Tell Me Something I Don't Know

[Stoney229]

6 things you don't know:
#1: 27 million slaves exist in the world today
#2: that's more than twice the total number of slaves that were brought from Africa in the entire 400 years of the transatlantic "Triangle Trade"... and more than there has ever been before.
#3: the average cost of a slave in 1850 in Mississippi was $40,000 (USD adjusted for inflation)... a major investment that was protected much more than the even-more-abused, disposable slaves of today, which average $80 a person.
#4: Two fifths of the world's cocoa comes from farms that use slave labor (not just child exploitation.... but real slave labor)
#5: Millions of us indulge ourselves daily with the pleasures of chocolate and coffee at the cost of the the lives of millions, who had their lives stolen by the traffickers that we support by buying chocolate.
#6: You can, and should, make a difference, by buying "Fair Trade Certified" chocolate and coffee, which is certified to not support slavery, but ensures taht all laborers involved are paid a fair price. By refusing to buy traditional "free trade" chocolate and coffee, and instead demanding that retailers offer Fair Trade items, the Fair Trade market will grow, and major chocolate manufacturers will gradually lose the benefit they have from using slave labor cocoa/coffee, eventually ending much of the modern slave trade altogether.

[SolidLuigi]

6 things you don't know:
#1: 27 million slaves exist in the world today
#2: that's more than twice the total number of slaves that were brought from Africa in the entire 400 years of the transatlantic "Triangle Trade"... and more than there has ever been before.
#3: the average cost of a slave in 1850 in Mississippi was $40,000 (USD adjusted for inflation)... a major investment that was protected much more than the even-more-abused, disposable slaves of today, which average $80 a person.
#4: Two fifths of the world's cocoa comes from farms that use slave labor (not just child exploitation.... but real slave labor)
#5: Millions of us indulge ourselves daily with the pleasures of chocolate and coffee at the cost of the the lives of millions, who had their lives stolen by the traffickers that we support by buying chocolate.
#6: You can, and should, make a difference, by buying "Fair Trade Certified" chocolate and coffee, which is certified to not support slavery, but ensures taht all laborers involved are paid a fair price. By refusing to buy traditional "free trade" chocolate and coffee, and instead demanding that retailers offer Fair Trade items, the Fair Trade market will grow, and major chocolate manufacturers will gradually lose the benefit they have from using slave labor cocoa/coffee, eventually ending much of the modern slave trade altogether.

Stoney 229 wins this thread.

Holy crap I never knew about any of this, I'm gonna have to start looking for Fair Trade when I by this stuff. Honestly, thank you.

[ParadiceCity9]

6 things you don't know:
#1: 27 million slaves exist in the world today
#2: that's more than twice the total number of slaves that were brought from Africa in the entire 400 years of the transatlantic "Triangle Trade"... and more than there has ever been before.
#3: the average cost of a slave in 1850 in Mississippi was $40,000 (USD adjusted for inflation)... a major investment that was protected much more than the even-more-abused, disposable slaves of today, which average $80 a person.
#4: Two fifths of the world's cocoa comes from farms that use slave labor (not just child exploitation.... but real slave labor)
#5: Millions of us indulge ourselves daily with the pleasures of chocolate and coffee at the cost of the the lives of millions, who had their lives stolen by the traffickers that we support by buying chocolate.
#6: You can, and should, make a difference, by buying "Fair Trade Certified" chocolate and coffee, which is certified to not support slavery, but ensures taht all laborers involved are paid a fair price. By refusing to buy traditional "free trade" chocolate and coffee, and instead demanding that retailers offer Fair Trade items, the Fair Trade market will grow, and major chocolate manufacturers will gradually lose the benefit they have from using slave labor cocoa/coffee, eventually ending much of the modern slave trade altogether.

I knew 1 and 2.

[heavycola]

St John's Wood is the only London Undergound station that has none of the letters from the word 'mackerel' in it.

[ignotus]

Ball-pen you write with was invented by Slavoljub Penkala, a Croatian engineer who constructed the first ball point pen and the first fountain pen in 1906.

[heavycola]

Ball-pen you write with was invented by Slavoljub Penkala, a Croatian engineer who constructed the first ball point pen and the first fountain pen in 1906.

The rest of us are typing, ignotus. You will really f*ck up your screen that way. Ah, you crazy eastern europeans...

[Symmetry]

A surprising number of people don't know what "spendthrift" means. Same goes for "peruse". Go on- make your guess and look at a dictionary.

Also I learned an awesome new word- "pronoia". It's an opposite of paranoia. Pronoia is the belief that the world is a giant conspiracy of people, but that they're all working in your favour.

[lord voldemort]

60% of the time it works every time.
over 85 % of people stare at there siblin in the shower

approx 79% of all starts are made up

[otis89]

5 out of 4 people have trouble with fractions.

[ParadiceCity9]

60% of the time it works every time.

heheh anchorman...good movie..

[apey]

I love hecter did ya know that

[Snowpepsi]

hecter ruins my stories.

[apey]

hecter ruins my stories.

