This website uses IntenseDebate comments, but they are not currently loaded because either your browser doesn't support JavaScript, or they didn't load fast enough.
209782 Responseshttp://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/a-simple-first-step-solution/A+simple+first+step+solution...2010-04-09+01%3A47%3A28Sam+Richards to A simple first step solution…
I guess that would be hilarious way of stopping slavery in a first step basis. But in reality and truth, i guess that is the first step that we must really need to focus on. Out there in the media, we are influenced and exposed to the media where society tells us to look in a certain way to be "hip" or wear things that stars and famous people wear and have the same appearance as them. The companies are selling the items and clothing to us daily and we are buying these clothes occasionally without knowing where these cloths originated from. I think that we must be aware of where the clothing comes from just like the chocolate video and we need to know how to confront the companies without useless companies. Another suggestion is that we must control our style of purchasing items, we cant go on everyday buying things and taking them for granted.
The media is definitely the key to bringing awareness to any major issue. Before change can take place, the international community must all become aware of the issue and learn the truth about what is going on. The issue of slavery needs to be discussed on the news, but also I think that documentaries have a lot of power to make an impact on people; like “The Hurt Locker” for example. If the international community saw a documentary about slavery right now, it would bring attention to the issue and then the media could take over by making a point to draw attention to the issue.
I think the not buying clothes anymore has a good point but no one is going to just up and stop wearing close anymore or buying close. I think a better idea would be to stop buying clothes from stores where you know they create a lot of their clothes threw sweatshops and or come up with a way to not have to use sweat shops anymore and just make a 100% legal regular way of producing clothing for people. Because young children all over the world and many people are being put to work for the most minimal amounts of money for long days of labor on clothes. It’s against labor laws and even though it realistically is a very cheap way of producing mass amount of clothing for cheap, it’s wrongs an illegal in most areas. But maybe just stopping all together and no buying anymore clothes would slow things down a little bit so some sort of progress could be made. Because if there wasn’t so much more of a demand for clothes anymore then their wouldn’t be much need to make them. So all the sweatshops would slowly but surely fade out and people will be freed of labor. However on the other hands, where would those people go and find jobs because even though it is hard labor, they still do get paid very very minimal amounts of money and that money is going somewhere. It would be something that would honestly take a long time because if we are talking about sweatshops, those one day may be able to get erased but if we are mainly just talking about slavery and race issues then that will never die because I honestly believe racism will never die, it will just become more and more censored and more and more discrete. It may not be so much in your face but racism wills still living on forever. Racism can’t die because there will never be a time where people do not acknowledge each other for the color of their skin.
I mean that makes a whole lot of sense, but truthfully how many idealistic and altruistic people are there who would stop buying clothes and other sweatshop or slave-made products. The one thing I feel good about that I have done is I haven't gone to Walmart in several years, and most of my family boycotts the store. We must be informed consumers and know what we are buying and exactly where it is coming from.
That said, I applaud this guy for making a somewhat difficult choice in his t-shirt purchasing. It is a shame more people aren't like him around here.
Haha this made me laugh. That’s pretty awesome that you’re doing your part in boycotting things made in sweatshops. I don’t think that the first step of getting rid of slavery in sweatshops is to stop buying clothes though. It’s totally not realistic. I don’t think people are just going to stop buying clothes and stop wearing clothes. Maybe as consumers we should start taking a look at where our clothes are coming from. I think that would be a good first step. Checking labels and only purchasing clothes not made in sweatshops is a good start to help solve this problem.
While this is a bold move to stop buying clothes all together, this small step is not exactly enough to stop sweat shop labor all together. Unless we all become nudists, at some point you will probably need to purchase some clothes. Even if a bunch of people followed along too, production of clothes in sweat shops will still continue. Just like everyone else is saying, it is more important to find out which stores are using sweat shop labor and avoid them, rather than not buy anymore clothes all together. We should all make an effort to check labels and figure out what companies deserve to be punished.
It might be somewhat impossible to stop buying clothes altogether. What about kids who are growing? Should they never have clothes that actually fit them? Maybe we should just make our own clothes instead. Or even just recycling clothes would help to stop some of the slave labor that goes into making them. I don't really think that not buying clothes is a realistic approach to ending slave labor. The clothing industry is just one part of slavery, there are many other facets that shouldn't just be ignored. In fact, doing something relating to one of those areas might be easier and possibly more effective than halting the clothing industry.
I don’t entirely agree with this student. He said he used to have about 150 t-shirts, but then he realized how they were made so he just gave them away. How does giving away the t-shirts help make people aware of slave use in the world today? By giving them away he is just giving clothes that slaves worked to make to other people so now he doesn’t have to worry about “owning” shirts made by slaves. What he doesn’t understand is that the damage was already done. He already bought the shirts and supported slave use by purchasing the shirts. Giving them away simply just made him feel better about himself.
When he said he does’t buy the shirts anymore is where I give him credit. This shows that he really is trying to make a statement and not help promote slave use. I just wish it only took one person to stop buying shirts made by slaves in order to make a change, but it doesn’t.
I agree. While I think that his heart is in the right place with this, giving them away isn’t the answer. The t-shirts are still out there somewhere. And it’s not even that fact that now someone else has t-shirt made by slaves. It’s the fact that he just gave them away and – I’m going to assume – didn’t say WHY he was giving them away. I doubt he said “Hey, do you want these t-shirts? I’m not going to use them anymore because I’ve decided that I am against clothes made in sweatshops and refuse to wear them anymore.” It was probably just like a normal cleaning-out-your-closet ritual. I’ll give him props on not buying any more slave-produced t-shirts, but I think he could have done a great thing by speaking up about it. And he just did now, so that’s a good start!!
Good point. I wouldn’t say never buy new clothes but making it a habit to adopt used clothing is an economically, ethically, and environmentally sound idea. Granted, your proposition is too “radical,” and too “great a sacrifice,” I agree with you (the one who posed the question). Most people will disagree however. Why, because it is a burden they are not willing to accept. The suggested sacrifice is much too much to ask. I’m mean, be reasonable, how could I ever give up my Abecrombie wear? God, these slaves are demanding.
Sarcasm aside, my satire only reflects the truth of other user’s commentary of which you (person I am replying to) are but a drop in the ocean. It is typical to challenge the validity of a powerful idea, especially one which mandate personal sacrifice. You attempt to debunk something, with the fear that if proven true, would require of you to give up something you enjoy. If ceasing to buy new clothing would disrupt slavery, you’d fight it because admitting so would place a huge ethical burden on you to continue your behavior.
How does giving away the t-shirts help make people aware of slave use in the world today? By giving them away he is just giving clothes that slaves worked to make to other people so now he doesn’t have to worry about “owning” shirts made by slaves.
Response: This is simply not true. Imagine that person 1 has 150 T-shirts. Persons 2 -11 each need clothing. Instead of purchasing 10 T-shirts each, they can get them from person 1. That’s 100 less new T-shirts purchased, which you agree in your second paragraph, help make a stand against slavery. If many people would do the same, which they are fully capable, it would start to make a difference. Hand-me-downs are free. Used clothing is considerably cheaper than new clothing. Thrift stores are easy to find. It makes economically.
Don’t buy as much clothing in the first place too. Most of own substantially more clothing than we need. As much as you like to think you ‘need’ 50 pairs of shoes you don’t. Gluttony only goes to show one’s indifference to others. I don’t believe this will actually solve the issue, but the original poster never claimed it would. It is a nice symbolic gesture that has economic co-benefits. Ultimately change needs to come about in the corporations themselves (like that would ever happen), so actually government needs to mandate business practices. Until then will continue to witness the systematic impoverishment of the third world for the sake of first world convenience. Worst of all, people are willing to turn a blind eye, to get a little sleep at night.
I think that this guy has a great point. We don't need to keep buying clothes, once we stop growing. Realistically, if we do laundry once every two weeks, we only need 14 shirts, but lets make it 16 for good measure. Those sixteen shirts will last probably around five years give or take. The thing we need to change is our mindset. We need to measure our own self worth not by how new and cool our clothes are, but by the content of our character, as Martin Luther King says. We have been socially conditioned to believe that we need to stay up with the latest trends and fashions, in order to be cool and hip, but that is fucking bullshit! its a scheme designed to keep us buying! seriously, take a step back and think about it. What drives us to buy new stuff? We want recognition from others, so that it boosts our sense of self worth. But if we measure our self worth by how much compassion we treat others with, and not buy what we own and buy, then we can reduce sweatshops and slavery.
Put yourself in the position of a sweatshop worker. No, actually do it. Every morning you wake up and work in a factory with hundreds of other workers, doing the same monotonous task over and over for many many hours for almost zero wages. That is your LIFE. Why do you have this life? Who benefits from your work? Americans, and other westerners, who buy a new pair of shoes every two weeks, because the other ones got a fucking speck of dirt on them.
THE ULTIMATE REASON WHY SLAVERY AND SWEATSHOPS CONTINUE IS THE 3 D's: DISTANCING, DISTRACTION, and DENIAL First, we say, oh well its happening far away, so it doesn't really matter, and we have no direct connection…maybe its not that bad. Then we distract ourselves with the zillion and a half distractions in America: Tv, video games, drugs, alcohol, partying, etc. This way, we don't actually feel the pain that our brothers and sisters of other bioregions suffer on a daily basis, because of our lifestyles. Then lastly, the most powerful of all…..DENIAL…we just convince ourselves that sweatshops aren't real, or slavery is real, or the facts aren't true, or that its not really that bad.
We don't choose what part of the world we are born in…but we can choose what to do with the life that we have…
I completely agree with this post and the questioner… I mean, I think it's pretty much an impossible task to convince many Americans to actually do this, but if you could it'd definitely have a huge effect on the way things are. American consumerism is a huge contributor to the fact that slavery is still alive and thriving today. It rules and affects every aspect of our lives- the commercials we see on t.v., the clothes we want to wear, the music we want to listen to, the cars we drive, the newest phones and ipods that we have, etc. And all of these things seem so critically important to us… But how we live would be a shock to the majority of the world, all of those people who are living on less than two dollars a day (most of us probably spend twice that just on our morning coffee every day!). In our culture we buy new clothes every time we get a little bit bored of the current clothes in our closet and for just about every occasion we can think of , including an entire new wardrobe for each season of the year. Because of deals with cell phone companies, most of us get new phones at least every two years, and we're constantly buying the newest and greatest models of cars. It's sickening to think about in comparison with the millions of people who are starving every day because they can't even afford to buy food, which is why slavery is still around today. People who are desperate and starving are entering into bonded labor just to guarantee a little bit of food each day. So what if we stopped buying new clothes? Not only would we be creating less of a demand for the clothing produced by slave labor in sweat shops, but we would all have a lot more money to spare… which we could possibly donate to charities working in this poor countries? O we could spend more money on ensuring that other items that we buy, for example chocolate and coffee, are fair trade and therefore not supporting slave labor? Just an idea… But in reality, after you've gone through your childhood years, your not really growing that much anymore (unless your putting on the freshman fifteen in college) so why do we need more clothes? What if we all just had the minimum number of clothes necessary to ensure we're not all walking around naked? Because keeping up with the new trends and fashions is the end all and be all of our country, particularly among our age group. It's like we're all trying to display status, wealth, popularity, etc by what we're wearing on our bodies. To really put this idea into action to the point that it would make any difference in the world would require a huge overhaul of our current values and ideals. But it makes sense that if people stopped buying new clothes together, no one would feel the pressure to be dressed in the newest trends and to impress everyone with their outfits. If it seems unrealistic, I think it's just because it really is so simple an idea. But it's simple, easy choices like to stop buying new clothes that can really make a difference.
