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210175 Responseshttp://www.racerelationsproject.org/2010/04/what-might-be-the-second-step/What+might+be+the+second+step%3F2010-04-09+01%3A50%3A52Sam+Richards to What might be the second step?
Last Thursday's class stirred up a lot of emotion and blew my mind as well as my that of my friends in the class. We felt like we needed to do something now that we have this information. But slave made goods are so abundant throughout the world. There are more people who would rather pay 95 cents for a chocolate made by slaves instead of 1.25 for a chocolate that was made by people who were paid a fair share for their labor. In the economy we're in, a lot of people want more bang for their buck.
However, it is our responsibility as educated human beings to make the first step which is recognizing and understanding why it is exactly most of us feel some type of way. I feel that American consumers have to take the first step in this global slave trade business and say enough. Congress is basically a reflection of what the public wants. The second step is spreading the awareness and trying to get involved in ways to fight this injustice. Throughout school I've learned about American slavery and all the great names associated with helping to fight the cause and i feel like the same needs to happen to stop the inhumane treatment of other people.
Fair wages and the basic rights that all humans inherit are just a few of the most important things any one can stand for. Even just refusing to buy the chocolates that don't say fair trade along with everything else that promises a fair trade was made between workers and companies. Every little bit counts. I feel like this is just history repeating itself again. If we were non slaves back in slavery times in the U.S that felt that slavery was inherently wrong what would you have tried to have done?
Not buy slave made goods, vote against politicians who didn't try to incorporate fair trade products for all, and join the side of the people fighting to abolish slavery. If we all as a country hate the ugly parts of our history such as slavery, why wouldn't we try to fight global slavery at least in our part to prove that our generation is less ignorant than the ones before us. Rome wasn't built in a day, and global slavery isn't going to end overnight, but with persistence and time it can be eliminated forever.
The world can grow together and leave ignorance and inequality behind and move forward as a whole. I feel that once we can reach that point together, sky's the limit as to the great innovations we can create. Maybe I sound too idealistic, but take the U.S as an example. It is a very small sample to compare to use as a standard for the rest of the world, but we see that slavery can be eliminated and that laws are adhered by to protect all of our citizens. If we can do it, I feel that there is hope for the rest of our fellow humans. Persistence and time is all we need.
It was really difficult to watch that clip in class last week. It was saddening to see how people struggle for us to enjoy something so irrelevant to our wallets and basic human needs. I admit that I did eat the second piece of chocolate, but there was no way to enjoy it nearly as much as the first. After eating the first, I kind of expected like the psychology game where you can see if you can wait to eat the other piece, but that obviously wasn’t the case. It’s weird to think that something we eat to satisfy our sweet tooth enslaves many people. Growing up you always want to sneak candy and chocolate; it is usually a reward for doing something well. But the people that gather the cocoa plants for us to consume sweet treats get nothing.
Unfortunately, I don’t think I have a real answer to your question. Maybe I ate the second piece because I was hungry and it was almost dinner time. Maybe I ate it because my friends sitting next to me did. Maybe I ate it because Sam ate his second piece. Or maybe I ate it because I really didn’t know what else to do, and I also mean this as I don’t know if I can individually make a difference if I chose not to eat it. Do I think I supported slavery by eating the second piece? No, not really this product was already produced and purchased in this simulation. But can it affect my future purchasing decisions? There’s a possibility and I think that’s the point. I realized that we can afford an extra few cents to support better treatment of workers. Most of us probably do not even know the price of the candy we consume anyway. We buy it at the check-out counter, fun packs, or as miniatures. We would still buy it as a treat.
We need to open our eyes to those around us because like it or not, our decisions affect them. We need to realize that slave owners do this to their employees to make a quick profit off of us, as consumers, and the slaves, who ultimately will probably never see any of this money anyway. I think Sam presented this to us because unless we are ready to make a leap to demand a change, whether that better treatment to workers or supporting Fair Trade products, it’s still a step in a better direction. If this modern day slavery had more publicity, I think Americans really would be shocked, as most of us were. I personally don’t think that they would jump on purchasing every Fair Trade product available, but I think that more of the legislation being put forth would have more attention. I think that the big businesses may realize in order to keep customers happy, they could find cocoa plants that are fair to employees, raise prices slightly to ensure wages are being met AND still see a profit.
There absolutely has to be a step two. I think the United States could be the first country to pave the way to rectifying this problem. I think this issue does not have a quick fix but is a matter instead that must be done in phases. If we just stop trading with these countries all together we will just make things worse for them and ourselves. However, if we can begin to phase out our importing of know products that are produce via slave labor I think we could begin to put a dent in the problem. I think a good starter would be to acknowledge the problem as a nation and push toward a way to resolve it. If we can educate people across the nation I believe we can begin to fix the problem. I think right now there are not enough people aware of the issue and that’s why there has not been a strong push as of yet to stop it. Once the public becomes aware I think step 2 can begin.
Step 2 might be to stop purchasing chocolate products that are not marked as slave free (Sam had a few options on the PowerPoint for coffee mostly). Another question asks how people can eat chocolate after seeing that video, and Sam’s 1st step was for us to “feel something”. I think that if that feeling is strong enough and you think it will help, stop eating it. It’s my opinion that if too many people stop eating chocolate (without a defined movement) the situation for slaves will get worst. Chocolate makers will want to make up for the lost profits with cutting costs. With a defined movement (enough people sign on to not purchase chocolate for this exact reason) something might happen.