I knew that

[Snowpepsi]

Not a morning person doesn't even begin to describe me.

[btownmeggy]

The founder of the Brazilian Communist Party was named Astrogildo Pereira.

[Snowpepsi]

I like George W. Bush ( and his daddy).

[Jolly Roger]

Contrary to the popular saying, yellow snow actually makes for the best eating. It's the tasteless white stuff you really have to watch out for.

At least that's what I heard.

[firth4eva]

One person dies every day in America because of AEA

[Stoney229]

6 things you don't know:
#1: 27 million slaves exist in the world today
#2: that's more than twice the total number of slaves that were brought from Africa in the entire 400 years of the transatlantic "Triangle Trade"... and more than there has ever been before.
#3: the average cost of a slave in 1850 in Mississippi was $40,000 (USD adjusted for inflation)... a major investment that was protected much more than the even-more-abused, disposable slaves of today, which average $80 a person.
#4: Two fifths of the world's cocoa comes from farms that use slave labor (not just child exploitation.... but real slave labor)
#5: Millions of us indulge ourselves daily with the pleasures of chocolate and coffee at the cost of the the lives of millions, who had their lives stolen by the traffickers that we support by buying chocolate.
#6: You can, and should, make a difference, by buying "Fair Trade Certified" chocolate and coffee, which is certified to not support slavery, but ensures taht all laborers involved are paid a fair price. By refusing to buy traditional "free trade" chocolate and coffee, and instead demanding that retailers offer Fair Trade items, the Fair Trade market will grow, and major chocolate manufacturers will gradually lose the benefit they have from using slave labor cocoa/coffee, eventually ending much of the modern slave trade altogether.

Stoney 229 wins this thread.

Holy crap I never knew about any of this, I'm gonna have to start looking for Fair Trade when I by this stuff. Honestly, thank you.

Thank you! so much. It is encouraging to know that there are people who are willing to listen and respond... and that my effort to make others aware will make a difference. Please don't forget... please encourage others to learn about this... you will make a difference.

[Snowpepsi]

Australian Shiraz is rich and smoky or spicy.

[btownmeggy]

6 things you don't know:
#1: 27 million slaves exist in the world today
#2: that's more than twice the total number of slaves that were brought from Africa in the entire 400 years of the transatlantic "Triangle Trade"... and more than there has ever been before.
#3: the average cost of a slave in 1850 in Mississippi was $40,000 (USD adjusted for inflation)... a major investment that was protected much more than the even-more-abused, disposable slaves of today, which average $80 a person.
#4: Two fifths of the world's cocoa comes from farms that use slave labor (not just child exploitation.... but real slave labor)
#5: Millions of us indulge ourselves daily with the pleasures of chocolate and coffee at the cost of the the lives of millions, who had their lives stolen by the traffickers that we support by buying chocolate.
#6: You can, and should, make a difference, by buying "Fair Trade Certified" chocolate and coffee, which is certified to not support slavery, but ensures taht all laborers involved are paid a fair price. By refusing to buy traditional "free trade" chocolate and coffee, and instead demanding that retailers offer Fair Trade items, the Fair Trade market will grow, and major chocolate manufacturers will gradually lose the benefit they have from using slave labor cocoa/coffee, eventually ending much of the modern slave trade altogether.

You say that today there are 27 million slaves out of >6 billion people in the world. Between about 1600 and 1850, approximately 10 million slaves were trafficked from Africa to Europe and the Americas. In 1805, just after the height of the slave trade, there were only 1 billion people in the world.

Now, I'm certainly not trying to minimize the horrible plight of the millions of people that I certainly acknowledge to be enslaved today... but I'm trying to put your statistics into perspective.

[Snorri1234]

6 things you don't know:
#1: 27 million slaves exist in the world today
#2: that's more than twice the total number of slaves that were brought from Africa in the entire 400 years of the transatlantic "Triangle Trade"... and more than there has ever been before.
#3: the average cost of a slave in 1850 in Mississippi was $40,000 (USD adjusted for inflation)... a major investment that was protected much more than the even-more-abused, disposable slaves of today, which average $80 a person.
#4: Two fifths of the world's cocoa comes from farms that use slave labor (not just child exploitation.... but real slave labor)
#5: Millions of us indulge ourselves daily with the pleasures of chocolate and coffee at the cost of the the lives of millions, who had their lives stolen by the traffickers that we support by buying chocolate.
#6: You can, and should, make a difference, by buying "Fair Trade Certified" chocolate and coffee, which is certified to not support slavery, but ensures taht all laborers involved are paid a fair price. By refusing to buy traditional "free trade" chocolate and coffee, and instead demanding that retailers offer Fair Trade items, the Fair Trade market will grow, and major chocolate manufacturers will gradually lose the benefit they have from using slave labor cocoa/coffee, eventually ending much of the modern slave trade altogether.

You say that today there are 27 million slaves out of >6 billion people in the world. Between about 1600 and 1850, approximately 10 million slaves were trafficked from Africa to Europe and the Americas. In 1805, just after the height of the slave trade, there were only 1 billion people in the world.