My fellow hippy I am on 100 percent agreement with you. Each and every one of us has the power to change we just chose the easy route and let other people who we never see sacrifice themselves so we can go on living in ignorance; because if we are stuck inside our cocoon we don’t have to see the sad reality that we are contributing to every single second of every single day. It is so easy for us to pretend we don’t see it. But when each of us decides to leave our cocoons and make small sacrifices the world will be filled with more beautiful butterflies.
This whole plan of boycotting sweatshops is so unrealistic. You would have to have almost every person in America to partake in it. It's just not going to happen. If things are ever going to be solved it's going to take the government to get involved. So I feel the real first step will be to elect government officials that will take a stand on this. There just aren't enough people in the world that will stand side by side on this issue. You have to do what you can to live in this world not everyone can afford the expensive cloths, sometimes the cheaper option is just the sweatshop cloths. Not saying its right just how it is.
But can't the people change how it is? Isn’t that the foundation that America was built upon? I wasn't saying boycott sweatshops all together but rather make a conscious decision to avoid them whenever possible. As far as your point with government officials I would agree with you but sweatshops mean very little in the current realm of politics, which has become so corrupt and diluted. I would even argue that the majority of Americans would boycott sweatshops, however impossible that may seem, before we get politicians who are truly honest and truly care more about people than they care about profit.
This is just not realistic. Do you really expect everyone to just not buy any new clothes after a certain point? C’mon. And this argument or solution is one dimensional. Even if you could get everyone, by some miracle, to stop buying clothes, which would be stupid anyway, the economy and in turn, a lot of other people would be largely affected. I don’t think this is the right or realistic approach to put an end to slavery. Slavery is bigger than that. And by buying clothes at some point slave labor is already supported, the damage is done, just not to the extent it would be if someone continuously bought clothes throughout their life.
This is a funny comment, but in reality that’s just not possible. I could never not buy clothes for two year. For example, I have an internship. For my internship I need to dress business casual every day. I don’t really think that my boss would appreciate me wearing the same pair of two year old dress pants and a two year old button down shirt to work every day. Yes it is sad that the clothing I buy and wear every day is made by slaves, but I really feel like I have no other choice. It would be nice if I could get all my clothes from somewhere like Free People which uses no slave labor but their stuff is ridiculously expensive and being in college I really can’t afford to do that.
I agree there is no way that this is possible. Giving away your shirts is a nice thing to do some people said that it doesn't help the problem just may clean your conscious. I have to disagree with that the truth is it may have helped the problem because the people that got those shirts may have been potential customers of sweatshop dealers so by getting the clothes for free from you the sweatshops lost out. So I commend you for that but this whole issue is unrealistic to solve unless the government becomes involved.
In response to the anti-slavery quote, I feel that the solution that the student presented is irrational and make belief. I don’t the student, in fact I’ve never seen him before, but the student is lying. There is no way he went two years without buying a t-shirt and if he did it wasn’t to stop slavery in foreign countries. I do admit, I like his attitude to take a stand on an issue that is very prevalent in today’s society. I hope he’s and individual that also is part of an anti-slavery group at Penn State or a nationwide one. Unfortunately, as I type this blog there are still millions of slave workers around the world. Many of my objects that I own can probably be traced back to a slave indirectly. So a solution that many people think is possible is buy from companies that uses no child labor and foreign slavery.
This is a very useful tactic if many people joined the trend but there is a problem, many people are not joining the trend. Life is too busy in today’s society for people to stop buying a low priced item. People see a deal in the market place, (Wal-Mart, Target), and they buy the product without hesitation. Many people don’t look at the tag and immediately know if the shirt was made with slave hands. The plan to boycott slave produced clothing is a very moral idea but it is too ineffective. There are not enough people in the world that would follow the cause everyday in society. If the trend would be not to buy slave made clothes then the slave holders would have them make something else. I doubt that slave holders are not intelligent people. In order to run any type of successful business there has to be compromise and evolution.
Slavery is an example of a business that has to comprise and evolve into something that is undetectable. For example, I just went to lunch with my friend. She asked if I have any homework to do for the rest of today. I replied that I’m in the process of blogging on slavery in the modern world. She was astonished because she didn’t even know slavery still existed. I had to inform her that there are 27 million slaves in the world today and the number is growing with correspondence to the world population. Now, how is she going to know what clothing to buy and not buy? It is virtually impossible for everyone to know the extent of slavery. The reason for this is that the media never mentions modern day slavery. It is like it doesn’t exist. The only to prevent slavery is to widely publicize its whereabouts so that individual organizations can make a stand.
I somewhat agree with this statement. Not all clothes are made by slaves though, mainly just cheap brands such as WalMart, like Sam said. I think America is so materialized that we don’t think about what other people around the world don’t have. Instead of buying a 60 dollar pair of jeans from American Eagle, that we probably don’t need, think about how maybe slaves you could feed for a week with that money. I think clothes are a necessity in life but number one, we shouldn’t be buying them from WalMart, because children in sweat shops produced them, and two, we should buy reasonably priced clothing and consider giving extra money to starving slaves are people living in poverty.
Well, I applaud you for taking your own personal first step towards ending global inequality and sweatshop labor. Perhaps a more realistic goal for people, who would like to continue buying clothes, is to make a conscious effort to see where the clothes you buy come from. Once you understand that your purchases may be made in less than fair working arrangements, if not sweatshops, it becomes easier to make smarter choices where and what clothes you buy. I’m not recommending that everyone be clad one hundred percent in American Apparel but making smarter choices and understanding where clothing comes from, even if it sometimes is unsavory news, can help to aid in making better clothing choices.
Additional Blog#2
Although the solution to the problem of helping to not support sweatshops and slavery sound good, I think it is impossible to follow. We all need clothes. You can never just stop buying clothes. Seriously, would you really walk around everywhere naked all day long?
I understand that the person who came up with this solution is saying that if we stop buying clothes that, it may cause those who own the sweat shops to lose money and hopefully set those free of bondage, but if you give away the clothes, are you not still supporting slavery? Are we not just passing the hard work of slaves on? I mean there will never be an easy way to escape the in and outs of slavery. Yes, this a good start, but we really must be realistic.
If we really want to put an end to slavery and sweat shops, let’s start doing some serious research. Figure out ways to get in touch with people of our government, force our government people to push the envelope and save those who cannot save themselves. I’m pretty sure we would all want to be rescued by someone who had the power and resources to help.
Honestly this is this is dumb and impossible for every single person. This would cause too many problems for a 100 word blog but i will try to consolidate. First of all for me personally clothes express my personality and I love buying new clothes each season and expressing myself in different ways. As well, if nobody bought clothes ever the economy would crash even more then it already has. The fashion industry is such a large part of American society and is involved in many other businesses rather than clothing. the fashion industry affects the magazine industry, the television industry, the music industry and many more industries. Now days it is very possible to purchase clothes that are enviormentally friendly and made strictly in America. This boys decision is very bold and if it is working for him then props to him but it seems like a relatively unrealistic and irrational goal.
Yes that might work to end slavery but also it ends a lot of workers job opportunities. The ultimate cause of slavery is poverty. If we don't do something to change the situation, what we have done is meaningless. Sometimes I think slavery is good- at least it keeps those people (slaves) alive. Without slavery and the extreme fortune distribution system, nobody is going to live a better life in those countries– because they are still poor. "Fairness" is very important, but before saying anything about fairness the society has to achieve a level of stable efficiency ( productivity). If no productivity, talking about fairness is like manufacturing a car without the invention of petro.
I don't think that this is the smartest way to go about stopping modern day slavery. I mean, theoretically, it might work but it's not the most efficient way to go about doing it. Also, with this plan, it would probably end with our economy going down in shambles since all of out retail stores would go out of business. However, this issue at hand has been present for a while now and something needs to be done. In no circumstance, should a human being be treated like an animal or an object. People are not property, no matter their race, gender, or socioeconomic status. The problem is that this issue is so world wide, it is tough to control and regulate all of the countries.
It would be nice to believe that we could just get all of the governments to crack down on slavery and believe that every country would do their best to comply with our demands. However, living in this world, I think that we all know that it just wouldn't happen. With money controlling almost every society in the world, there is always going to be corruption and "dirty play". When I read the book, Disposable People, it really opened my eyes to what was going on in the world. How can we expect to be able to stop slavery when governments are willing to pretend that it's not happening? Not to mention the fact that even when governments try to do something about it the people that are suppose to enforcing the policies are corrupt. When judges and police officers are being paid off there is no hope for the victims in this tragedy. People are willing to "put a price" on human lives which is totally inhumane. We need to find away to successfully eliminate this problem and from what I'm hearing, nobody has any legitimate ideas. To add on to what I stated earlier, with money driven societies, people think that it is acceptable to bend the rules in order to succeed. And this goes both ways. As consumers we may say that we don't approve of slavery and that we want it to stop. But imagine the uproar that it would cause if companies like Walmart changed there ways. Prices of goods would dramatically increase then everyone would start complaining. As a country, and human beings, we have to accept the fact that there would be changes and approve of them. Peoples' lives are at stake and we have to be willing to spend a little more money in order to save them.
This is kind of funny and kind of smart lol. I mean I think it would be virtually impossible to stop buying clothes altogether because we are still growing and need new clothes. But this would be a good idea if you could actually get more people to follow and do it too. Not only that but it would spread knowledge to more people. People would see that it really is a big deal because some people do not even know that it is going. Before Sam’s class I did not know too much about it and now I see how horrible it is.
I do agree with your idea to stop buying clothes, but I feel like eventually that would fall through because you will have to buy new clothes eventually. You can't wear the same clothes your whole life. However, it is very impressive that you are actually taking action against this horrific scenario and doing what you can to help. I just feel like it would be so hard to get everyone along with your idea of not buying clothes. There are too many materialistic people in the world who only care about themselves and will never stop buying the designer clothes and such. Also, all the big companies like Nike and all use sweat shops and slavery and it's going to be almost impossible to get people to stop buying Nike products. My solution would be to just search and find clothing companies that guarantee that they don't use sweat shops so you can still buy new clothing but you don't have to worry about people being mistreated to make your clothes.
I think it's great that you could keep up that idea and stop buying clothes. Obviously it takes a very strong will to carry that plan out. I don't think it's completely necessary though. Just like chocolate there are clothes that are not the product of forced labor. Finding out which brands incorporate this ideal into their manufacturing might be a stronger move. That way you can still buy clothes when you need them but you're not paying into slave labor. So if this is working for you, then keep it up!! For someone who wants a baby step first, maybe start by doing some research on which clothing brands have stepped away from sweatshops and forced labor.
Dude that is pretty tough to do. I mean you said stop slavery and buying clothes is just a small part of it. You'd honestly probably have to move away from everything and live on your own to completely avoid the products of slavery. From all the evidence we have seen, whether it was reading that book, or listening to Sam's lectures, it is pretty obvious that new world slavery is almost everywhere. It is a nice idea to stop buying clothes or stop eating chocolate or whatever else you can think of, but it seems that there will always be some sort of materialistic good that is a product of some form of slavery. It is just a really sad thought.