Another option could be forced anti-slave laws on the companies who purchase chocolate. These companies would have to prove to regulators that the components of their products were not touched by slave labor. This regulation in turn would require the companies to inspect and apply pressure to their suppliers. Some negatives to this idea: we have seen the willingness of companies to move overseas to increase profits or avoid regulations. Meaning we will lose the jobs these companies currently supply and the tax revenue. Another drawback is the possible behavior of the supplier, even if the companies go along: the supplier may go to greater extremes to hide their labor practices.
A final option would be to lobby and/or give support to the government of these cocoa producing countries to crack down on slavery. Offer incentives for these governments to take over cocoa production and the employing citizens’ o harvest it. Lobby them for harsh punishments for slave owners, etc. Offer to train their officers in tracking down groups of slaves. These governments could give outside groups that are interested in exposing modern slavery more support. Or more people could advertise in these countries about the warning signs of a slave recruiter, education is one of the key ways to fight modern slavery. If unemployed workers were aware of these scams and some of the warning signs they may be able to avoid it.
In the end the second step is really up to the individual person. The first step, feeling something, accomplishes little in terms of preventing slavery. It is the second step that will impact slavery (if at all). You can take it as a personal step (stop eating chocolate or purchases only certain products). Or you can get involved with a subculture dedicated to one or more of the many suggestions above. The thing to understand about the group solutions is that it takes a lot of people and a lot of money to accomplish. And no it is not our governments’ responsibility! If this is your movement, you pay for it- private groups and private industry should take the lead on these issues.
Yes, there definitely is a step two. We simply need to stop buying the chocolates made from slavery cocoa in order to fix the situation. You may be wandering where you will get your chocolate from and I have an answer for it. There are many different companies and business out there whose chocolate are guaranteed slave work free. You might think it is expensive, but it is actually cheaper than the name brand chocolates out here that has a hand in slavery in them. This step will definitely send a message to this chocolates companies that we are not willing to buy this slavery manifested chocolate. But I doubt that will ever happen.
Sam is absolutely right about the first step in doing something regarding modern slavery which is just by "feeling some way about the issue." The second step is to further educate oneself about the topic. If there are 27 million slaves in the world today, where are they from? Where is this abuse taking place? Who is behind it all? How did is start? Then go and spread the word, educate others. Disposable People by Kevin Bales would be a great and easy way to build awareness among others in the world who are oblivious just as I was.
Going back to our class discussion last Thursday on modern slavery and the video that Sam showed us about the cocoa plantations. It really hit home when I watched that. I know I've read about the conditions other slaves lived in just like those men, but I never could picture it in my head. Once I saw how they were unjustly treated and physically abused as though they were less than animals is horrific. I can't believe it's still going on this second. I knew when Sam passed out the chocolate before he showed the video that it was going to be about slaves on cocoa plantations because I remember reading articles about companies such as Hershey and Nestle who went out on a limp to make sure their cocoa came from plantations where the workers were equally treated and compensated for their work. I'll admit that I did eat the first chocolate, but I couldn't get myself to eat the second one after the boy in the film said that the people who enjoy eating chocolate are, "eating my flesh." Even when Sam mentioned that we should eat the second piece because if we don't it'd be like saying we're never going to eat another piece of chocolate again in our lives and who could really promise that right there and then? I know I couldn't, but that still didn't convince me to eat the second piece right there and then.
This is very controversial in that it's like saying if we saw a video about slaves making our clothing we're going to stop wearing clothing. That won't ever happen. Maybe if it's just one company of clothing like Nike for example, people will protest against their sweatshops and Nike will lose a majority of their loyal customers. They still won't go out of business with such a huge brand name like Nike. So I guess my next question is after we "feel something" about modern slavery and after we educate ourselves and spread our knowledge of the topic, what's next? What's step number three? What's the next little step would could take to improve the situation without drastically changing our lives?
Yes there is. Directly below this entry on there is a video question someone asked how those who ate the second piece of chocolate could stomach eating another human’s flesh. To her my only response could be that I ritualistically practice cannibalism for one and also I get off to it. I was really moved by the video but I still ate the damn chocolate. Why? The piece of candy was already purchased and those who profit from the flesh of others already got what they wanted. Congrats honey you just wasted nothing – at least I can admire her moral conviction, however (can I get away with this?) teenaged it may be. Time to get real, this is a problem, I dare say a cancer to the human animal. We can (and should!) change these conditions because we have the free will to do so. There is the obvious option of making everyone in the world pinky swear to give up chocolate foreber and eber, but I think that is pretty dumb, especially when you consider your starting point is the rich fat kid on the block with the melting fudgesicle in hand and pinwheel hat…
Here’s my step two – the Vietnam “war.” Congress never declared war which means it wimped out on disallowing LBJ and Nixon astronomical dollars to deploy troops which sounds vaguely familiar – I digress. What makes Vietnam pertinent to my diatribe is the most powerful phenomenon of the 20th and 21st century – the Media! Television was for the first time introduced to the battlefield taking the gore and carnage into every American’s living room weeknights from 5-6 pm local time thus causing a public reaction – ah – the most unpopular war of the century. Vaguely familiar. Step two is to bring the atrocity of what is happening right now in this world directly in the face of everyone so they can go through step 1 – feel something. I guarantee enough people will say “I like chocolate but I don’t like how it’s made.” So now that everyone is tuned in to what is going on step 2b can happen – here comes the change.
