homes" every night and because, ya know, people like Nike? Are you ready to give up all of the items that may have been made under such conditions or do you just promise not to seek out the services of an indentured prostitute?

[Landlord]

Before taking a definitive stance, the definition of "slavery" has to be explained in greater detail. Sure, you have child labor that are literally whipped and chained a la "IJ and the Temple of Doom" but then you have sweatshops in SE Asia where your Nikes are being made by workers who are making about 40 cents per day, under horrible working conditions. Does the latter not count as slavery just because the workers get to go back to their "homes" every night and because, ya know, people like Nike? Are you ready to give up all of the items that may have been made under such conditions or do you just promise not to seek out the services of an indentured prostitute?

 

 

As far as the last question, the last year or two I've strived to be an informed shopper and let me money go towards companies that I know have good business ethics.

 

I hesitate to give a strict and specific definition of the term because I don't want to fit people into or out of a box. Sure, there are people who get to go back to their homes and are legally free, but are really left with no choice other than to work in outrageously poor conditions for hardly any money or die. That still seems like slavery to me.

[BigRedBuster]

Very good topic and glad someone brought up a subject that actually is worth getting worked up about.

 

This is an absolutely disgusting reality in the world today and I (like you) wish groups like the church would concentrate more on it.

 

In my own little world in my mind I have fantasized about if I would ever become a multi billionaire where I didn't have to actually work for a living, I would devote my time and money towards bringing down cartels that do human trafficking and support the slavery industry.

 

This needs to be brought more out into the open than it is.

[Landlord]

Something I stumbled upon earlier in the year - not sure the science or the logistics behind it, but it's thought-provoking at least.

 

 

 

 

http://slaveryfootprint.org/

 

A survey that gives you an idea of how many slaves indirectly work for you as a privileged American.

[StPaulHusker]

Before taking a definitive stance, the definition of "slavery" has to be explained in greater detail. Sure, you have child labor that are literally whipped and chained a la "IJ and the Temple of Doom" but then you have sweatshops in SE Asia where your Nikes are being made by workers who are making about 40 cents per day, under horrible working conditions. Does the latter not count as slavery just because the workers get to go back to their "homes" every night and because, ya know, people like Nike? Are you ready to give up all of the items that may have been made under such conditions or do you just promise not to seek out the services of an indentured prostitute?

 

 

As far as the last question, the last year or two I've strived to be an informed shopper and let me money go towards companies that I know have good business ethics.

 

I hesitate to give a strict and specific definition of the term because I don't want to fit people into or out of a box. Sure, there are people who get to go back to their homes and are legally free, but are really left with no choice other than to work in outrageously poor conditions for hardly any money or die. That still seems like slavery to me.

I am genuinely interested in a list of companies that you have found that have the good business ethics you are looking for. This is something that all people should be aware of.

 

With regards to human trafficking, this is going to be as difficult of a task as "The War on Drugs". The reason being is that the people who are dealing in this are not standing up in public to defend their stance on the subject like the South did during the Civil War. They are hiding and doing these vile acts in the cover of darkness so to speak. This doesn't mean it's hopeless. Just means that it will take much more than a moving billboard at the Final 4 to get through to people.

[GSG]

Something I stumbled upon earlier in the year - not sure the science or the logistics behind it, but it's thought-provoking at least.

 

 

 

 

http://slaveryfootprint.org/

 

A survey that gives you an idea of how many slaves indirectly work for you as a privileged American.

 

34

[Creighton Duke]

Something I stumbled upon earlier in the year - not sure the science or the logistics behind it, but it's thought-provoking at least.

 

 

 

 

http://slaveryfootprint.org/

 

A survey that gives you an idea of how many slaves indirectly work for you as a privileged American.

27

 

I'll be interested to see how people score on this, but some of the conclusions that the writers make are incorrect.

[Landlord]

Mine was 36 also. I think it was different when I did it last year but I didn't give any incredibly nuanced numbers either.

[BigRedBuster]

Hmmmm....48.

 

I guess I'm interested in knowing what part of my answers made mine more than other people's scores. Part of it might be that I didn't "fine tune" the food information. A heck of a lot of the food we eat is grown locally here, from our garden or gathered through hunting and fishing. So, if there was a bunch added for that, then mine is not accurate.

[Conga3]

This popped up on my YouTube feed the other day :

 

 

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I like this topic, thanks for posting.

[Junior]

Hmmmm....48.

 

I guess I'm interested in knowing what part of my answers made mine more than other people's scores. Part of it might be that I didn't "fine tune" the food information. A heck of a lot of the food we eat is grown locally here, from our garden or gathered through hunting and fishing. So, if there was a bunch added for that, then mine is not accurate.

 

Mine was the same. I didn't really fine tune much either. Interesting test, I'd be curious to know how accurate it is.

[BigRedBuster]

So, I guess the question I have is....what can be done about it? What can we do as consumers? What should our government be doing?

 

I don't personally buy sex from anyone so I don't think I am supporting the sex trade. I grow a lot of food in our garden, can or preserve it for winter. I buy meat that is pretty much grown locally or hunt for it. I don't use slave labor to clean my home.

 

So, I am guessing that my biggest foot print is in things I buy that I either don't have a choice or don't know it is being produced by slave labor. For instance, if the carpet in my house is made with slave labor, I have absolutely no clue about it. It is extremely hard to go buy any article of clothing that is made in the US.

 

So, I'm going to go in the area that I usually don't like to go and push this back on our government. I have said for a long time that all the groups that fight for labor rights in the US or fight for American jobs need to be focused on THIS ISSUE.

 

I don't understand why our government can not regulate that if a product is competing with an American made product, it is required to be made by the same environmental and labor standards that the American made product is. This would force companies like NIKE to stop using sweat shops over seas. More of those jobs would be brought back to the US where there is more regulation and far less child slave labor would be used.

 

I think this is an area where being the largest consumer nation in the world, we can throw our weight around and actually make a difference in people's lives.

[NUance]

38.

 

I wish one of them would make me a sammich right now.

 

 

/edit: About that poll, Who has 25 pairs of silk pajamas, but only 8 tee shirts?

[Landlord]

I don't personally buy sex from anyone so I don't think I am supporting the sex trade.

 

 

Not specifically a question for you, and also going into some murky waters here, but what impact do you think the pornography business has on sex trafficking? Obviously not a direct one, but in essence it's just the sale or the consumption of sexual pleasure/fantasies, which really seems to start a quick slope towards viewing women as objects to be enjoyed or consumed, which goes towards denying the personhood of actual people.

 

I'm not to the point of saying it so confidently, but my thought is that pornography's impact on the world is a lot wider and a lot more poisonous than just straining the occasional marriage.

 

 

 

I am genuinely interested in a list of companies that you have found that have the good business ethics you are looking for. This is something that all people should be aware of.

 

 

Unfortunately I haven't made too much progress. It's mostly all in the arenas of food and clothing - buying trendy ~hipster~ kid shirts and accessories from non-profits that are using their money and resources towards these problems.

 

The thing that is tough is that we are so spoiled. We really don't have a clue how luxurious our lifestyles are - even those of us that only make $20k a year. We've gotten so accustomed to cheap clothes, cheap food, cheap services, that to actually decide to spend our money ethically all the sudden looks like, "holy sh#t. i have to spend three times the amount i would buying from somewhere else.", and since we are all generally selfish, we just keep feeding the system.