I agree that it is important to stop buying clothes that are produced in sweatshops with cheap labor or even by slaves. However, it’s difficult, especially now with the financial situation in our country. Many people don’t have much money to spend and when the need clothes, they look for the cheapest option. Also, when people buy clothes, they don’t consider where they were made or who made them, but rather what clothes they want to buy and wear. I think you’re idea is good because that is what needs to happen so that the factories can shut down, but I don’t think that it’s realistic because people are always looking for cheaper ways to buy things.
Hahah well that is an option. But also you could purchase clothes that are made without the use of slaves or sweatshop labor – that does exist. And join the movement! Increase awareness of the number of sweatshops in the world and pressure the big corporations that are exploiting labor. Like Nike. Last night I went to listen to the two women from Honduras that USAS brought in to speak about their experiences in sweatshop labor. After hearing them speak I’m further convinced that our power as students at Penn State is indispensable, and we actually can make a difference.
However easy it sounds, I think that would be hard to do. And even if you did buy "less" clothes, you would still probably have purchased something from a sweatshop. You can't boycott clothing all together, you will eventually need to buy it. I think this is too extremely of a measure. What's next are you going to boycott chocolate, coffee, and any other commodity? I think a better solution would be too make sure that the clothing you are actually buying is produced in a sweatshop free environment, rather than not purchase it at all. I wouldn't mind paying a little more for somehting I know is produced the right way.
I don not think that is a reasonable solution to the problem of slavery. At some point you will need to buy new clothes. I think a better solution would be to buy clothing that has the stamp of approval, meaning that was not made in sweat shops or by slavery. I think it isn’t logical to say don’t buy anymore clothes because he sweat shops will still make them and then the slaves are working in horrible conditions for nothing. It is like if you threw away the second chocolate; you would have just wasted what they suffered for.
I think this form of boycott is an admirable way try and stop slavery. Developed nations like ours consume so much more than we should ever need, and it is our consumerism that really drives sweatshops and slavery. I certainly have my flaws and weaknesses for certain things, and I have bought things I really do not need, but I think I do a pretty good job of only buying what I need. Furthermore, when I do waste money it is usually on things like alcohol or a night out, which do not directly affect slavery. But when we place so much value on material possessions, we feel compelled to buy things. It is a mark of status to wear nice clothes and have nice things, and with the fast rate at which new technology comes about and the fast rate at which fashion changes, we must buy things constantly in order to keep up with it all.
Not to be sexist, but I think we really need to look to women about a lot of this stuff. Every woman I know loves to shop, and buy clothes they really don’t need. My mother has over sixty pairs of shoes and my sister and girlfriend have more clothes than they ever could need. They could not do laundry for 2 months and still have a clean article of clothing to put on every day. I have always just seen it as a waste of money, but I now see it as a perpetuation of slavery. I am sure that many will fight for women and say that women only do what they do because of the popular images of beauty that are created by men, but most men, including myself, condemn such shopping and the nature of the fashion industry. When I have asked my girlfriend in the past why she feels the need to buy so many clothes and look fashionable, she said that it is not for men. She and her friends say that they dress up for each other to show each other that they have good taste. So even though there is a socially constructed standard of beauty created by men, women tend to be more concerned with how other women view them.
So in conclusion, all of us really need to watch what we buy. I would not go as extreme as the student in the video, in that I am not willing to stop buying new clothes all together, but I do think one should only buy what one needs, and only seldom buy what one wants. I am not perfect, and I do give into temptation, but if we can cut back on our rates of consumption, then we can cut down on the rates of production. This means that we will take the need for slavery away. It’s not a fool proof plan because then we are taking wealth out of these already poor regions, but what is important is that we are taking money from the people in power. As for my attack on women, I apologize if I have stereotyped the gender, but I think few can argue that overall, women shop more than men, and women tend to have more stuff they don’t need than men as far as things like clothes are concerned. People need to put less stock in what a person is wearing, so that we can abandon this dangerous consumer lifestyle. Moderation is the key, and if we can achieve this, I think we will put a dent in the issue of modern day slavery.
That's pretty funny and it would be awesome if it worked like that but unfortunately it doesn't. Even though you aren't buying the clothes the clothes are still being made in those sweatshops. Someone out there will buy it. The only way to actually stop the slavery and sweatshops it to get to the root of the problem and stop it. With things like fair trade brands and petitions to stop companies from purchasing materials made in these sweatshops we can help get rid of the problem. This is also kind of like the chocolate thing because if didn't eat the second piece of chocolate you'd be wasting what they slaved over. It would be rude to not eat their hard work after knowing what they went through to bring that piece of chocolate to your desk. If you bought a shirt and then found out it was made by slaves and you threw it out you would be throwing away what they suffered for. I think this is a funny way to help out the cause, unfortunately, it really won't do any good.
This is just funny to be honest. It is essentially along the lines of “to solve poverty we should all give our money away.” It addresses, in health related terms, the symptoms and not the actual disease. Slavery is bad, that is pretty well understood by the people in our class. However the best way to solve it is not to attack the symptoms of slavery (in this case clothing made cheaply), rather you must attack what is causing slavery. We can tip toe around pressing foreign governments for their lack of action but ultimately that is the only thing that will truly target slavery deep enough to make a difference.
Hahah. Okay but seriously, even though I feel like this guy comes off pretty sarcastic-he kind of has a point. Most of us have a lot more clothes than we actually need. I am not sure how not buying so many clothes would affect the fight against slavery directly, though I do think buying less of what we want and more of what we need is just altogether better for our growth as an aware individual. I think after actually seeing some of the places that Sam has seen first hand, many of us would realize we live in a nation full of materialism and we could really do without many of the items, such as clothes, that we own. Although, we do live in a different society than most of these places, a materialistic society which demands we have really nice dress pants with a complementary blouse to wear to an interview or work. If a prospective employee showed up at an interview wearing only what he needed to wear to live, he would never get that job. So I don't know, we live in different worlds, though I do think we could still do without a lot of what we own.
Nice idea. Except it probably won’t work. It kind of makes sense though theoretically; if no one bought clothes then everything would be fine, right? But what about food? And all the other products that slaves and sweatshop workers make? Are we just going to use barter for the rest of our lives? Probably not.
I can understand what the student is saying about the t-shirts because I have a similar problem (I prefer the word fetish), but it is for shoes. I have a serious collection of sneakers in my closet at home. I could only bring about one-sixth of the collection to school with me. They simply would not fit here if I tried. But as I got older I started to give shoes that I no longer wear to my grandmother’s church for kids that cannot afford them or could just use a second pair. I guess deep down inside I feel like I am helping someone, doing good. But really, when I look at it from a different perspective, maybe I am just doing it to reassure myself that I am not a bad person and do not support slavery. But I do not feel like I am necessarily helping the people that made the many pairs of shoes that I bought or will buy in the future. I have definitely slowed down my shoe buying, but I don’t know if it is because that is truly what I want to do or if it is because I am now a part of the rest of the broke college community.
This guy has a point, all be it a kind of pointless one, but a point none the less. Yes, most of us have way more clothes than we really need, and giving the ones we don't wear anymore away to charity is a good and kind thing to do. But to go as far as to say completely stop buying clothes? I'm sure every one of us has had that thought pop into our heads during the slavery lectures, but really think about what that would mean. Maybe if everyone in the world went on a big clothing buying boycott slavery would diminish, but so would clothing companies, and possibly a majority of the clothing industry. What affect would that have on the world, we'd get rid of one problem and create many many more. Stopping buying clothing is a good idea, but the wrong course of action for ending slavery in the world.
Unfortunately we live in a world we materialism is what takes the best of us. People always believe in the fact that true happiness comes from the vast amount of items you have, the more money you make the better off you are. We live in a world where people only believe that money brings you happiness. Material items are the things that will being you memories, not the memories that you choose to create with the people that you have around you. With this type of mentality companies want to make more money and make consumers happy with all the materials that they buy to make them happy at a cheaper price. Also by companies using slave labor they are able to make massive profits instead of hiring American workers and having to pay out large amounts and reek there profits. Companies also use slave labor to keep cost low for the consumer because when the price is high the consumer is not happy because they cannot afford to get the things that they want in order to make them happy. We have grown up in a world where it’s a necessity to have things. The hottest cars, the coolest shoes, the latest electronics and usually at a customer preferred price. It would be impossible for people to stop buying these goods that people want so bad. Yes the idea is very good, but at the same time, the wants and demands for today’s standard are so extreme its like asking a smoker to go cold turkey. Its virtually impossible. People today are run by things and materials and don’t even bother to think about the slave labor who made there ipod, but instead ponder on the great price they got it for and slowly move on the next interest of material goods that they strive for. I think we can slowly start acknowledging this type of labor by creating brands that are more expensive but don’t support this type of slavery. For example fair trade. Fair trade certified foods such as coffee and chocolate are certified products meaning that they were made with organic goods by real farmers who sold their goods at the highest market values. Meaning your product wasn’t created from slave labor. If we put this type of thinking on certain brands of clothing where you could see a type of symbol in the tag that represented slave free made that could potentially start a trend of buying clothing that is American made. For example the classic shoe company New Balance is an American company and has been in business for many years and still make profits. They are well known and sell high quality products. If we make the move to purchase goods that are not slave labor produced we can start a new trend in the purchasing of goods that make us happy, by only spending a little bit more money.
Dude, you are hilarious but I respect your efforts. I said in another post that our steps to ending slavery should be steps that we decide to take for ourselves and that is exactly what you did you made your efforts personal and genuine. I must admit it is extreme but if you have the discipline to do it, I must take off my hat to you. I am perplexed at why you gave the shirts you had away. I guess it was another personal gesture. To get rid of a lot of the things that reminded you of the sweat shops, the slavery.
That seems like a great solution in theory. If everyone stopped buying clothes then yes, some slavery would be stopped. All slavery that involved making clothes would dissolve. However, there are plenty of other places where slaves are put to work. Slaves are used to make all different kinds of products. Many things in our households are also made from slave labor. Everything from carpeting, to furniture, to computers, to food, can all be the product of slave labor. Slaves are also not just used to make clothes and other items. They can be used for services, such as the sex laborers that we read about in Disposable People. If we begin giving away our clothes to try and stop slavery, then more slaves may be put to use for prostitution. Also in the book, slaves were used as miners, which would still be possible if we did not buy clothes. It is not just the fact that slaves can be used for other things that takes away from the idea of giving away our clothes. Also, if we simply stop buy clothes, clothing stores will go out of business. If clothing stores go out of business, then many millions of American workers will lose their jobs. Our economy is in such a slump already that if that many people lose their jobs at one time, it will simply collapse. Also, I do not think that you could convince enough people to simply stop buying clothes. For one, I’m a girl and not buying clothes is not in my vocabulary. I love clothes. It would be better to direct people towards clothes that are not slave produced. If people were made more aware of such things, then I’m sure people would be a lot less likely to buy anything produced by slaves. Getting the word out is really the only thing we can do to stop slavery. Until I took this class, I was not aware of how many people actually were still in slavery today. We, as Americans, definitely live in a bubble when it comes to issues going on in the world. If everyone took Soc 119 then they too would know what is going on, but it isn’t possible for all Americans to take this class. So, I think it is us informed people’s responsibility to spread the word about what is going on. Rather than not buying clothes, I think that we should just spread our knowledge.