The thing keeping these ass holes in business is the market – as much as I’d love to go Brad Pitt from the last scene of Fightclub on that I don’t have enough nitro glycerin. The solution lies within the system – to win you have to manipulate the bad guys’ profit margin. There are a number of ways to go about doing this. The root of the problem is that the farmers have to resort to slavery to get by because chocolate prices are too low for them to make any profit. Now we can take two approaches. The first one is by making fair trade chocolate which is more expensive and still has to compete with regular chocolate which probably tastes the same. Good luck. Another one is by getting governments to crack down on these slave-driven farms. They’re already trying – slavery is illegal everywhere so what more do you want? Another law? Here’s my suggestion for the majority of the people reading this who are claim to be capitalists and may have been offended by my earlier radical Weathermen-esque comment. Nestle et al is keeping the prices low to compete on the market so real capitalism is over anyway (cause we all know it means open and fair trading – this is not happening obviously if an institution such as a corporation or a government is controlling market value). Instead of allowing the market manipulation to favor slavery we should force it to create an inhospitable environment for said wrong-doings. How? Write to your Senators and Representatives – tell them to support favorable legislation or they lose your vote and the votes of everyone on your petition. Draft a bill and submit it to your legislators – don’t forget to threaten them with votes! If you feel that our government is inadequate and inefficient then our founding fathers gave us another option which is always available and guaranteed more efficient – blow them up. How do you think we became a free nation?
This activity is extremely interesting; I have actually done this same activity before with a different video, showing that there is so much slavery and abuse in Africa where a majority of the worlds chocolate is made. I personally ate the chocolate because generally never eat chocolate. This video did affect me in a way in which was different than usual. I really don’t eat chocolate that much in general but will try to when I actually eat chocolate to eat slave free chocolate.
Sam’s views on the world are sometime different than mine but overall he has a great concept on life. He really has the right heart, which is in the right place. My opinion with the whole doesn’t eat processed meats from factor farms or stop eating chocolate or stop using cell phones in my opinion is slightly ridiculous. It is good for the class to get the idea to be aware and acknowledge that there are slaves who made the products and they should be cognizant of this. What is also a good point is to be aware that when you are buying something for an extremely low price it most likely was made with cheap labor and inexpensive parts. Maybe look into you purchases and where they are made now knowing where a lot of slavery occurs and in which countries.
When I honestly go out and purchase my items I really don’t think about where it was made or if slaves made it. I usually purchase my stuff based on price because as a college student I don’t have that much money. There are so many important issues in the world but me personally wont be able to save the world but whatever I can do to help is great and I sincerely try. I just sometimes feel Sam has trouble portraying some of his views because he every week gives us things he wants us to change in our lives and makes us sometimes feel bad about ourselves. Me personally would like to change some things to make me a better personal overall in my life. I will never be a perfect person or change everything in my life but what I have learned in that class and apply it to my real life. This includes in every way I possibly can which is in many ways which Sam wants people to do.
Back to the chocolate issue my opinion is to try and cut down your chocolate use and when you buy chocolate to only buy chocolate which is slave free chocolate. That video was very disturbing how they were whipped and treated like ultimate shit. They didn’t receive anything and were lied to.
I think that there is definitely a second step in fighting slaver and I think that maybe Sam didn’t talk about it because it may just be too hard for students to be expected to take this step. I think that after realizing that slavery exists the next step is to participate in anti-slavery activities and buy anti-slavery products. This step can be really hard for college students because eating anti-slavery foods is nearly impossible in the dining commons and anti-slavery products tend to cost more… a big turn off for students. Although its really tough to live an anti-slavery life we should all do our part.
Sam always says he just wants you to feel something but in my opinion there is no point of a feeling if there is no action that comes of it. In this case step one is feeling something but I would agree with Sam that you have to purchase only fair trade chocolate if you really feel passionate about it. Many people, and I am one of them, feel that they are too small to change anything permanently but hopefully in the future there is a viable option. If I think of it, I will only buy fair trade chocolate but having it not be present in my daily life, it is much harder to think about constantly.
Sam was talking about that we all benefit from slaves. The way in which we benefit from slaves is by the prices being low on the products that they work on. Therefore the second step would have to involve something that affected the price of these products. I feel that when the United States is doing well economically we care and focus on other countries, but when we are suffering economically we tend to focus more inwardly on our problems. If the United States simply opted to stop importing chocolate and only sold chocolate that was made in the United States it would be an easy fix to the problem. I do not feel that the American public go out and think to themselves “hmm I want to purposely purchase slave chocolate today” , I just think that they purchase the products provided to them.-march 19
I agree with your question, it was as though there was a piece of lecture missing. The next step of what needs to be done by us was left out. A second step must exist because no one should be living under these conditions. I think now that we have seen some of what is going on and it has affected us, we should be told of what our options are. I feel as though just knowing what is going on is not enough. It would be a good idea for some to share more ideas like buying fair trade chocolate.
The discussion group that I am talked a lot about this exact topic this week. We were also coming to the same conclusions and roadblocks for the beginning of the class. Like Sam told us in the class that we all should eat the second piece of chocolate unless we were going to swear off chocolate for the rest of our lives. I ate the second piece because I know better than to think that there will never be another time that I do not eat slave made chocolate.
