Your Daily Dose of Happy Facts

[East Coast Hustle]

Over the entire 350 year course of the African slave trade, roughly 13.5 million people were taken out of Africa.

The International Labor Organization estimates that there are currently 21 million people living in slavery RIGHT NOW. TODAY.

Free The Slaves, the US affiliate of Anti Slavery International estimates it at around 27 million, and calls that conservative.

[East Coast Hustle]

In related news, I hope everybody is wearing comfortable footwear.

[Reginald Ret]

I fear i must ask for sources, before i explode.
I could look it up myself, but i don't actually want to know this so you will have to forcefeed me.
leaving thia thread now, eye has begun twitching,.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Yeah, this is exactly one of the reasons I have such a hard time with THINGS. Or buying a new phone or computer. Fuck, even my food is almost certainly the product of agribusiness slavery or near-slavery.

On a positive note, my footwear is (probably) slave-free. To think that people give me shit for spending $300 on boots just so I can feel secure that they weren't made by slaves... it's worth every penny to avoid literally walking on misery with every step.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I fear i must ask for sources, before i explode.
I could look it up myself, but i don't actually want to know this so you will have to forcefeed me.
leaving thia thread now, eye has begun twitching,.

He gave sources in the OP.
https://www.freetheslaves.net/SSLPage.aspx
http://www.ilo.org/global/about-the-ilo/newsroom/news/WCMS_204399/lang--en/index.htm

[The Good Reverend Roger]

I want to live above this sort of thing, but they don't make stilts that tall.  I want to own things made by employees.  I will pay extra for this moral soap.  Because it's all so fucking dirty, ECH.  I can't be GOOD, because I live in a culture in which you MUST, on some level, participate in evil. 

And the fucked up thing is that most people don't KNOW it's evil.  They don't see it because they CAN'T see it, because they have been trained from birth to look AROUND it.  I bet middle class and rich White Southerners were JUST LIKE THAT before the civil war.  Not the po'buckers, of course.  They were the overseers, etc, and knew exactly where the food on the table and the clothing on their backs came from.

And then one day, you can't fool yourself anymore.  Your nation is evil.  Your culture and society is evil.  And YOU (me, everyone) are covered in that evil, literally.

And there's

no

way

out

[Freeky]

Does.t help at all that the poorer one is, the more one is forced to purchase slave goods.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Does.t help at all that the poorer one is, the more one is forced to purchase slave goods.

Obviously, though if you're rich enough to not have to, you probably don't care.

And if you DID care, you're still just exempting yourself from a bad system without doing anything to fix it.  You may not be guilty of a sin of commission, but you're still guilty of a sin of omission.

[Elder Iptuous]

reading the 'free the slaves' site for a little while now, and it appears they think there is certainly something we can do about it...

[The Good Reverend Roger]

reading the 'free the slaves' site for a little while now, and it appears they think there is certainly something we can do about it...

Blocked (duh, who do I work for?), so please expost anything rational or achievable.

[tyrannosaurus vex]

The disgusting part is, there is no fixing it. If 100% of the Western world abstained from slave-made goods, it would just mean a lower standard of living for all of them. The slaves would, of course, still be slaves (or worse, if there was no longer a market for what they made). We can buy things from slaves, but we can't share with them. The system doesn't work that way. If we give something up, it goes to the top. If we demand something more, it comes from the bottom. There's no downward path for wealth, comfort, or convenience. Even if we literally sent our money to the worst parts of the planet, it would be taxed and raided down to nothing. In fact that's exactly what happens when we try.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

The disgusting part is, there is no fixing it. If 100% of the Western world abstained from slave-made goods, it would just mean a lower standard of living for all of them. The slaves would, of course, still be slaves (or worse, if there was no longer a market for what they made). We can buy things from slaves, but we can't share with them. The system doesn't work that way. If we give something up, it goes to the top. If we demand something more, it comes from the bottom. There's no downward path for wealth, comfort, or convenience. Even if we literally sent our money to the worst parts of the planet, it would be taxed and raided down to nothing. In fact that's exactly what happens when we try.

Make shit here.  It worked before.  As for over there, I think accomodations will be reached in one form or another by sometime next Tuesday.  Some running around and screaming may be involved.

The master always fears the slave.  There's a reason for that.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

The Ideal:

1.  I will never accept slavery in any form.

2.  I will not associate with those who profit from slavery.

3.  I will not benefit from, or allow others to benefit from, slavery.

4.  Slavers are for hanging.  If a poor man steals to live, how high must we build the gallows for someone who steals PEOPLE for GREED?

5.  Every person is the property of their own person, even those convicted of a crime (note that this does not remove the concept of jails).

That's the ideal, the goal.  The current reality is a little different.

1.  I tacitly accept slavery as the price of doing business, every day.

2.  Everyone I know profits from slavery, including myself.

3.  Everyone I know benefits from slavery, including myself.

4.  Big thieves hang little thieves.

5.  You are de facto property of someone else.  Each and every one of you.

[Elder Iptuous]

reading the 'free the slaves' site for a little while now, and it appears they think there is certainly something we can do about it...

Blocked (duh, who do I work for?), so please expost anything rational or achievable.

well.  they have a page called "Ending Slavery - the Plan"
in it, they say that the two biggest hurdles are  awareness, and resources. (i.e. talk about it and donate)
then they say to lobby govt. to act on rhetoric.
they say to insist on 'fair trade' products when possible.
they say to get to know your neighbors because there's a substantial amount of slavery in our suburbs.  they give red flags to look for.
they say that if you are a business owner or in charge of the supply chain at your place, you can clean up your part with some diligence.
they say you should investigate local businesses to look for slavery.
etc. etc.

and, apparently, the head of that foundation wrote a book on plans for eradicating slavery.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

well.  they have a page called "Ending Slavery - the Plan"
in it, they say that the two biggest hurdles are  awareness, and resources. (i.e. talk about it and donate)

Useless, then.  Facebooktivism.

then they say to lobby govt. to act on rhetoric.
they say to insist on 'fair trade' products when possible.

And there's the kicker.  "Where possible".  That's fucking weasel words, right there.  There is a time and a place to compromise.  This isn't one of them.