Is this kid serious? Stop buying clothes? It seems like a complex way of just saying, “Yo, get naked!” Instead of not buying clothes, we should be increasing awareness about this slavery and take action. Maybe wearing a t-shirt that says “End slavery” would be a better idea. Because we are Americans, we rarely see slavery, so it is not in our face that it does exist. We think slavery is a thing of the past, but we need to confront it. We need to support more American businesses that make clothing as to decrease our dependence on cheap labor overseas. I mean, cheap labor is the whole reason we send our clothing overseas anyways. If more people are willing to spend just a little bit more, American companies could later lower prices.
This is an interesting view point because, yes, it is overly simplistic, but also, yes it’s right. The reason for slavery is capitalism; the reason for capitalism is consumerism. Today’s society is increasingly dependent on rampant materialism to ensure that money is made. The notion that one could simply stop buying clothes that one does not need implies that one should just stop buying everything one does not need. Human want is a powerful thing, so I don’t expect this to happen. But a reduction in this behavior could drastically affect the world of slavery, leading to developments that would squash out resisting slave culture. The more taboo it becomes worldwide, the less we’ll see of it.
I like your idea of not buying clothes new. I haven’t bought T-shirts from a brand name store in a while now because I shop at thrift shops sometimes and often find quality items. Purchasing handed-down clothing is a good way to cut costs, cut waste, and halt funding slavery. It’s not the expensive designer brands that are responsible for the sweatshops. High end designer apparel uses quality products and pays reasonable wages to skilled workers. Sometimes it is worth paying the extra money to support proper business activities. When purchasing new clothing simply look at the tag and see where it is made. This is normally a good indicator of whether the product is made from slave resources. The problem is that America has outsourced nearly all of its textile mills and because we demand lower prices. Shopping at Walmart supports outsourcing unskilled jobs. The development of fair trade products opened up a whole new market, and it shows that people are willing to spend more to ensure that their purchase isn’t stained with the blood and sweat of slave labor. After seeing this video about cocoa farming I see that these slaves were tricked into working for no wage, and they just become hopeless. The end of the film was very moving. When the slave was asked what he would want to tell people eating this chocolate he said he wouldn’t say anything nice, and that the chocolate is made of his flesh. I could not eat the second piece of chocolate, even after Sam himself did—acknowledging that we all do it regardless. He makes a very valid point saying that, unless you buy all fair trade products, you might as well eat this man’s flesh, because you will do it when you leave the room anyway. I wish the slaves could just use their strength in numbers and revolt against the overseers. We are all in denial and we support this unless we try not to. Because slavery is all around us we cannot just avoid it without trying to. I think we need to simply make fair trade products more available. I have a feeling that the majority of consumers do not go searching out of their way for fair trade products. If these were more available on shelves people would buy them. I think that this new market is enough initiative for producers to work hard and market fair trade products of all sorts (food, fabric, etc). But anyway, I believe that buying used clothes is a fine idea, but the real way to revolt is to look at the tags and see where the item is made, as well as simply looking for fair trade products.
This is a simple solution, but it is not very likely. Our society thrives off of appearance, and we place too much importance on it. I know that I love shopping and buying new clothes all the time. It is not just a girl thing, either, because lots of guys like to splurge on the latest trends. We should just end slavery by banning anything that does not involve fair trade. Of course, people would still buy and sell illegally, but it would be a huge step towards ending slavery. I give the guy props for wearing the same shirts for 2 years now. I know that I would not be able to do the same.
I can understand where you are coming from by saying that we should stop buying clothes to try to end slavery but in all reality, I definitely think people would have a hard time with that. Everyone likes to buy their new shoes and new outfits and to “have the new” everything. Another issue is that not all of the slavery in the world is included in producing clothes. What about all the females who are forced to work as prostitutes and all the others that are working on plantations? It is really hard to determine what would be the best step to end slavery.
While this kid has the right idea, his solution is not very tangible. People are not going to stop buying new clothes simply because they know that it will stop slavery. This is because they know that even if they stopped, everyone else will continue to buy clothes, so it would not have too much of an effect on slavery. Furthermore, it is unlikely that people would simply just stop buying clothes because clothes are an accepted part of society. Unless there was a mass movement of people stopping their spending on clothes, this idea would have no practical significance and will remain a dream solution. I think that this guy is doing his part and has good intentions, but I just do not see his idea as being applicable to modern society.
Stop buying clothes? I mean it seems like the best solution since it will decrease the demand in the economy and give pressure on clothes manufacturer to invent additional strategies by a more aggressive marketing or else. After having the pressure for long time, the manufacturers will be in a situation whether they choose to close the factories or not. However, stop buying clothes are so painful. It is because of the mass communication media. For instance, there was a new movie or TV show came out where your favorite celebrities wear new styles of clothes. How many people can be completely free from the temptation to search for the clothes and buy it?
Well, I am glad you have decided not to grow for the rest of your life, or shrink for that matter. I guess we could stop buying slave made clothes. I am thinking of a lot of your classmates are going to want to get professional jobs when they graduate, so they are going to need to look professional. They are probably going to need to buy some clothes. That is great that you gave all your clothes away. Sitting in a classroom at the university, it is pretty simple to give away 98% of your clothes and have it have little or no impact on your life. You may also want to stop buying dope. That supports slavery too, dude.
First off, you do not own 150 tee shirts. That is ridiculous. Second, the fact you have not bought any new clothes? Also, ridiculous. Does that include underwear, socks, even Penn State shirts? While it is a nice gesture, instead of not buying clothes and really not doing anything, to make a difference stand up. Join a campaign, tell people about what is actually going on in the world. We all should. I think that the new anti-sweatshop campaigns are great, and really doing a good job to at least raise awareness and show people that this really is a HUGE problem.
Just telling people about it will do something, so people do not unknowingly wear things that are made in sweatshops. The only problem is that it is not only just clothing that ensues cheap-free labor. Everything we have does. And until we do something, everyone is basically being hypocritical. There is no way to live your life, even with the most basic of necessities… everything encompasses some type of slavery. You cannot pick and choose to what you listen to. You cannot say you will not buy clothes to prevent sweatshop workers and eat mountains of chocolate that was made by slaves. You cannot avoid eating rice because it was picked by workers paid 3 cents an hour and use a cell phone with a sim card made by slaves. You cannot… cannot pick and choose.
If you want to be that intense about it, you basically have to live in cave and make own food and clothing. While I am against slavery, I know that stopping to live my life is absurd. I might sound like a bitch about it but it drives me crazy when people are so hypocritical about picking and choosing what to boycott. What we need to do is stand up. We need to raise awareness because that, right now until we find a solution how to finally, finally aboslish slavery everywhere, is the best thing to do. To make people realize the way other people live, and how we so unknowingly benefit from it. People waste away their lives getting paid little to nothing, or actually nothing. It is disgusting how we live our lives knowing this. But unfortunately, at this time, there really is nothing we can do to save these people. We can only learn about what is happening in other countires, and possibly even our own country. So, to the kid in the video, instead of shortening your wardrobe to help prevent this slavery when the shirt you did not buy another kid did, help spread the word about what we saw in the videos and learned in class.
Let’s be honest, everyday nearly everything we use in the United States was somehow produced by slavery. Now I agree that some of Sam’s comments are outrageous relating to “stop” using products made with slavery somehow intertwined. I know I might sound like a typical ignorant American, but in my point of view I can’t really do anything about how the t shirts I wear are made or where and how the food I consume was cultivated. I’m literally an anonymous person, just as Sam stated the other say in class. I could wake up every day and fight the fight against slavery and yeah I might affect a few people, but let’s be honest, I’m not going to change the world. However, with this being said, I am admittedly guilty of buying far too many t shirts even though I only wear about 25% of them. This t shirts might have some roots that trace back to slavery, but the issue is what effect do I have? Yeah I own all these shirts, but I didn’t make a direct order for this individual t shirt. The shirts had been produced through several processes, all of which I was not cognoscente of at the time. All I know is that when I saw the shirt in the store, I like what I saw so I bought it. Thoughts of slavery didn’t run through my mind. And even if they did, quite frankly I’m still going to the buy the shirt if I like it.
I might be the issue or I might not, I don’t know. I know slavery is never really referred to today amongst my group of friends, but if it is, it is usually regarding slavery in the 1800s, not current day slavery, and let alone slavery regarding food. I know I won’t stop buying clothes because of the overseas slavery. I’m not encouraging the process of slavery or approving of the techniques, but like I said before in the big scheme of things I’m no one. I’m not going to change the world. I know it sounds terrible, but it’s the truth. Sometime s people need to realize that we have domestic issues we need to focus on before overseas issues. Healthcare, the Economy, and the War are just a few things we need to put our effort into before truly worrying about how the $10 t shirts we wear are made. I don’t commend slavery and never will, but the companies owners should feel the guilt of this mistreatment of human being and the bad omen shouldn’t wall on the consumers of the products. Because in reality the consumers of these products also don’t have the ability to change the line of production.
Interesting idea, and I definitely admire what you are doing, and I think that if a lot of people in this country especially did the same thing you did, we would be one step closer to equality for all. For me, I just can’t imagine doing that, not that I could not even would not, but it would be such a huge sacrifice. That makes me think about how we really do live in a material world, like that song we saw briefly in class yesterday, and I often wonder what my life would be like, or what kind of life I would lead if I had a lot less things, and a lot more to worry about.
In an ideal world this would be an excellent solution to the problem of slave labor. Some people could probably live by this because t-shirts do last for awhile. However, those shirts were probably made by slaves in the first place. I feel like this is a never ending cycle and I’m not positive on how to fix this huge problem that faces the entire world. It is almost like a lose-lose situation because people either have to spend more money or have slave labors. Some people probably do not care about slave labor and would rather have cheaper clothes and not have to spend more money. I think this is ridiculous but some people care more about having cheaper clothing. Also, it is hard to know which companies use slave labor and which do not. I guess if it is not stated anywhere they do not, they probably do? In that case, it is really hard to purchase clothes not made from slave labor. I really wish I knew something better that I can do to help this cause. I feel like if everyone stopped purchasing clothes from companies that were known for using slave labor then the problem would possibly be able to be impacted. If only a very small portion of people stop purchasing slave labor clothes, I’m not sure how much of an impact this small percentage would do.
In class Sam talked about products that are made without slave labor like certain brands of chocolate and coffee. I think this is a great thing and should be advertised a lot more. I would not mind spending a little more money knowing that what I’m consuming had no part in putting money into slave owner’s hands. I would not have known about this company if it was not for SOC 119 though. I think there should be TV commercials and all different sorts of ads for this type of thing. I think if more people knew about this it would help the cause even more. I also think people are really naive to the problem in the first place. Either people know about slave labor and look the other way or people have no idea what is going on in the first place. People need to be more educated about this problem. If more people knew what was going on with slaves I really truly think that most people would make some sort of effort to stop supporting companies that use slave labor. If more people knew about this then these people would make a huge impact on the companies using slave labor and have no choice but to stop using slave labor. I just hope something can be done and soon.
I guess that would be hilarious way of stopping slavery in a first step basis. But in reality and truth, i guess that is the first step that we must really need to focus on. Out there in the media, we are influenced and exposed to the media where society tells us to look in a certain way to be "hip" or wear things that stars and famous people wear and have the same appearance as them. The companies are selling the items and clothing to us daily and we are buying these clothes occasionally without knowing where these cloths originated from. I think that we must be aware of where the clothing comes from just like the chocolate video and we need to know how to confront the companies without useless companies. Another suggestion is that we must control our style of purchasing items, we cant go on everyday buying things and taking them for granted.