Like with every other topic that Sam brings up in class it is all about awareness of the issue and taking the time necessary to work over the issue. Awareness and feeling some way about the issue is step number one. This applies more that ever to this topic of slave chocolate and any other slave made product that we consume in daily life. Awareness is the definitely the most crucial step that needs to be taken in order for issues to be resolved. Part of the reason that these problems in society still exist is that they are swept under the rug. If the majority of society does not know about the topic then other issues take precedent. The news stations are productions and are going to show that problems that will get the most viewers to watch. The media holds a significant amount of power as to what the general public knows.
To answer the question at hand I think there is a second step. Personally, I think it comes in the form of personal acknowledgment and responsibility. Acknowledgment I think is the next step after awareness because you have been made aware, and now you have acknowledged it as a problem. With acknowledgment comes a decision on how you feel about the issue. The decision is up to you and can go any direction. The most important aspect of the decision is that you come up with on your own. Otherwise you will not be compelled to take action or to follow it. As human beings we do not like being told what to do, and most of the time someone tries to tell us what to do we will defy them. After acknowledgment comes responsibility. The responsibility is then to act on the decision that you have made. Personal responsibility can be put to use on almost all topics that we have been introduced into this class.
The only thing that you can control in this world is yourself, thus personal responsibility I think is the logical next step. You are the only person that you can definitely change your behavior to an issue. For example with this chocolate issue, you can only buy fair trade chocolate. This is an example of personal responsibility, and by eating fair trade your friends and family around you may be influenced by your decision. You can hope that then they will start buying fair trade too, in response to you making them aware of the issue. By changing your behavior for something that you believe you have the opportunity to influence someone else’s outlook on an issue. There has to be a second step because otherwise nothing would get fixed in the world, society would just know about the problem but then do nothing about it. Nothing would ever get fixed, it would just be a world of unresolved problems.
I feel like the next step after feeling some way about slavery and consuming products made by slaves would be to make the personal choice to not use those products. And I agree with what Sam said about how you can't just pick and choose between the products that you want to stop using and keep using. If you really feel some way about slavery then stop using all of them or none of them. I also think that thats the reason why Sam stopped before getting to the second step in the process. Almost everything we use on a daily basis was made using some sort of slave labor and it would be virtually impossible to stop using all products like that. But I still think that if you feel strongly enough then giving up slave made products is worth a shot.
I think there are many possible step two's. But mine would be just to understand what really goes on around the world when it comes to slavery and imported goods. We need to be more aware of where and how we get our goods so cheap. Its a reality check so maybe now that we know all these horrible things that are going on in the world that we might try to make a difference and do something about it. So my step two is just realizing how we contribute to the horrible labor practices going on in the world and how we can stop them
Well with step one being awareness on a personal level, step two may be awareness on a societal level. It may be buying fair trade products, where none of the ingredients contain anything that was made by slaves, and telling others about the conditions in which the slaves have to work through. We know what happens to the slaves because we read the book for the first exam and watched the you-tube clip in class, however if you were not fortune enough to take soc119 and you were an idealist person you might not even know that slavery still exists. Therefore I think that step two is spreading the word to others.
When it comes to the topic of child slavery I am also clueless of what the second step might be. Most of my clothes are made in foreign countries and I’m sure they might be made by some form of modern day slavery or through sweat shops and it is WRONG on all levels but as an individual I don’t think there’s anything I can do that will make any type of impact on supporting these companies that make their clothes trough sweat shops. Growing up in the American society and not ever being aware of how most of our clothes are made its hard to just stop wearing these clothes cause it’s like where does that leave me.
I think it’s very difficult to pinpoint a second step. To be completely honest, I am not so sure that there is anything we can do to completely end slavery. Talking to my friends about this topic, we all agreed that if one individual did something such as stopped eating chocolate, not only would it be very challenging, but it wouldn’t end slavery completely. The only way I think it can end is if these industries shut down due to a lack of consumers. Even then it would be extremely difficult to end because the companies would continue to move their factories around the world to new workers who would easily be taken advantage of and paid nothing for their work. Until these companies make zero profit, I do not think there is a way to end slavery. It would be close to impossible for them to stop making profit, though. Slavery is embedded in so many industries that we would literally have to stop buying almost all types of food and clothing in order to hurt the industries and help the slaves. Also, if you stop eating one food that is made from slave labor such as chocolate, you need to keep in mind that you are only focusing on one industry. We could eat just about anything and it most likely would trace back to slave labor somehow. The scary part about that to me is that I had no idea modern slavery even existed until I took this class but it really is all around us and is a part of our everyday lives. It’s kind of like what Sam talked about with picking and choosing what rules you follow of your religion. He said people who only follow some of the rules are hypocrites. I think that is similar for this topic. You can cut out one food, but you should not condemn others for eating it because other foods that you eat come from slaves. Basically, there really isn’t a way to turn away from all the products that are produced by slaves. We’d have to start growing everything on our own and make our own clothes. We can help by supporting companies who produce products that are not made by slaves such as Fair Trade, but as far as ending modern slavery all together, I don’t see a way of doing so for now. With our lifestyles, we depend on many companies for technology, too. I am sure if you trace some of the pieces needed to assemble our iPods or computers or cell phones we’d see that they also come from slave labor. I think our society demands too much, and this has led to slavery. Companies need to produce mass quantities of everything to supply everyone’s desires, and therefore the products need to be made quickly. In order to produce this much, the companies need to hire cheap labor, but they often just choose to use slaves. If our world evolved to a slower pace of life, I think we could help free the slaves because they would not be needed to produce so much.
