-
Starting today August 7th, 2024, in order to post in the Married Couples, Courting Couples, or Singles forums, you will not be allowed to post if you have your Marital status designated as private. Announcements will be made in the respective forums as well but please note that if yours is currently listed as Private, you will need to submit a ticket in the Support Area to have yours changed.
-
Christian Forums is looking to bring on new moderators to the CF Staff Team! If you have been an active member of CF for at least three months with 200 posts during that time, you're eligible to apply! This is a great way to give back to CF and keep the forums running smoothly! If you're interested, you can submit your application here!
How many slaves work for you?
- Thread starter Resha Caner
- Start date
Chicken.
It's interesting how complicated this can get. The platitudes are easy, but the details are contorted.
I heard a program on public radio about a fight going on between coffee initiatives. There are those pushing for "green" farming practices, but they're too expensive for small farmers and so the poor are pushed into bankruptcy by such programs. Then there are those pushing for "living wage" coffee growers, but it often causes farmers to resort to environmentally destructive practices.
Upvote
0
Jade Margery
Stranger in a strange land
I'm trying to do it, but it won't load after the second page for me.
Edit: Apparently eighteen slaves work for me. Probably a lot lower than other people's numbers, but I chalk that up to being poor and living spartan, rather than any better morality or materialistic tendencies.
Honestly though, I think it might be lower than that... I do own quite a bit of jewelry, but almost all of it is antique, pre-WWII, and was given to me by my grandparents. I can count on one hand the number of clothes I own that didn't come from thrift stores or consignment shops, and on one finger the number of furniture items that didn't come from garage sales or moving people giving it away... They didn't factor antiques and reused and recycled items into their measurements.
On the other hand, in reality, it's probably a lot higher. I'm not sure how they were measuring this, but if a hundred people need to be kept enslaved to keep a factory going, and you buy just one thing from that factory... it's not like you're only responsible for one person being in slavery.
Edit: Apparently eighteen slaves work for me. Probably a lot lower than other people's numbers, but I chalk that up to being poor and living spartan, rather than any better morality or materialistic tendencies.
Honestly though, I think it might be lower than that... I do own quite a bit of jewelry, but almost all of it is antique, pre-WWII, and was given to me by my grandparents. I can count on one hand the number of clothes I own that didn't come from thrift stores or consignment shops, and on one finger the number of furniture items that didn't come from garage sales or moving people giving it away... They didn't factor antiques and reused and recycled items into their measurements.
On the other hand, in reality, it's probably a lot higher. I'm not sure how they were measuring this, but if a hundred people need to be kept enslaved to keep a factory going, and you buy just one thing from that factory... it's not like you're only responsible for one person being in slavery.
Last edited:
Upvote
0
In China it is a custom for young people to go off and work in the factory before they settle down to have children. Often they do not make much. But there are going to be others working for "slave" wages all their life to help supply their needs. They are not a slave because they are free to leave any time they want. Even they threaten to fire them if they do not follow the rules. They can go back to working on the farm. Of course they only make half the money working the farm compared to working in the factory.
Bottom line is that happy people are productive people. Unhappy people tend not to be very productive. They use to claim that: "slaves" built the pyramids. Turns out just the opposite was true. The people that built the pyramids were skilled craftsman. They lived a very comfortable life. They had jewelry and other hand crafted items from precious iron and stones. They had all the latest style and fashion of pottery. A close examination of what they would throw away showed they were far from being slaves.
The Bible says who the Son sets free is free indeed. The people who are slaves are the people who are not saved and follow after the devil in his rebellion against God. Jesus died so we could live an abundant life.
Upvote
0
Jade Margery
Stranger in a strange land
It is true that the factories in China are (slowly) helping build a better standard of life there, much like our industrial revolution did here, and while they have a long way to go when it comes to workers rights and protections, they are at least on the way.
It's the many, many, MANY other industries and countries that cause problems though. Chocolate, for instance, is heavily linked to slavery. Children are even kidnapped from their homes to be chocolate-harvesting slaves.