[Reply]
jholzberg8 Reply:
April 10th, 2010 at 3:16 am
The media is definitely the key to bringing awareness to any major issue. Before change can take place, the international community must all become aware of the issue and learn the truth about what is going on. The issue of slavery needs to be discussed on the news, but also I think that documentaries have a lot of power to make an impact on people; like “The Hurt Locker” for example. If the international community saw a documentary about slavery right now, it would bring attention to the issue and then the media could take over by making a point to draw attention to the issue.
[Reply]
I think the not buying clothes anymore has a good point but no one is going to just up and stop wearing close anymore or buying close. I think a better idea would be to stop buying clothes from stores where you know they create a lot of their clothes threw sweatshops and or come up with a way to not have to use sweat shops anymore and just make a 100% legal regular way of producing clothing for people. Because young children all over the world and many people are being put to work for the most minimal amounts of money for long days of labor on clothes. It’s against labor laws and even though it realistically is a very cheap way of producing mass amount of clothing for cheap, it’s wrongs an illegal in most areas. But maybe just stopping all together and no buying anymore clothes would slow things down a little bit so some sort of progress could be made. Because if there wasn’t so much more of a demand for clothes anymore then their wouldn’t be much need to make them. So all the sweatshops would slowly but surely fade out and people will be freed of labor. However on the other hands, where would those people go and find jobs because even though it is hard labor, they still do get paid very very minimal amounts of money and that money is going somewhere. It would be something that would honestly take a long time because if we are talking about sweatshops, those one day may be able to get erased but if we are mainly just talking about slavery and race issues then that will never die because I honestly believe racism will never die, it will just become more and more censored and more and more discrete. It may not be so much in your face but racism wills still living on forever. Racism can’t die because there will never be a time where people do not acknowledge each other for the color of their skin.
[Reply]
I mean that makes a whole lot of sense, but truthfully how many idealistic and altruistic people are there who would stop buying clothes and other sweatshop or slave-made products. The one thing I feel good about that I have done is I haven't gone to Walmart in several years, and most of my family boycotts the store. We must be informed consumers and know what we are buying and exactly where it is coming from.
That said, I applaud this guy for making a somewhat difficult choice in his t-shirt purchasing. It is a shame more people aren't like him around here.
[Reply]
Haha this made me laugh. That’s pretty awesome that you’re doing your part in boycotting things made in sweatshops. I don’t think that the first step of getting rid of slavery in sweatshops is to stop buying clothes though. It’s totally not realistic. I don’t think people are just going to stop buying clothes and stop wearing clothes. Maybe as consumers we should start taking a look at where our clothes are coming from. I think that would be a good first step. Checking labels and only purchasing clothes not made in sweatshops is a good start to help solve this problem.
[Reply]
bpf132 Reply:
April 12th, 2010 at 9:23 pm
While this is a bold move to stop buying clothes all together, this small step is not exactly enough to stop sweat shop labor all together. Unless we all become nudists, at some point you will probably need to purchase some clothes. Even if a bunch of people followed along too, production of clothes in sweat shops will still continue. Just like everyone else is saying, it is more important to find out which stores are using sweat shop labor and avoid them, rather than not buy anymore clothes all together. We should all make an effort to check labels and figure out what companies deserve to be punished.
[Reply]
It might be somewhat impossible to stop buying clothes altogether. What about kids who are growing? Should they never have clothes that actually fit them? Maybe we should just make our own clothes instead. Or even just recycling clothes would help to stop some of the slave labor that goes into making them. I don't really think that not buying clothes is a realistic approach to ending slave labor. The clothing industry is just one part of slavery, there are many other facets that shouldn't just be ignored. In fact, doing something relating to one of those areas might be easier and possibly more effective than halting the clothing industry.
[Reply]
I don’t entirely agree with this student. He said he used to have about 150 t-shirts, but then he realized how they were made so he just gave them away. How does giving away the t-shirts help make people aware of slave use in the world today? By giving them away he is just giving clothes that slaves worked to make to other people so now he doesn’t have to worry about “owning” shirts made by slaves. What he doesn’t understand is that the damage was already done. He already bought the shirts and supported slave use by purchasing the shirts. Giving them away simply just made him feel better about himself.
When he said he does’t buy the shirts anymore is where I give him credit. This shows that he really is trying to make a statement and not help promote slave use. I just wish it only took one person to stop buying shirts made by slaves in order to make a change, but it doesn’t.
[Reply]
MissFancyFeet Reply:
April 9th, 2010 at 7:48 pm
I agree. While I think that his heart is in the right place with this, giving them away isn’t the answer. The t-shirts are still out there somewhere. And it’s not even that fact that now someone else has t-shirt made by slaves. It’s the fact that he just gave them away and – I’m going to assume – didn’t say WHY he was giving them away. I doubt he said “Hey, do you want these t-shirts? I’m not going to use them anymore because I’ve decided that I am against clothes made in sweatshops and refuse to wear them anymore.” It was probably just like a normal cleaning-out-your-closet ritual. I’ll give him props on not buying any more slave-produced t-shirts, but I think he could have done a great thing by speaking up about it. And he just did now, so that’s a good start!!
[Reply]
The_Brigadier Reply:
April 9th, 2010 at 11:53 pm
Good point. I wouldn’t say never buy new clothes but making it a habit to adopt used clothing is an economically, ethically, and environmentally sound idea. Granted, your proposition is too “radical,” and too “great a sacrifice,” I agree with you (the one who posed the question). Most people will disagree however. Why, because it is a burden they are not willing to accept. The suggested sacrifice is much too much to ask. I’m mean, be reasonable, how could I ever give up my Abecrombie wear? God, these slaves are demanding.
Sarcasm aside, my satire only reflects the truth of other user’s commentary of which you (person I am replying to) are but a drop in the ocean. It is typical to challenge the validity of a powerful idea, especially one which mandate personal sacrifice. You attempt to debunk something, with the fear that if proven true, would require of you to give up something you enjoy. If ceasing to buy new clothing would disrupt slavery, you’d fight it because admitting so would place a huge ethical burden on you to continue your behavior.
How does giving away the t-shirts help make people aware of slave use in the world today? By giving them away he is just giving clothes that slaves worked to make to other people so now he doesn’t have to worry about “owning” shirts made by slaves.
Response: This is simply not true. Imagine that person 1 has 150 T-shirts. Persons 2 -11 each need clothing. Instead of purchasing 10 T-shirts each, they can get them from person 1. That’s 100 less new T-shirts purchased, which you agree in your second paragraph, help make a stand against slavery. If many people would do the same, which they are fully capable, it would start to make a difference. Hand-me-downs are free. Used clothing is considerably cheaper than new clothing. Thrift stores are easy to find. It makes economically.
Don’t buy as much clothing in the first place too. Most of own substantially more clothing than we need. As much as you like to think you ‘need’ 50 pairs of shoes you don’t. Gluttony only goes to show one’s indifference to others. I don’t believe this will actually solve the issue, but the original poster never claimed it would. It is a nice symbolic gesture that has economic co-benefits. Ultimately change needs to come about in the corporations themselves (like that would ever happen), so actually government needs to mandate business practices. Until then will continue to witness the systematic impoverishment of the third world for the sake of first world convenience. Worst of all, people are willing to turn a blind eye, to get a little sleep at night.
[Reply]
I think that this guy has a great point. We don't need to keep buying clothes, once we stop growing. Realistically, if we do laundry once every two weeks, we only need 14 shirts, but lets make it 16 for good measure. Those sixteen shirts will last probably around five years give or take. The thing we need to change is our mindset. We need to measure our own self worth not by how new and cool our clothes are, but by the content of our character, as Martin Luther King says. We have been socially conditioned to believe that we need to stay up with the latest trends and fashions, in order to be cool and hip, but that is fucking bullshit! its a scheme designed to keep us buying! seriously, take a step back and think about it. What drives us to buy new stuff? We want recognition from others, so that it boosts our sense of self worth. But if we measure our self worth by how much compassion we treat others with, and not buy what we own and buy, then we can reduce sweatshops and slavery.
Put yourself in the position of a sweatshop worker. No, actually do it. Every morning you wake up and work in a factory with hundreds of other workers, doing the same monotonous task over and over for many many hours for almost zero wages. That is your LIFE. Why do you have this life? Who benefits from your work? Americans, and other westerners, who buy a new pair of shoes every two weeks, because the other ones got a fucking speck of dirt on them.
THE ULTIMATE REASON WHY SLAVERY AND SWEATSHOPS CONTINUE IS THE 3 D's: DISTANCING, DISTRACTION, and DENIAL First, we say, oh well its happening far away, so it doesn't really matter, and we have no direct connection…maybe its not that bad. Then we distract ourselves with the zillion and a half distractions in America: Tv, video games, drugs, alcohol, partying, etc. This way, we don't actually feel the pain that our brothers and sisters of other bioregions suffer on a daily basis, because of our lifestyles. Then lastly, the most powerful of all…..DENIAL…we just convince ourselves that sweatshops aren't real, or slavery is real, or the facts aren't true, or that its not really that bad.
We don't choose what part of the world we are born in…but we can choose what to do with the life that we have…
[Reply]
crm5184 Reply:
April 13th, 2010 at 7:26 pm
I completely agree with this post and the questioner… I mean, I think it's pretty much an impossible task to convince many Americans to actually do this, but if you could it'd definitely have a huge effect on the way things are. American consumerism is a huge contributor to the fact that slavery is still alive and thriving today. It rules and affects every aspect of our lives- the commercials we see on t.v., the clothes we want to wear, the music we want to listen to, the cars we drive, the newest phones and ipods that we have, etc. And all of these things seem so critically important to us… But how we live would be a shock to the majority of the world, all of those people who are living on less than two dollars a day (most of us probably spend twice that just on our morning coffee every day!). In our culture we buy new clothes every time we get a little bit bored of the current clothes in our closet and for just about every occasion we can think of , including an entire new wardrobe for each season of the year. Because of deals with cell phone companies, most of us get new phones at least every two years, and we're constantly buying the newest and greatest models of cars. It's sickening to think about in comparison with the millions of people who are starving every day because they can't even afford to buy food, which is why slavery is still around today. People who are desperate and starving are entering into bonded labor just to guarantee a little bit of food each day. So what if we stopped buying new clothes? Not only would we be creating less of a demand for the clothing produced by slave labor in sweat shops, but we would all have a lot more money to spare… which we could possibly donate to charities working in this poor countries? O we could spend more money on ensuring that other items that we buy, for example chocolate and coffee, are fair trade and therefore not supporting slave labor? Just an idea… But in reality, after you've gone through your childhood years, your not really growing that much anymore (unless your putting on the freshman fifteen in college) so why do we need more clothes? What if we all just had the minimum number of clothes necessary to ensure we're not all walking around naked? Because keeping up with the new trends and fashions is the end all and be all of our country, particularly among our age group. It's like we're all trying to display status, wealth, popularity, etc by what we're wearing on our bodies. To really put this idea into action to the point that it would make any difference in the world would require a huge overhaul of our current values and ideals. But it makes sense that if people stopped buying new clothes together, no one would feel the pressure to be dressed in the newest trends and to impress everyone with their outfits. If it seems unrealistic, I think it's just because it really is so simple an idea. But it's simple, easy choices like to stop buying new clothes that can really make a difference.
[Reply]
My fellow hippy I am on 100 percent agreement with you. Each and every one of us has the power to change we just chose the easy route and let other people who we never see sacrifice themselves so we can go on living in ignorance; because if we are stuck inside our cocoon we don’t have to see the sad reality that we are contributing to every single second of every single day. It is so easy for us to pretend we don’t see it. But when each of us decides to leave our cocoons and make small sacrifices the world will be filled with more beautiful butterflies.