Last Thursday's class stirred up a lot of emotion and blew my mind as well as my that of my friends in the class. We felt like we needed to do something now that we have this information. But slave made goods are so abundant throughout the world. There are more people who would rather pay 95 cents for a chocolate made by slaves instead of 1.25 for a chocolate that was made by people who were paid a fair share for their labor. In the economy we're in, a lot of people want more bang for their buck.
However, it is our responsibility as educated human beings to make the first step which is recognizing and understanding why it is exactly most of us feel some type of way. I feel that American consumers have to take the first step in this global slave trade business and say enough. Congress is basically a reflection of what the public wants. The second step is spreading the awareness and trying to get involved in ways to fight this injustice. Throughout school I've learned about American slavery and all the great names associated with helping to fight the cause and i feel like the same needs to happen to stop the inhumane treatment of other people.
Fair wages and the basic rights that all humans inherit are just a few of the most important things any one can stand for. Even just refusing to buy the chocolates that don't say fair trade along with everything else that promises a fair trade was made between workers and companies. Every little bit counts. I feel like this is just history repeating itself again. If we were non slaves back in slavery times in the U.S that felt that slavery was inherently wrong what would you have tried to have done?
Not buy slave made goods, vote against politicians who didn't try to incorporate fair trade products for all, and join the side of the people fighting to abolish slavery. If we all as a country hate the ugly parts of our history such as slavery, why wouldn't we try to fight global slavery at least in our part to prove that our generation is less ignorant than the ones before us. Rome wasn't built in a day, and global slavery isn't going to end overnight, but with persistence and time it can be eliminated forever.
The world can grow together and leave ignorance and inequality behind and move forward as a whole. I feel that once we can reach that point together, sky's the limit as to the great innovations we can create. Maybe I sound too idealistic, but take the U.S as an example. It is a very small sample to compare to use as a standard for the rest of the world, but we see that slavery can be eliminated and that laws are adhered by to protect all of our citizens. If we can do it, I feel that there is hope for the rest of our fellow humans. Persistence and time is all we need.
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It was really difficult to watch that clip in class last week. It was saddening to see how people struggle for us to enjoy something so irrelevant to our wallets and basic human needs. I admit that I did eat the second piece of chocolate, but there was no way to enjoy it nearly as much as the first. After eating the first, I kind of expected like the psychology game where you can see if you can wait to eat the other piece, but that obviously wasn’t the case. It’s weird to think that something we eat to satisfy our sweet tooth enslaves many people. Growing up you always want to sneak candy and chocolate; it is usually a reward for doing something well. But the people that gather the cocoa plants for us to consume sweet treats get nothing.
Unfortunately, I don’t think I have a real answer to your question. Maybe I ate the second piece because I was hungry and it was almost dinner time. Maybe I ate it because my friends sitting next to me did. Maybe I ate it because Sam ate his second piece. Or maybe I ate it because I really didn’t know what else to do, and I also mean this as I don’t know if I can individually make a difference if I chose not to eat it. Do I think I supported slavery by eating the second piece? No, not really this product was already produced and purchased in this simulation. But can it affect my future purchasing decisions? There’s a possibility and I think that’s the point. I realized that we can afford an extra few cents to support better treatment of workers. Most of us probably do not even know the price of the candy we consume anyway. We buy it at the check-out counter, fun packs, or as miniatures. We would still buy it as a treat.
We need to open our eyes to those around us because like it or not, our decisions affect them. We need to realize that slave owners do this to their employees to make a quick profit off of us, as consumers, and the slaves, who ultimately will probably never see any of this money anyway. I think Sam presented this to us because unless we are ready to make a leap to demand a change, whether that better treatment to workers or supporting Fair Trade products, it’s still a step in a better direction. If this modern day slavery had more publicity, I think Americans really would be shocked, as most of us were. I personally don’t think that they would jump on purchasing every Fair Trade product available, but I think that more of the legislation being put forth would have more attention. I think that the big businesses may realize in order to keep customers happy, they could find cocoa plants that are fair to employees, raise prices slightly to ensure wages are being met AND still see a profit.
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There absolutely has to be a step two. I think the United States could be the first country to pave the way to rectifying this problem. I think this issue does not have a quick fix but is a matter instead that must be done in phases. If we just stop trading with these countries all together we will just make things worse for them and ourselves. However, if we can begin to phase out our importing of know products that are produce via slave labor I think we could begin to put a dent in the problem. I think a good starter would be to acknowledge the problem as a nation and push toward a way to resolve it. If we can educate people across the nation I believe we can begin to fix the problem. I think right now there are not enough people aware of the issue and that’s why there has not been a strong push as of yet to stop it. Once the public becomes aware I think step 2 can begin.
[Reply]
Step 2 might be to stop purchasing chocolate products that are not marked as slave free (Sam had a few options on the PowerPoint for coffee mostly). Another question asks how people can eat chocolate after seeing that video, and Sam’s 1st step was for us to “feel something”. I think that if that feeling is strong enough and you think it will help, stop eating it. It’s my opinion that if too many people stop eating chocolate (without a defined movement) the situation for slaves will get worst. Chocolate makers will want to make up for the lost profits with cutting costs. With a defined movement (enough people sign on to not purchase chocolate for this exact reason) something might happen.