I don't know how responsible we can really feel for it. Even if you try to buy sustainable and responsibly sourced foods and goods, sometimes those programs have the opposite of the intended effect, and sometimes the labels are misleading--for instance, one small part of a product will be made by free and well-paid labor to get the sticker, but all the other parts were not. And what's the other option? Starve? I would love to grow my own food, but I live in a small apartment and can't even have large house plants, let alone a garden.
So, try to avoid the things you KNOW depend a lot on slave labor and buy local when you can, donate to organizations that are making a difference... but at the end of the day, I'm not going to lose a lot of sleep over something I can't really control.
Upvote
0
Jane_the_Bane
Gaia's godchild
- Feb 11, 2004
- 19,359
- 3,426
- Faith
- Pagan
- Marital Status
- Legal Union (Other)
- Politics
- UK-Greens
Oh, I was perfectly aware of most of these, and I am already doing my best to refuse to participate in this global system of exploitation.
Unfortunately, this means that in many instances (electronics, for example), the only available option right now is to stop consuming altogether, because there simply ARE no ethical alternatives.
So, even after
Unfortunately, this means that in many instances (electronics, for example), the only available option right now is to stop consuming altogether, because there simply ARE no ethical alternatives.
So, even after
Upvote
0
Jane_the_Bane
Gaia's godchild
- Feb 11, 2004
- 19,359
- 3,426
- Faith
- Pagan
- Marital Status
- Legal Union (Other)
- Politics
- UK-Greens
Upvote
0
17, mostly due to toiletries and t-shirts. They also automatically assumed that, just because I'm a man, at least one was a prostitute in the US. So I can and will drop that one.
So all I need to do is buy T-shirts made from American cotton and find toiletries made without slaveery-produced ingredients, and I can drop the other 16, as well.
So all I need to do is buy T-shirts made from American cotton and find toiletries made without slaveery-produced ingredients, and I can drop the other 16, as well.
Upvote
0
They asked, but there was no place to answer, and it they said that the answer would not change the score
Upvote
0
keith99
sola dosis facit venenum
So lets see, scores mainly over 20.
Do we have trade with Mars or Alpha Centurai?
Just asking as it seems that just using the US population we will exceed the rest of the world population.
If we add in Western Europe we are sure to have more slaves than the total population of the rest of the world.
The Greek slaves who educated me would be upset if I did not point this out.
Do we have trade with Mars or Alpha Centurai?
Just asking as it seems that just using the US population we will exceed the rest of the world population.
If we add in Western Europe we are sure to have more slaves than the total population of the rest of the world.
The Greek slaves who educated me would be upset if I did not point this out.
Upvote
0
- Nov 22, 2002
- 19,570
- 4,625
- Gender
- Female
- Faith
- Humanist
- Marital Status
- Single
- Politics
- US-Libertarian
Upvote
0
I donno, from the sounds of it it seems that many of us are sharing slaves. I'm only interested in knowing how many full slaves I own, not how many I share.
Upvote
0
Eudaimonist
I believe in life before death!
- Jan 1, 2003
- 27,482
- 2,738
- 58
- Gender
- Male
- Faith
- Atheist
- Marital Status
- Private
- Politics
- US-Libertarian
All the taxpayers in the world that are forced to benefit oneself in some way make the number much larger than this quiz would suggest...
But we simply have to remove from the "slave" list people who simply earn less than we think they should, unless they are abducted and forced to work against their will, or the government is involved in keeping them down in some way by force.
That said, people should think more about slavery in the world. It's a serious issue, and we should seek its end.
eudaimonia,
Mark
But we simply have to remove from the "slave" list people who simply earn less than we think they should, unless they are abducted and forced to work against their will, or the government is involved in keeping them down in some way by force.
That said, people should think more about slavery in the world. It's a serious issue, and we should seek its end.
eudaimonia,
Mark
Last edited:
Upvote
0
Similar threads