[Reply]
redsoxnation222 Reply:
April 9th, 2010 at 5:56 pm
This whole plan of boycotting sweatshops is so unrealistic. You would have to have almost every person in America to partake in it. It's just not going to happen. If things are ever going to be solved it's going to take the government to get involved. So I feel the real first step will be to elect government officials that will take a stand on this. There just aren't enough people in the world that will stand side by side on this issue. You have to do what you can to live in this world not everyone can afford the expensive cloths, sometimes the cheaper option is just the sweatshop cloths. Not saying its right just how it is.
[Reply]
BruceEtt Reply:
April 10th, 2010 at 3:33 pm
But can't the people change how it is? Isn’t that the foundation that America was built upon? I wasn't saying boycott sweatshops all together but rather make a conscious decision to avoid them whenever possible. As far as your point with government officials I would agree with you but sweatshops mean very little in the current realm of politics, which has become so corrupt and diluted. I would even argue that the majority of Americans would boycott sweatshops, however impossible that may seem, before we get politicians who are truly honest and truly care more about people than they care about profit.
[Reply]
This is just not realistic. Do you really expect everyone to just not buy any new clothes after a certain point? C’mon. And this argument or solution is one dimensional. Even if you could get everyone, by some miracle, to stop buying clothes, which would be stupid anyway, the economy and in turn, a lot of other people would be largely affected. I don’t think this is the right or realistic approach to put an end to slavery. Slavery is bigger than that. And by buying clothes at some point slave labor is already supported, the damage is done, just not to the extent it would be if someone continuously bought clothes throughout their life.
[Reply]
iunlearn Reply:
April 9th, 2010 at 7:52 pm
you're too young to be so cynical.
[Reply]
iunlearn Reply:
April 9th, 2010 at 7:52 pm
you're too young to be so cynical.
[Reply]
This is a funny comment, but in reality that’s just not possible. I could never not buy clothes for two year. For example, I have an internship. For my internship I need to dress business casual every day. I don’t really think that my boss would appreciate me wearing the same pair of two year old dress pants and a two year old button down shirt to work every day. Yes it is sad that the clothing I buy and wear every day is made by slaves, but I really feel like I have no other choice. It would be nice if I could get all my clothes from somewhere like Free People which uses no slave labor but their stuff is ridiculously expensive and being in college I really can’t afford to do that.
[Reply]
redsoxnation222 Reply:
April 9th, 2010 at 5:58 pm
I agree there is no way that this is possible. Giving away your shirts is a nice thing to do some people said that it doesn't help the problem just may clean your conscious. I have to disagree with that the truth is it may have helped the problem because the people that got those shirts may have been potential customers of sweatshop dealers so by getting the clothes for free from you the sweatshops lost out. So I commend you for that but this whole issue is unrealistic to solve unless the government becomes involved.
[Reply]
In response to the anti-slavery quote, I feel that the solution that the student presented is irrational and make belief. I don’t the student, in fact I’ve never seen him before, but the student is lying. There is no way he went two years without buying a t-shirt and if he did it wasn’t to stop slavery in foreign countries. I do admit, I like his attitude to take a stand on an issue that is very prevalent in today’s society. I hope he’s and individual that also is part of an anti-slavery group at Penn State or a nationwide one. Unfortunately, as I type this blog there are still millions of slave workers around the world. Many of my objects that I own can probably be traced back to a slave indirectly. So a solution that many people think is possible is buy from companies that uses no child labor and foreign slavery.
[Reply]
This is a very useful tactic if many people joined the trend but there is a problem, many people are not joining the trend. Life is too busy in today’s society for people to stop buying a low priced item. People see a deal in the market place, (Wal-Mart, Target), and they buy the product without hesitation. Many people don’t look at the tag and immediately know if the shirt was made with slave hands. The plan to boycott slave produced clothing is a very moral idea but it is too ineffective. There are not enough people in the world that would follow the cause everyday in society. If the trend would be not to buy slave made clothes then the slave holders would have them make something else. I doubt that slave holders are not intelligent people. In order to run any type of successful business there has to be compromise and evolution.
[Reply]
Slavery is an example of a business that has to comprise and evolve into something that is undetectable. For example, I just went to lunch with my friend. She asked if I have any homework to do for the rest of today. I replied that I’m in the process of blogging on slavery in the modern world. She was astonished because she didn’t even know slavery still existed. I had to inform her that there are 27 million slaves in the world today and the number is growing with correspondence to the world population. Now, how is she going to know what clothing to buy and not buy? It is virtually impossible for everyone to know the extent of slavery. The reason for this is that the media never mentions modern day slavery. It is like it doesn’t exist. The only to prevent slavery is to widely publicize its whereabouts so that individual organizations can make a stand.
[Reply]
I somewhat agree with this statement. Not all clothes are made by slaves though, mainly just cheap brands such as WalMart, like Sam said. I think America is so materialized that we don’t think about what other people around the world don’t have. Instead of buying a 60 dollar pair of jeans from American Eagle, that we probably don’t need, think about how maybe slaves you could feed for a week with that money. I think clothes are a necessity in life but number one, we shouldn’t be buying them from WalMart, because children in sweat shops produced them, and two, we should buy reasonably priced clothing and consider giving extra money to starving slaves are people living in poverty.
[Reply]
Well, I applaud you for taking your own personal first step towards ending global inequality and sweatshop labor. Perhaps a more realistic goal for people, who would like to continue buying clothes, is to make a conscious effort to see where the clothes you buy come from. Once you understand that your purchases may be made in less than fair working arrangements, if not sweatshops, it becomes easier to make smarter choices where and what clothes you buy. I’m not recommending that everyone be clad one hundred percent in American Apparel but making smarter choices and understanding where clothing comes from, even if it sometimes is unsavory news, can help to aid in making better clothing choices.
[Reply]
Additional Blog#2
Although the solution to the problem of helping to not support sweatshops and slavery sound good, I think it is impossible to follow. We all need clothes. You can never just stop buying clothes. Seriously, would you really walk around everywhere naked all day long?
I understand that the person who came up with this solution is saying that if we stop buying clothes that, it may cause those who own the sweat shops to lose money and hopefully set those free of bondage, but if you give away the clothes, are you not still supporting slavery? Are we not just passing the hard work of slaves on? I mean there will never be an easy way to escape the in and outs of slavery. Yes, this a good start, but we really must be realistic.
If we really want to put an end to slavery and sweat shops, let’s start doing some serious research. Figure out ways to get in touch with people of our government, force our government people to push the envelope and save those who cannot save themselves. I’m pretty sure we would all want to be rescued by someone who had the power and resources to help.
[Reply]
Honestly this is this is dumb and impossible for every single person. This would cause too many problems for a 100 word blog but i will try to consolidate. First of all for me personally clothes express my personality and I love buying new clothes each season and expressing myself in different ways. As well, if nobody bought clothes ever the economy would crash even more then it already has. The fashion industry is such a large part of American society and is involved in many other businesses rather than clothing. the fashion industry affects the magazine industry, the television industry, the music industry and many more industries. Now days it is very possible to purchase clothes that are enviormentally friendly and made strictly in America. This boys decision is very bold and if it is working for him then props to him but it seems like a relatively unrealistic and irrational goal.
[Reply]
Yes that might work to end slavery but also it ends a lot of workers job opportunities. The ultimate cause of slavery is poverty. If we don't do something to change the situation, what we have done is meaningless. Sometimes I think slavery is good- at least it keeps those people (slaves) alive. Without slavery and the extreme fortune distribution system, nobody is going to live a better life in those countries– because they are still poor. "Fairness" is very important, but before saying anything about fairness the society has to achieve a level of stable efficiency ( productivity). If no productivity, talking about fairness is like manufacturing a car without the invention of petro.
[Reply]
I don't think that this is the smartest way to go about stopping modern day slavery. I mean, theoretically, it might work but it's not the most efficient way to go about doing it. Also, with this plan, it would probably end with our economy going down in shambles since all of out retail stores would go out of business. However, this issue at hand has been present for a while now and something needs to be done. In no circumstance, should a human being be treated like an animal or an object. People are not property, no matter their race, gender, or socioeconomic status. The problem is that this issue is so world wide, it is tough to control and regulate all of the countries.
It would be nice to believe that we could just get all of the governments to crack down on slavery and believe that every country would do their best to comply with our demands. However, living in this world, I think that we all know that it just wouldn't happen. With money controlling almost every society in the world, there is always going to be corruption and "dirty play". When I read the book, Disposable People, it really opened my eyes to what was going on in the world. How can we expect to be able to stop slavery when governments are willing to pretend that it's not happening? Not to mention the fact that even when governments try to do something about it the people that are suppose to enforcing the policies are corrupt. When judges and police officers are being paid off there is no hope for the victims in this tragedy. People are willing to "put a price" on human lives which is totally inhumane. We need to find away to successfully eliminate this problem and from what I'm hearing, nobody has any legitimate ideas. To add on to what I stated earlier, with money driven societies, people think that it is acceptable to bend the rules in order to succeed. And this goes both ways. As consumers we may say that we don't approve of slavery and that we want it to stop. But imagine the uproar that it would cause if companies like Walmart changed there ways. Prices of goods would dramatically increase then everyone would start complaining. As a country, and human beings, we have to accept the fact that there would be changes and approve of them. Peoples' lives are at stake and we have to be willing to spend a little more money in order to save them.
[Reply]
This is kind of funny and kind of smart lol. I mean I think it would be virtually impossible to stop buying clothes altogether because we are still growing and need new clothes. But this would be a good idea if you could actually get more people to follow and do it too. Not only that but it would spread knowledge to more people. People would see that it really is a big deal because some people do not even know that it is going. Before Sam’s class I did not know too much about it and now I see how horrible it is.
[Reply]
I do agree with your idea to stop buying clothes, but I feel like eventually that would fall through because you will have to buy new clothes eventually. You can't wear the same clothes your whole life. However, it is very impressive that you are actually taking action against this horrific scenario and doing what you can to help. I just feel like it would be so hard to get everyone along with your idea of not buying clothes. There are too many materialistic people in the world who only care about themselves and will never stop buying the designer clothes and such. Also, all the big companies like Nike and all use sweat shops and slavery and it's going to be almost impossible to get people to stop buying Nike products. My solution would be to just search and find clothing companies that guarantee that they don't use sweat shops so you can still buy new clothing but you don't have to worry about people being mistreated to make your clothes.
[Reply]
I think it's great that you could keep up that idea and stop buying clothes. Obviously it takes a very strong will to carry that plan out. I don't think it's completely necessary though. Just like chocolate there are clothes that are not the product of forced labor. Finding out which brands incorporate this ideal into their manufacturing might be a stronger move. That way you can still buy clothes when you need them but you're not paying into slave labor. So if this is working for you, then keep it up!! For someone who wants a baby step first, maybe start by doing some research on which clothing brands have stepped away from sweatshops and forced labor.
[Reply]
Dude that is pretty tough to do. I mean you said stop slavery and buying clothes is just a small part of it. You'd honestly probably have to move away from everything and live on your own to completely avoid the products of slavery. From all the evidence we have seen, whether it was reading that book, or listening to Sam's lectures, it is pretty obvious that new world slavery is almost everywhere. It is a nice idea to stop buying clothes or stop eating chocolate or whatever else you can think of, but it seems that there will always be some sort of materialistic good that is a product of some form of slavery. It is just a really sad thought.