Another option could be forced anti-slave laws on the companies who purchase chocolate. These companies would have to prove to regulators that the components of their products were not touched by slave labor. This regulation in turn would require the companies to inspect and apply pressure to their suppliers. Some negatives to this idea: we have seen the willingness of companies to move overseas to increase profits or avoid regulations. Meaning we will lose the jobs these companies currently supply and the tax revenue. Another drawback is the possible behavior of the supplier, even if the companies go along: the supplier may go to greater extremes to hide their labor practices.
A final option would be to lobby and/or give support to the government of these cocoa producing countries to crack down on slavery. Offer incentives for these governments to take over cocoa production and the employing citizens’ o harvest it. Lobby them for harsh punishments for slave owners, etc. Offer to train their officers in tracking down groups of slaves. These governments could give outside groups that are interested in exposing modern slavery more support. Or more people could advertise in these countries about the warning signs of a slave recruiter, education is one of the key ways to fight modern slavery. If unemployed workers were aware of these scams and some of the warning signs they may be able to avoid it.
In the end the second step is really up to the individual person. The first step, feeling something, accomplishes little in terms of preventing slavery. It is the second step that will impact slavery (if at all). You can take it as a personal step (stop eating chocolate or purchases only certain products). Or you can get involved with a subculture dedicated to one or more of the many suggestions above. The thing to understand about the group solutions is that it takes a lot of people and a lot of money to accomplish. And no it is not our governments’ responsibility! If this is your movement, you pay for it- private groups and private industry should take the lead on these issues.
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Yes, there definitely is a step two. We simply need to stop buying the chocolates made from slavery cocoa in order to fix the situation. You may be wandering where you will get your chocolate from and I have an answer for it. There are many different companies and business out there whose chocolate are guaranteed slave work free. You might think it is expensive, but it is actually cheaper than the name brand chocolates out here that has a hand in slavery in them. This step will definitely send a message to this chocolates companies that we are not willing to buy this slavery manifested chocolate. But I doubt that will ever happen.
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Sam is absolutely right about the first step in doing something regarding modern slavery which is just by "feeling some way about the issue." The second step is to further educate oneself about the topic. If there are 27 million slaves in the world today, where are they from? Where is this abuse taking place? Who is behind it all? How did is start? Then go and spread the word, educate others. Disposable People by Kevin Bales would be a great and easy way to build awareness among others in the world who are oblivious just as I was.
Going back to our class discussion last Thursday on modern slavery and the video that Sam showed us about the cocoa plantations. It really hit home when I watched that. I know I've read about the conditions other slaves lived in just like those men, but I never could picture it in my head. Once I saw how they were unjustly treated and physically abused as though they were less than animals is horrific. I can't believe it's still going on this second. I knew when Sam passed out the chocolate before he showed the video that it was going to be about slaves on cocoa plantations because I remember reading articles about companies such as Hershey and Nestle who went out on a limp to make sure their cocoa came from plantations where the workers were equally treated and compensated for their work. I'll admit that I did eat the first chocolate, but I couldn't get myself to eat the second one after the boy in the film said that the people who enjoy eating chocolate are, "eating my flesh." Even when Sam mentioned that we should eat the second piece because if we don't it'd be like saying we're never going to eat another piece of chocolate again in our lives and who could really promise that right there and then? I know I couldn't, but that still didn't convince me to eat the second piece right there and then.
This is very controversial in that it's like saying if we saw a video about slaves making our clothing we're going to stop wearing clothing. That won't ever happen. Maybe if it's just one company of clothing like Nike for example, people will protest against their sweatshops and Nike will lose a majority of their loyal customers. They still won't go out of business with such a huge brand name like Nike. So I guess my next question is after we "feel something" about modern slavery and after we educate ourselves and spread our knowledge of the topic, what's next? What's step number three? What's the next little step would could take to improve the situation without drastically changing our lives?
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Yes there is. Directly below this entry on there is a video question someone asked how those who ate the second piece of chocolate could stomach eating another human’s flesh. To her my only response could be that I ritualistically practice cannibalism for one and also I get off to it. I was really moved by the video but I still ate the damn chocolate. Why? The piece of candy was already purchased and those who profit from the flesh of others already got what they wanted. Congrats honey you just wasted nothing – at least I can admire her moral conviction, however (can I get away with this?) teenaged it may be. Time to get real, this is a problem, I dare say a cancer to the human animal. We can (and should!) change these conditions because we have the free will to do so. There is the obvious option of making everyone in the world pinky swear to give up chocolate foreber and eber, but I think that is pretty dumb, especially when you consider your starting point is the rich fat kid on the block with the melting fudgesicle in hand and pinwheel hat…
Here’s my step two – the Vietnam “war.” Congress never declared war which means it wimped out on disallowing LBJ and Nixon astronomical dollars to deploy troops which sounds vaguely familiar – I digress. What makes Vietnam pertinent to my diatribe is the most powerful phenomenon of the 20th and 21st century – the Media! Television was for the first time introduced to the battlefield taking the gore and carnage into every American’s living room weeknights from 5-6 pm local time thus causing a public reaction – ah – the most unpopular war of the century. Vaguely familiar. Step two is to bring the atrocity of what is happening right now in this world directly in the face of everyone so they can go through step 1 – feel something. I guarantee enough people will say “I like chocolate but I don’t like how it’s made.” So now that everyone is tuned in to what is going on step 2b can happen – here comes the change.
