I found this to be a really cool link that brings a lot of insight on the consequences of our actions. I think I had like 27 or 37 slaves working for me...I can't remember. That is a lot less than I would have expected, but still a lot. Having any number of slaves working for you is obviously still not something anyone would be proud of. I love owning things, I like buying stuff and not owning things would be difficult to do just because of all the media influences our society is bombarded with. This situation reminded me of a British youtuber named Alex Day who literally owns less than 100 things, he has fourteen articles of clothing. IT IS COMPLETELY INSANE, but I wish I could be able to do that. Maybe I will one day when I gain enough willpower. I think life would be so much more simple and of course less slaves would be working for me. In one of Alex Day's videos he also talks about how he spends a lot less money since he's been living this minimalist life style because the clothes he owns are his favourites and if he wants to buy a new shirt he'd have to get rid of one he already owns so it really has to be worth it. I think it is terrible that our society revolves so much around luxury and status on the account of other people,and I wish that living on only what we need is a wonderful thing to be able to do. I would definitely feel a lot better about myself. Although if everyone all of a sudden decided to live off the bare minimum bad things would happen to our economy, which would not be good at all. It's a difficult world we live in.
Alex Day talking about what he owns: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vbN5a2oG0A
When we were shown this in class i knew i had to go home and do the quiz. I'm not one to eat all organic or buy all organic or even protest, but I still care about these things and i was extremely curious about how my life is connected to those on the other side of the world, and how many slaves do work for me because of the way that I live. After completing it to the best of my abilities my results showed that i had 37 slaves working for me. Now hearing some other peoples results (a lot lower than mine) i felt kind of bad, like I had stolen or done something illegal because hearing my number compared to theirs it made me feel that way. This quiz made me realize the true impact that i have on people that I don't even interact with. This organization does a really good job of providing simple but stark awareness about important issues that aren't talked about enough. They provide reasoning for where they get their numbers and what wer can do to start change and make a difference and also how they came to the conclusion and provide a background of how this organization came to be. I really like this idea because of the growing technological community they make it easy to access. Again like i said earlier, although i'm not huge on saving the whole world with just my actions i love this website for providing easy awareness and easy tips on how to change our own lives to better those around the world. Even if we don't think we have an effect on anyone else, this shows we truly do.
Oh! I also forgot to mention that thanks to the slavery footprint blog i found out that yesterday was national human trafficking awareness day. They have ways on their blog to help spread the awareness which is a great idea - because I definitely would not have known if i hadn't gone through and looked at their blog. http://blog.slaveryfootprint.org/
When I saw this blog entry posted, I had to take the quiz right away. Throughout taking the quiz to find out how many slaves I supposedly have working for me, every new question I found myself coming to a realization of how many luxuries I have, and how much of them I take for granted. I almost felt ashamed by the end and was scared to see what my results were going to be. It turned out I had 62 slaves working for me and once I saw that number I felt immediate guilt. I'm really glad I took the quiz and discovered this website because it made me realize the impact of what I choose to buy, whether it be food, clothing, electronics, etc. and how a lot of it was made by someone who never has and never will have the chance to enjoy such luxuries, let alone the products they are being forced to produce themselves. This website was very eye-opening and does a very good job at incorporating something like a fun quiz that teens tend to like to see what their results may be, meanwhile educating them on such an important and hush issue that tends to be not talked about.The fact that so many people in our society have been brainwashed to think having the newest "it" items, that have been made at basically the expense of someones life, is more important than a life. I found this blog post that talks about where in the world slavery is taking place and the different kinds of slavery that happen now, that did not before. Though I am more knowledgeable about slavery that takes place in factories, this blog made me even more aware that there are different kinds of slavery such as sex trafficking and state imposed forced labour, and that they all need to be abolished. In order for that to happen people need to know more about it and stop letting companies keep the terrible things that are putting people through so secretive. Taking peoples lives away just to simply gain a higher title in the worldwide consumer industry is wrong on so many levels.