[Reply]
I agree that it is important to stop buying clothes that are produced in sweatshops with cheap labor or even by slaves. However, it’s difficult, especially now with the financial situation in our country. Many people don’t have much money to spend and when the need clothes, they look for the cheapest option. Also, when people buy clothes, they don’t consider where they were made or who made them, but rather what clothes they want to buy and wear. I think you’re idea is good because that is what needs to happen so that the factories can shut down, but I don’t think that it’s realistic because people are always looking for cheaper ways to buy things.
[Reply]
Hahah well that is an option. But also you could purchase clothes that are made without the use of slaves or sweatshop labor – that does exist. And join the movement! Increase awareness of the number of sweatshops in the world and pressure the big corporations that are exploiting labor. Like Nike. Last night I went to listen to the two women from Honduras that USAS brought in to speak about their experiences in sweatshop labor. After hearing them speak I’m further convinced that our power as students at Penn State is indispensable, and we actually can make a difference.
[Reply]
However easy it sounds, I think that would be hard to do. And even if you did buy "less" clothes, you would still probably have purchased something from a sweatshop. You can't boycott clothing all together, you will eventually need to buy it. I think this is too extremely of a measure. What's next are you going to boycott chocolate, coffee, and any other commodity? I think a better solution would be too make sure that the clothing you are actually buying is produced in a sweatshop free environment, rather than not purchase it at all. I wouldn't mind paying a little more for somehting I know is produced the right way.
[Reply]
I don not think that is a reasonable solution to the problem of slavery. At some point you will need to buy new clothes. I think a better solution would be to buy clothing that has the stamp of approval, meaning that was not made in sweat shops or by slavery. I think it isn’t logical to say don’t buy anymore clothes because he sweat shops will still make them and then the slaves are working in horrible conditions for nothing. It is like if you threw away the second chocolate; you would have just wasted what they suffered for.
[Reply]
I think this form of boycott is an admirable way try and stop slavery. Developed nations like ours consume so much more than we should ever need, and it is our consumerism that really drives sweatshops and slavery. I certainly have my flaws and weaknesses for certain things, and I have bought things I really do not need, but I think I do a pretty good job of only buying what I need. Furthermore, when I do waste money it is usually on things like alcohol or a night out, which do not directly affect slavery. But when we place so much value on material possessions, we feel compelled to buy things. It is a mark of status to wear nice clothes and have nice things, and with the fast rate at which new technology comes about and the fast rate at which fashion changes, we must buy things constantly in order to keep up with it all.
Not to be sexist, but I think we really need to look to women about a lot of this stuff. Every woman I know loves to shop, and buy clothes they really don’t need. My mother has over sixty pairs of shoes and my sister and girlfriend have more clothes than they ever could need. They could not do laundry for 2 months and still have a clean article of clothing to put on every day. I have always just seen it as a waste of money, but I now see it as a perpetuation of slavery. I am sure that many will fight for women and say that women only do what they do because of the popular images of beauty that are created by men, but most men, including myself, condemn such shopping and the nature of the fashion industry. When I have asked my girlfriend in the past why she feels the need to buy so many clothes and look fashionable, she said that it is not for men. She and her friends say that they dress up for each other to show each other that they have good taste. So even though there is a socially constructed standard of beauty created by men, women tend to be more concerned with how other women view them.
So in conclusion, all of us really need to watch what we buy. I would not go as extreme as the student in the video, in that I am not willing to stop buying new clothes all together, but I do think one should only buy what one needs, and only seldom buy what one wants. I am not perfect, and I do give into temptation, but if we can cut back on our rates of consumption, then we can cut down on the rates of production. This means that we will take the need for slavery away. It’s not a fool proof plan because then we are taking wealth out of these already poor regions, but what is important is that we are taking money from the people in power. As for my attack on women, I apologize if I have stereotyped the gender, but I think few can argue that overall, women shop more than men, and women tend to have more stuff they don’t need than men as far as things like clothes are concerned. People need to put less stock in what a person is wearing, so that we can abandon this dangerous consumer lifestyle. Moderation is the key, and if we can achieve this, I think we will put a dent in the issue of modern day slavery.
[Reply]
That's pretty funny and it would be awesome if it worked like that but unfortunately it doesn't. Even though you aren't buying the clothes the clothes are still being made in those sweatshops. Someone out there will buy it. The only way to actually stop the slavery and sweatshops it to get to the root of the problem and stop it. With things like fair trade brands and petitions to stop companies from purchasing materials made in these sweatshops we can help get rid of the problem. This is also kind of like the chocolate thing because if didn't eat the second piece of chocolate you'd be wasting what they slaved over. It would be rude to not eat their hard work after knowing what they went through to bring that piece of chocolate to your desk. If you bought a shirt and then found out it was made by slaves and you threw it out you would be throwing away what they suffered for. I think this is a funny way to help out the cause, unfortunately, it really won't do any good.
[Reply]
This is just funny to be honest. It is essentially along the lines of “to solve poverty we should all give our money away.” It addresses, in health related terms, the symptoms and not the actual disease. Slavery is bad, that is pretty well understood by the people in our class. However the best way to solve it is not to attack the symptoms of slavery (in this case clothing made cheaply), rather you must attack what is causing slavery. We can tip toe around pressing foreign governments for their lack of action but ultimately that is the only thing that will truly target slavery deep enough to make a difference.
[Reply]
Hahah. Okay but seriously, even though I feel like this guy comes off pretty sarcastic-he kind of has a point. Most of us have a lot more clothes than we actually need. I am not sure how not buying so many clothes would affect the fight against slavery directly, though I do think buying less of what we want and more of what we need is just altogether better for our growth as an aware individual. I think after actually seeing some of the places that Sam has seen first hand, many of us would realize we live in a nation full of materialism and we could really do without many of the items, such as clothes, that we own. Although, we do live in a different society than most of these places, a materialistic society which demands we have really nice dress pants with a complementary blouse to wear to an interview or work. If a prospective employee showed up at an interview wearing only what he needed to wear to live, he would never get that job. So I don't know, we live in different worlds, though I do think we could still do without a lot of what we own.
[Reply]
Nice idea. Except it probably won’t work. It kind of makes sense though theoretically; if no one bought clothes then everything would be fine, right? But what about food? And all the other products that slaves and sweatshop workers make? Are we just going to use barter for the rest of our lives? Probably not.
I can understand what the student is saying about the t-shirts because I have a similar problem (I prefer the word fetish), but it is for shoes. I have a serious collection of sneakers in my closet at home. I could only bring about one-sixth of the collection to school with me. They simply would not fit here if I tried. But as I got older I started to give shoes that I no longer wear to my grandmother’s church for kids that cannot afford them or could just use a second pair. I guess deep down inside I feel like I am helping someone, doing good. But really, when I look at it from a different perspective, maybe I am just doing it to reassure myself that I am not a bad person and do not support slavery. But I do not feel like I am necessarily helping the people that made the many pairs of shoes that I bought or will buy in the future. I have definitely slowed down my shoe buying, but I don’t know if it is because that is truly what I want to do or if it is because I am now a part of the rest of the broke college community.
[Reply]
This guy has a point, all be it a kind of pointless one, but a point none the less. Yes, most of us have way more clothes than we really need, and giving the ones we don't wear anymore away to charity is a good and kind thing to do. But to go as far as to say completely stop buying clothes? I'm sure every one of us has had that thought pop into our heads during the slavery lectures, but really think about what that would mean. Maybe if everyone in the world went on a big clothing buying boycott slavery would diminish, but so would clothing companies, and possibly a majority of the clothing industry. What affect would that have on the world, we'd get rid of one problem and create many many more. Stopping buying clothing is a good idea, but the wrong course of action for ending slavery in the world.
[Reply]
Unfortunately we live in a world we materialism is what takes the best of us. People always believe in the fact that true happiness comes from the vast amount of items you have, the more money you make the better off you are. We live in a world where people only believe that money brings you happiness. Material items are the things that will being you memories, not the memories that you choose to create with the people that you have around you. With this type of mentality companies want to make more money and make consumers happy with all the materials that they buy to make them happy at a cheaper price. Also by companies using slave labor they are able to make massive profits instead of hiring American workers and having to pay out large amounts and reek there profits. Companies also use slave labor to keep cost low for the consumer because when the price is high the consumer is not happy because they cannot afford to get the things that they want in order to make them happy. We have grown up in a world where it’s a necessity to have things. The hottest cars, the coolest shoes, the latest electronics and usually at a customer preferred price. It would be impossible for people to stop buying these goods that people want so bad. Yes the idea is very good, but at the same time, the wants and demands for today’s standard are so extreme its like asking a smoker to go cold turkey. Its virtually impossible. People today are run by things and materials and don’t even bother to think about the slave labor who made there ipod, but instead ponder on the great price they got it for and slowly move on the next interest of material goods that they strive for. I think we can slowly start acknowledging this type of labor by creating brands that are more expensive but don’t support this type of slavery. For example fair trade. Fair trade certified foods such as coffee and chocolate are certified products meaning that they were made with organic goods by real farmers who sold their goods at the highest market values. Meaning your product wasn’t created from slave labor. If we put this type of thinking on certain brands of clothing where you could see a type of symbol in the tag that represented slave free made that could potentially start a trend of buying clothing that is American made. For example the classic shoe company New Balance is an American company and has been in business for many years and still make profits. They are well known and sell high quality products. If we make the move to purchase goods that are not slave labor produced we can start a new trend in the purchasing of goods that make us happy, by only spending a little bit more money.
[Reply]
Dude, you are hilarious but I respect your efforts. I said in another post that our steps to ending slavery should be steps that we decide to take for ourselves and that is exactly what you did you made your efforts personal and genuine. I must admit it is extreme but if you have the discipline to do it, I must take off my hat to you. I am perplexed at why you gave the shirts you had away. I guess it was another personal gesture. To get rid of a lot of the things that reminded you of the sweat shops, the slavery.
[Reply]
That seems like a great solution in theory. If everyone stopped buying clothes then yes, some slavery would be stopped. All slavery that involved making clothes would dissolve. However, there are plenty of other places where slaves are put to work. Slaves are used to make all different kinds of products. Many things in our households are also made from slave labor. Everything from carpeting, to furniture, to computers, to food, can all be the product of slave labor. Slaves are also not just used to make clothes and other items. They can be used for services, such as the sex laborers that we read about in Disposable People. If we begin giving away our clothes to try and stop slavery, then more slaves may be put to use for prostitution. Also in the book, slaves were used as miners, which would still be possible if we did not buy clothes. It is not just the fact that slaves can be used for other things that takes away from the idea of giving away our clothes. Also, if we simply stop buy clothes, clothing stores will go out of business. If clothing stores go out of business, then many millions of American workers will lose their jobs. Our economy is in such a slump already that if that many people lose their jobs at one time, it will simply collapse. Also, I do not think that you could convince enough people to simply stop buying clothes. For one, I’m a girl and not buying clothes is not in my vocabulary. I love clothes. It would be better to direct people towards clothes that are not slave produced. If people were made more aware of such things, then I’m sure people would be a lot less likely to buy anything produced by slaves. Getting the word out is really the only thing we can do to stop slavery. Until I took this class, I was not aware of how many people actually were still in slavery today. We, as Americans, definitely live in a bubble when it comes to issues going on in the world. If everyone took Soc 119 then they too would know what is going on, but it isn’t possible for all Americans to take this class. So, I think it is us informed people’s responsibility to spread the word about what is going on. Rather than not buying clothes, I think that we should just spread our knowledge.