Now, I'm certainly not trying to minimize the horrible plight of the millions of people that I certainly acknowledge to be enslaved today... but I'm trying to put your statistics into perspective.

Yeah, the 2nd claim is total alarmist-bullshit. I mean, present day slavery is horrible and fucked up, but I fail to see what the 2nd thing has to do with it.

*also: Why are the major western chocolate manufacturers not sanctioned for buying slaveproducts?

[Stoney229]

6 things you don't know:
#1: 27 million slaves exist in the world today
#2: that's more than twice the total number of slaves that were brought from Africa in the entire 400 years of the transatlantic "Triangle Trade"... and more than there has ever been before.
#3: the average cost of a slave in 1850 in Mississippi was $40,000 (USD adjusted for inflation)... a major investment that was protected much more than the even-more-abused, disposable slaves of today, which average $80 a person.
#4: Two fifths of the world's cocoa comes from farms that use slave labor (not just child exploitation.... but real slave labor)
#5: Millions of us indulge ourselves daily with the pleasures of chocolate and coffee at the cost of the the lives of millions, who had their lives stolen by the traffickers that we support by buying chocolate.
#6: You can, and should, make a difference, by buying "Fair Trade Certified" chocolate and coffee, which is certified to not support slavery, but ensures taht all laborers involved are paid a fair price. By refusing to buy traditional "free trade" chocolate and coffee, and instead demanding that retailers offer Fair Trade items, the Fair Trade market will grow, and major chocolate manufacturers will gradually lose the benefit they have from using slave labor cocoa/coffee, eventually ending much of the modern slave trade altogether.

You say that today there are 27 million slaves out of >6 billion people in the world. Between about 1600 and 1850, approximately 10 million slaves were trafficked from Africa to Europe and the Americas. In 1805, just after the height of the slave trade, there were only 1 billion people in the world.

Now, I'm certainly not trying to minimize the horrible plight of the millions of people that I certainly acknowledge to be enslaved today... but I'm trying to put your statistics into perspective.

I have done much research on the topic, and am very aware that there has been more slavery per capita in the world than there is today. Thank you for mentioning that, though, and reminding me that I shall not forget to mention it in the future (so as not to seem propogandist)... but the fact remains that there are more slaves suffering today than ever before in the history of the world... and we have the power to change it, yet we choose to turn a blind eye to it for the sake of our own comfort and at the cost of the lives of millions. IMHO, that should give me more perspective on the matter than the fact than "by some measures, slavery has formerly been worse". That, it seems, should mean nothing to us except that we can make progress. I am afraid to think that we might write off our own responsibilty to the plight of 27 million people that are suffering, when we can realisitcally choose for there to be none by not tolerating it where we know it to exist.

When I hear of the genocide of 200-300,000 people in Darfur, I do not feel there is any perspective to be gained by thinking well, there were 6 million killed in the holocaust because the tragedy of the fact (and the fact of the tragedy) that thousands of innocent are dying in Darfur is exclusive to the former sufferings others elswhere... and something still must be done as long as something can be done.

[Stoney229]

Yeah, the 2nd claim is total alarmist-bullshit. I mean, present day slavery is horrible and fucked up, but I fail to see what the 2nd thing has to do with it.

Perhaps you are just selective about the reality you accept (j/k )
The second claim is not meant to be alrmist-bullshit. If it is confusing, I am sorry for that, and in the future I will be more careful to clarify, but the second point is still valid information that worthy of consideration - that, strictly speaking, there are far more people suffering from slavery today than any other point in history. My own life is as valuable to me, my family, and those who love me in a world of 6 billion as in a world of 1 million.

*also: Why are the major western chocolate manufacturers not sanctioned for buying slaveproducts?

I'm not sure I understand what you are asking. can you please explain?

PS- I really appreciate your feedback, so thank you for posting. I do not intend to claim superiority (ethically, morally, etc.), but wish to express my beliefs and understanding in order that you might consider them what I have to say, and I will consider what you have to say. thanks again.

[Snorri1234]

Yeah, the 2nd claim is total alarmist-bullshit. I mean, present day slavery is horrible and fucked up, but I fail to see what the 2nd thing has to do with it.

Perhaps you are just selective about the reality you accept (j/k )
The second claim is not meant to be alrmist-bullshit. If it is confusing, I am sorry for that, and in the future I will be more careful to clarify, but the second point is still valid information that worthy of consideration - that, strictly speaking, there are far more people suffering from slavery today than any other point in history. My own life is as valuable to me, my family, and those who love me in a world of 6 billion as in a world of 1 million.

Well it sounds that way because naturally an increase in population means an increase in numbers. Many diseases for example take more lives than they ever used to do, but that's just because there are way more people now.

Particularly regarding what you replied to meggy, it doesn't matter how much suffering was going on in the past. It's important that we stop that suffering now. I just think the 2nd statement doesn't contribute much to the whole.

I'm not sure I understand what you are asking. can you please explain?

Well, I mean, isn't it illegal to buy slave-products for western companies? Seems to me that would be reasonable.