The thing keeping these ass holes in business is the market – as much as I’d love to go Brad Pitt from the last scene of Fightclub on that I don’t have enough nitro glycerin. The solution lies within the system – to win you have to manipulate the bad guys’ profit margin. There are a number of ways to go about doing this. The root of the problem is that the farmers have to resort to slavery to get by because chocolate prices are too low for them to make any profit. Now we can take two approaches. The first one is by making fair trade chocolate which is more expensive and still has to compete with regular chocolate which probably tastes the same. Good luck. Another one is by getting governments to crack down on these slave-driven farms. They’re already trying – slavery is illegal everywhere so what more do you want? Another law? Here’s my suggestion for the majority of the people reading this who are claim to be capitalists and may have been offended by my earlier radical Weathermen-esque comment. Nestle et al is keeping the prices low to compete on the market so real capitalism is over anyway (cause we all know it means open and fair trading – this is not happening obviously if an institution such as a corporation or a government is controlling market value). Instead of allowing the market manipulation to favor slavery we should force it to create an inhospitable environment for said wrong-doings. How? Write to your Senators and Representatives – tell them to support favorable legislation or they lose your vote and the votes of everyone on your petition. Draft a bill and submit it to your legislators – don’t forget to threaten them with votes! If you feel that our government is inadequate and inefficient then our founding fathers gave us another option which is always available and guaranteed more efficient – blow them up. How do you think we became a free nation?
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This activity is extremely interesting; I have actually done this same activity before with a different video, showing that there is so much slavery and abuse in Africa where a majority of the worlds chocolate is made. I personally ate the chocolate because generally never eat chocolate. This video did affect me in a way in which was different than usual. I really don’t eat chocolate that much in general but will try to when I actually eat chocolate to eat slave free chocolate.
Sam’s views on the world are sometime different than mine but overall he has a great concept on life. He really has the right heart, which is in the right place. My opinion with the whole doesn’t eat processed meats from factor farms or stop eating chocolate or stop using cell phones in my opinion is slightly ridiculous. It is good for the class to get the idea to be aware and acknowledge that there are slaves who made the products and they should be cognizant of this. What is also a good point is to be aware that when you are buying something for an extremely low price it most likely was made with cheap labor and inexpensive parts. Maybe look into you purchases and where they are made now knowing where a lot of slavery occurs and in which countries.
When I honestly go out and purchase my items I really don’t think about where it was made or if slaves made it. I usually purchase my stuff based on price because as a college student I don’t have that much money. There are so many important issues in the world but me personally wont be able to save the world but whatever I can do to help is great and I sincerely try. I just sometimes feel Sam has trouble portraying some of his views because he every week gives us things he wants us to change in our lives and makes us sometimes feel bad about ourselves. Me personally would like to change some things to make me a better personal overall in my life. I will never be a perfect person or change everything in my life but what I have learned in that class and apply it to my real life. This includes in every way I possibly can which is in many ways which Sam wants people to do.
Back to the chocolate issue my opinion is to try and cut down your chocolate use and when you buy chocolate to only buy chocolate which is slave free chocolate. That video was very disturbing how they were whipped and treated like ultimate shit. They didn’t receive anything and were lied to.
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I think that there is definitely a second step in fighting slaver and I think that maybe Sam didn’t talk about it because it may just be too hard for students to be expected to take this step. I think that after realizing that slavery exists the next step is to participate in anti-slavery activities and buy anti-slavery products. This step can be really hard for college students because eating anti-slavery foods is nearly impossible in the dining commons and anti-slavery products tend to cost more… a big turn off for students. Although its really tough to live an anti-slavery life we should all do our part.
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Sam always says he just wants you to feel something but in my opinion there is no point of a feeling if there is no action that comes of it. In this case step one is feeling something but I would agree with Sam that you have to purchase only fair trade chocolate if you really feel passionate about it. Many people, and I am one of them, feel that they are too small to change anything permanently but hopefully in the future there is a viable option. If I think of it, I will only buy fair trade chocolate but having it not be present in my daily life, it is much harder to think about constantly.
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Sam was talking about that we all benefit from slaves. The way in which we benefit from slaves is by the prices being low on the products that they work on. Therefore the second step would have to involve something that affected the price of these products. I feel that when the United States is doing well economically we care and focus on other countries, but when we are suffering economically we tend to focus more inwardly on our problems. If the United States simply opted to stop importing chocolate and only sold chocolate that was made in the United States it would be an easy fix to the problem. I do not feel that the American public go out and think to themselves “hmm I want to purposely purchase slave chocolate today” , I just think that they purchase the products provided to them.-march 19
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I agree with your question, it was as though there was a piece of lecture missing. The next step of what needs to be done by us was left out. A second step must exist because no one should be living under these conditions. I think now that we have seen some of what is going on and it has affected us, we should be told of what our options are. I feel as though just knowing what is going on is not enough. It would be a good idea for some to share more ideas like buying fair trade chocolate.
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The discussion group that I am talked a lot about this exact topic this week. We were also coming to the same conclusions and roadblocks for the beginning of the class. Like Sam told us in the class that we all should eat the second piece of chocolate unless we were going to swear off chocolate for the rest of our lives. I ate the second piece because I know better than to think that there will never be another time that I do not eat slave made chocolate.