[Reply]
Is this kid serious? Stop buying clothes? It seems like a complex way of just saying, “Yo, get naked!” Instead of not buying clothes, we should be increasing awareness about this slavery and take action. Maybe wearing a t-shirt that says “End slavery” would be a better idea. Because we are Americans, we rarely see slavery, so it is not in our face that it does exist. We think slavery is a thing of the past, but we need to confront it. We need to support more American businesses that make clothing as to decrease our dependence on cheap labor overseas. I mean, cheap labor is the whole reason we send our clothing overseas anyways. If more people are willing to spend just a little bit more, American companies could later lower prices.
[Reply]
This is an interesting view point because, yes, it is overly simplistic, but also, yes it’s right. The reason for slavery is capitalism; the reason for capitalism is consumerism. Today’s society is increasingly dependent on rampant materialism to ensure that money is made. The notion that one could simply stop buying clothes that one does not need implies that one should just stop buying everything one does not need. Human want is a powerful thing, so I don’t expect this to happen. But a reduction in this behavior could drastically affect the world of slavery, leading to developments that would squash out resisting slave culture. The more taboo it becomes worldwide, the less we’ll see of it.
[Reply]
I like your idea of not buying clothes new. I haven’t bought T-shirts from a brand name store in a while now because I shop at thrift shops sometimes and often find quality items. Purchasing handed-down clothing is a good way to cut costs, cut waste, and halt funding slavery. It’s not the expensive designer brands that are responsible for the sweatshops. High end designer apparel uses quality products and pays reasonable wages to skilled workers. Sometimes it is worth paying the extra money to support proper business activities. When purchasing new clothing simply look at the tag and see where it is made. This is normally a good indicator of whether the product is made from slave resources. The problem is that America has outsourced nearly all of its textile mills and because we demand lower prices. Shopping at Walmart supports outsourcing unskilled jobs. The development of fair trade products opened up a whole new market, and it shows that people are willing to spend more to ensure that their purchase isn’t stained with the blood and sweat of slave labor. After seeing this video about cocoa farming I see that these slaves were tricked into working for no wage, and they just become hopeless. The end of the film was very moving. When the slave was asked what he would want to tell people eating this chocolate he said he wouldn’t say anything nice, and that the chocolate is made of his flesh. I could not eat the second piece of chocolate, even after Sam himself did—acknowledging that we all do it regardless. He makes a very valid point saying that, unless you buy all fair trade products, you might as well eat this man’s flesh, because you will do it when you leave the room anyway. I wish the slaves could just use their strength in numbers and revolt against the overseers. We are all in denial and we support this unless we try not to. Because slavery is all around us we cannot just avoid it without trying to. I think we need to simply make fair trade products more available. I have a feeling that the majority of consumers do not go searching out of their way for fair trade products. If these were more available on shelves people would buy them. I think that this new market is enough initiative for producers to work hard and market fair trade products of all sorts (food, fabric, etc). But anyway, I believe that buying used clothes is a fine idea, but the real way to revolt is to look at the tags and see where the item is made, as well as simply looking for fair trade products.
[Reply]
This is a simple solution, but it is not very likely. Our society thrives off of appearance, and we place too much importance on it. I know that I love shopping and buying new clothes all the time. It is not just a girl thing, either, because lots of guys like to splurge on the latest trends. We should just end slavery by banning anything that does not involve fair trade. Of course, people would still buy and sell illegally, but it would be a huge step towards ending slavery. I give the guy props for wearing the same shirts for 2 years now. I know that I would not be able to do the same.
[Reply]
I can understand where you are coming from by saying that we should stop buying clothes to try to end slavery but in all reality, I definitely think people would have a hard time with that. Everyone likes to buy their new shoes and new outfits and to “have the new” everything. Another issue is that not all of the slavery in the world is included in producing clothes. What about all the females who are forced to work as prostitutes and all the others that are working on plantations? It is really hard to determine what would be the best step to end slavery.
[Reply]
While this kid has the right idea, his solution is not very tangible. People are not going to stop buying new clothes simply because they know that it will stop slavery. This is because they know that even if they stopped, everyone else will continue to buy clothes, so it would not have too much of an effect on slavery. Furthermore, it is unlikely that people would simply just stop buying clothes because clothes are an accepted part of society. Unless there was a mass movement of people stopping their spending on clothes, this idea would have no practical significance and will remain a dream solution. I think that this guy is doing his part and has good intentions, but I just do not see his idea as being applicable to modern society.
[Reply]
Stop buying clothes? I mean it seems like the best solution since it will decrease the demand in the economy and give pressure on clothes manufacturer to invent additional strategies by a more aggressive marketing or else. After having the pressure for long time, the manufacturers will be in a situation whether they choose to close the factories or not. However, stop buying clothes are so painful. It is because of the mass communication media. For instance, there was a new movie or TV show came out where your favorite celebrities wear new styles of clothes. How many people can be completely free from the temptation to search for the clothes and buy it?
[Reply]
Well, I am glad you have decided not to grow for the rest of your life, or shrink for that matter. I guess we could stop buying slave made clothes. I am thinking of a lot of your classmates are going to want to get professional jobs when they graduate, so they are going to need to look professional. They are probably going to need to buy some clothes. That is great that you gave all your clothes away. Sitting in a classroom at the university, it is pretty simple to give away 98% of your clothes and have it have little or no impact on your life. You may also want to stop buying dope. That supports slavery too, dude.
[Reply]
First off, you do not own 150 tee shirts. That is ridiculous. Second, the fact you have not bought any new clothes? Also, ridiculous. Does that include underwear, socks, even Penn State shirts? While it is a nice gesture, instead of not buying clothes and really not doing anything, to make a difference stand up. Join a campaign, tell people about what is actually going on in the world. We all should. I think that the new anti-sweatshop campaigns are great, and really doing a good job to at least raise awareness and show people that this really is a HUGE problem.
[Reply]
Just telling people about it will do something, so people do not unknowingly wear things that are made in sweatshops. The only problem is that it is not only just clothing that ensues cheap-free labor. Everything we have does. And until we do something, everyone is basically being hypocritical. There is no way to live your life, even with the most basic of necessities… everything encompasses some type of slavery. You cannot pick and choose to what you listen to. You cannot say you will not buy clothes to prevent sweatshop workers and eat mountains of chocolate that was made by slaves. You cannot avoid eating rice because it was picked by workers paid 3 cents an hour and use a cell phone with a sim card made by slaves. You cannot… cannot pick and choose.
[Reply]
If you want to be that intense about it, you basically have to live in cave and make own food and clothing. While I am against slavery, I know that stopping to live my life is absurd. I might sound like a bitch about it but it drives me crazy when people are so hypocritical about picking and choosing what to boycott. What we need to do is stand up. We need to raise awareness because that, right now until we find a solution how to finally, finally aboslish slavery everywhere, is the best thing to do. To make people realize the way other people live, and how we so unknowingly benefit from it. People waste away their lives getting paid little to nothing, or actually nothing. It is disgusting how we live our lives knowing this. But unfortunately, at this time, there really is nothing we can do to save these people. We can only learn about what is happening in other countires, and possibly even our own country. So, to the kid in the video, instead of shortening your wardrobe to help prevent this slavery when the shirt you did not buy another kid did, help spread the word about what we saw in the videos and learned in class.
[Reply]
Let’s be honest, everyday nearly everything we use in the United States was somehow produced by slavery. Now I agree that some of Sam’s comments are outrageous relating to “stop” using products made with slavery somehow intertwined. I know I might sound like a typical ignorant American, but in my point of view I can’t really do anything about how the t shirts I wear are made or where and how the food I consume was cultivated. I’m literally an anonymous person, just as Sam stated the other say in class. I could wake up every day and fight the fight against slavery and yeah I might affect a few people, but let’s be honest, I’m not going to change the world. However, with this being said, I am admittedly guilty of buying far too many t shirts even though I only wear about 25% of them. This t shirts might have some roots that trace back to slavery, but the issue is what effect do I have? Yeah I own all these shirts, but I didn’t make a direct order for this individual t shirt. The shirts had been produced through several processes, all of which I was not cognoscente of at the time. All I know is that when I saw the shirt in the store, I like what I saw so I bought it. Thoughts of slavery didn’t run through my mind. And even if they did, quite frankly I’m still going to the buy the shirt if I like it.
I might be the issue or I might not, I don’t know. I know slavery is never really referred to today amongst my group of friends, but if it is, it is usually regarding slavery in the 1800s, not current day slavery, and let alone slavery regarding food. I know I won’t stop buying clothes because of the overseas slavery. I’m not encouraging the process of slavery or approving of the techniques, but like I said before in the big scheme of things I’m no one. I’m not going to change the world. I know it sounds terrible, but it’s the truth. Sometime s people need to realize that we have domestic issues we need to focus on before overseas issues. Healthcare, the Economy, and the War are just a few things we need to put our effort into before truly worrying about how the $10 t shirts we wear are made. I don’t commend slavery and never will, but the companies owners should feel the guilt of this mistreatment of human being and the bad omen shouldn’t wall on the consumers of the products. Because in reality the consumers of these products also don’t have the ability to change the line of production.
[Reply]
Interesting idea, and I definitely admire what you are doing, and I think that if a lot of people in this country especially did the same thing you did, we would be one step closer to equality for all. For me, I just can’t imagine doing that, not that I could not even would not, but it would be such a huge sacrifice. That makes me think about how we really do live in a material world, like that song we saw briefly in class yesterday, and I often wonder what my life would be like, or what kind of life I would lead if I had a lot less things, and a lot more to worry about.
[Reply]
In an ideal world this would be an excellent solution to the problem of slave labor. Some people could probably live by this because t-shirts do last for awhile. However, those shirts were probably made by slaves in the first place. I feel like this is a never ending cycle and I’m not positive on how to fix this huge problem that faces the entire world. It is almost like a lose-lose situation because people either have to spend more money or have slave labors. Some people probably do not care about slave labor and would rather have cheaper clothes and not have to spend more money. I think this is ridiculous but some people care more about having cheaper clothing. Also, it is hard to know which companies use slave labor and which do not. I guess if it is not stated anywhere they do not, they probably do? In that case, it is really hard to purchase clothes not made from slave labor. I really wish I knew something better that I can do to help this cause. I feel like if everyone stopped purchasing clothes from companies that were known for using slave labor then the problem would possibly be able to be impacted. If only a very small portion of people stop purchasing slave labor clothes, I’m not sure how much of an impact this small percentage would do.
In class Sam talked about products that are made without slave labor like certain brands of chocolate and coffee. I think this is a great thing and should be advertised a lot more. I would not mind spending a little more money knowing that what I’m consuming had no part in putting money into slave owner’s hands. I would not have known about this company if it was not for SOC 119 though. I think there should be TV commercials and all different sorts of ads for this type of thing. I think if more people knew about this it would help the cause even more. I also think people are really naive to the problem in the first place. Either people know about slave labor and look the other way or people have no idea what is going on in the first place. People need to be more educated about this problem. If more people knew what was going on with slaves I really truly think that most people would make some sort of effort to stop supporting companies that use slave labor. If more people knew about this then these people would make a huge impact on the companies using slave labor and have no choice but to stop using slave labor. I just hope something can be done and soon.
[Reply]