Like with every other topic that Sam brings up in class it is all about awareness of the issue and taking the time necessary to work over the issue. Awareness and feeling some way about the issue is step number one. This applies more that ever to this topic of slave chocolate and any other slave made product that we consume in daily life. Awareness is the definitely the most crucial step that needs to be taken in order for issues to be resolved. Part of the reason that these problems in society still exist is that they are swept under the rug. If the majority of society does not know about the topic then other issues take precedent. The news stations are productions and are going to show that problems that will get the most viewers to watch. The media holds a significant amount of power as to what the general public knows.
To answer the question at hand I think there is a second step. Personally, I think it comes in the form of personal acknowledgment and responsibility. Acknowledgment I think is the next step after awareness because you have been made aware, and now you have acknowledged it as a problem. With acknowledgment comes a decision on how you feel about the issue. The decision is up to you and can go any direction. The most important aspect of the decision is that you come up with on your own. Otherwise you will not be compelled to take action or to follow it. As human beings we do not like being told what to do, and most of the time someone tries to tell us what to do we will defy them. After acknowledgment comes responsibility. The responsibility is then to act on the decision that you have made. Personal responsibility can be put to use on almost all topics that we have been introduced into this class.
The only thing that you can control in this world is yourself, thus personal responsibility I think is the logical next step. You are the only person that you can definitely change your behavior to an issue. For example with this chocolate issue, you can only buy fair trade chocolate. This is an example of personal responsibility, and by eating fair trade your friends and family around you may be influenced by your decision. You can hope that then they will start buying fair trade too, in response to you making them aware of the issue. By changing your behavior for something that you believe you have the opportunity to influence someone else’s outlook on an issue. There has to be a second step because otherwise nothing would get fixed in the world, society would just know about the problem but then do nothing about it. Nothing would ever get fixed, it would just be a world of unresolved problems.
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I feel like the next step after feeling some way about slavery and consuming products made by slaves would be to make the personal choice to not use those products. And I agree with what Sam said about how you can't just pick and choose between the products that you want to stop using and keep using. If you really feel some way about slavery then stop using all of them or none of them. I also think that thats the reason why Sam stopped before getting to the second step in the process. Almost everything we use on a daily basis was made using some sort of slave labor and it would be virtually impossible to stop using all products like that. But I still think that if you feel strongly enough then giving up slave made products is worth a shot.
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I think there are many possible step two's. But mine would be just to understand what really goes on around the world when it comes to slavery and imported goods. We need to be more aware of where and how we get our goods so cheap. Its a reality check so maybe now that we know all these horrible things that are going on in the world that we might try to make a difference and do something about it. So my step two is just realizing how we contribute to the horrible labor practices going on in the world and how we can stop them
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Well with step one being awareness on a personal level, step two may be awareness on a societal level. It may be buying fair trade products, where none of the ingredients contain anything that was made by slaves, and telling others about the conditions in which the slaves have to work through. We know what happens to the slaves because we read the book for the first exam and watched the you-tube clip in class, however if you were not fortune enough to take soc119 and you were an idealist person you might not even know that slavery still exists. Therefore I think that step two is spreading the word to others.
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When it comes to the topic of child slavery I am also clueless of what the second step might be. Most of my clothes are made in foreign countries and I’m sure they might be made by some form of modern day slavery or through sweat shops and it is WRONG on all levels but as an individual I don’t think there’s anything I can do that will make any type of impact on supporting these companies that make their clothes trough sweat shops. Growing up in the American society and not ever being aware of how most of our clothes are made its hard to just stop wearing these clothes cause it’s like where does that leave me.
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I think it’s very difficult to pinpoint a second step. To be completely honest, I am not so sure that there is anything we can do to completely end slavery. Talking to my friends about this topic, we all agreed that if one individual did something such as stopped eating chocolate, not only would it be very challenging, but it wouldn’t end slavery completely. The only way I think it can end is if these industries shut down due to a lack of consumers. Even then it would be extremely difficult to end because the companies would continue to move their factories around the world to new workers who would easily be taken advantage of and paid nothing for their work. Until these companies make zero profit, I do not think there is a way to end slavery. It would be close to impossible for them to stop making profit, though. Slavery is embedded in so many industries that we would literally have to stop buying almost all types of food and clothing in order to hurt the industries and help the slaves. Also, if you stop eating one food that is made from slave labor such as chocolate, you need to keep in mind that you are only focusing on one industry. We could eat just about anything and it most likely would trace back to slave labor somehow. The scary part about that to me is that I had no idea modern slavery even existed until I took this class but it really is all around us and is a part of our everyday lives. It’s kind of like what Sam talked about with picking and choosing what rules you follow of your religion. He said people who only follow some of the rules are hypocrites. I think that is similar for this topic. You can cut out one food, but you should not condemn others for eating it because other foods that you eat come from slaves. Basically, there really isn’t a way to turn away from all the products that are produced by slaves. We’d have to start growing everything on our own and make our own clothes. We can help by supporting companies who produce products that are not made by slaves such as Fair Trade, but as far as ending modern slavery all together, I don’t see a way of doing so for now. With our lifestyles, we depend on many companies for technology, too. I am sure if you trace some of the pieces needed to assemble our iPods or computers or cell phones we’d see that they also come from slave labor. I think our society demands too much, and this has led to slavery. Companies need to produce mass quantities of everything to supply everyone’s desires, and therefore the products need to be made quickly. In order to produce this much, the companies need to hire cheap labor, but they often just choose to use slaves. If our world evolved to a slower pace of life, I think we could help free the slaves because they would not be needed to produce so much.
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