Blog Link http://filipspagnoli.wordpress.com/stats-on-human-rights/statistics-on-labor-conditions/statistics-on-modern-slavery/
Society views people based on all the materialistic possessions we own, this quiz was something I would encourage everyone to take. I personally had 25 slaves working for me and when you really think about that, that is 25 people (more then likely kids) working so that I can live my life more comfortably. I never really took into accountability how many 'things' I own until I watched the British youtuber Alex Day. As Sheri K said above he owns less then 100 things he doesn't own a cellphone, books, DVD's, games, soap, shampoo or deodorant. Reflecting on the way I live I can't imagine owning less then 100 things. I wish I could just rid myself of my possessions because thats it, their just possessions, they are a part of me, not who I am. Our society revolves so much around extravagance and how people view us based on our materialistic possessions really do define us. But I think that if everyone took a second to think about what the cost of making those materials were, that a little boy or girl working in a factory for less to nothing in conditions I can't even begin to imagine that maybe we would start to think twice before picking up that new top think about who had to make it and if its really worth it. I do understand that having 0 slaves realistically is not going to happen because of a couple things, if everyone lived off only what they had to then economy would never survive. The economy thrives off people who have 50+ slaves. It also is not practical to live with only the bare minimum like Adam does, people rely on cars, cellphones and clothing for work on an everyday basis. I think that this quiz just holds people accountable for how much 'stuff' they have and how many people around the world work for us to live the kind of life we live.
I found this site really shines the light on how a typical person in a developed country relies upon those less fortunate. As a humanitarian I believe that any number of slaves working for a person too many, yet even I had several slaves working for me. It really makes you think that society pushes you into consuming more but at what point are you over purchasing and causing a negative impact on the environment as well the well being of these slaves. I think that the awareness this sight is creating is definitely beneficial to everybody in developing countries because the vast majority are unaware consumers. Do you think somebody would order 10 extra pair of shoes if they knew the working conditions of the slave that produced those goods? This issue made me think about Socialism and in particular Karl Marx because Marx believed in a Communist system that implemented "equal work for equal pay" which is a very ideal system assuming you believe in equality. Developed countries essentially extort developing countries, by creating working poor as a standard throughout that country they are extorting. Now as shocking as it may seem but because the socio-economic system of almost all developed countries is Capitalism and the private sector is not exactly democratic this slave labor occurs. This occurs because large private businesses want to produce goods as cheap as possible so that they can have the cheapest product and appeal to the masses. So why is it that they are essentially doing slave labor? This is because the businesses are greedy and even though they are leading the market in sales and are gaining a substantial profit out of sales they still want more because the Capitalist system encourages Monopolies. Once the a company has edged out competition by lowering their labor costs to the bare minimum, the competition because scarce and slowly but sure they become the only producer of that item. So overall this site/quiz really reminded me of how corrupt the Capitalist system is and how many world issues today are caused because this system is still implemented. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marxism
I found this to be a really cool link that brings a lot of insight on the consequences of our actions. I think I had like 27 or 37 slaves working for me...I can't remember. That is a lot less than I would have expected, but still a lot. Having any number of slaves working for you is obviously still not something anyone would be proud of. I love owning things, I like buying stuff and not owning things would be difficult to do just because of all the media influences our society is bombarded with. This situation reminded me of a British youtuber named Alex Day who literally owns less than 100 things, he has fourteen articles of clothing. IT IS COMPLETELY INSANE, but I wish I could be able to do that. Maybe I will one day when I gain enough willpower. I think life would be so much more simple and of course less slaves would be working for me. In one of Alex Day's videos he also talks about how he spends a lot less money since he's been living this minimalist life style because the clothes he owns are his favourites and if he wants to buy a new shirt he'd have to get rid of one he already owns so it really has to be worth it.
ReplyDeleteI think it is terrible that our society revolves so much around luxury and status on the account of other people,and I wish that living on only what we need is a wonderful thing to be able to do. I would definitely feel a lot better about myself.
Although if everyone all of a sudden decided to live off the bare minimum bad things would happen to our economy, which would not be good at all. It's a difficult world we live in.
Alex Day talking about what he owns:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vbN5a2oG0A
When we were shown this in class i knew i had to go home and do the quiz. I'm not one to eat all organic or buy all organic or even protest, but I still care about these things and i was extremely curious about how my life is connected to those on the other side of the world, and how many slaves do work for me because of the way that I live. After completing it to the best of my abilities my results showed that i had 37 slaves working for me. Now hearing some other peoples results (a lot lower than mine) i felt kind of bad, like I had stolen or done something illegal because hearing my number compared to theirs it made me feel that way. This quiz made me realize the true impact that i have on people that I don't even interact with. This organization does a really good job of providing simple but stark awareness about important issues that aren't talked about enough. They provide reasoning for where they get their numbers and what wer can do to start change and make a difference and also how they came to the conclusion and provide a background of how this organization came to be. I really like this idea because of the growing technological community they make it easy to access. Again like i said earlier, although i'm not huge on saving the whole world with just my actions i love this website for providing easy awareness and easy tips on how to change our own lives to better those around the world. Even if we don't think we have an effect on anyone else, this shows we truly do.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteOh! I also forgot to mention that thanks to the slavery footprint blog i found out that yesterday was national human trafficking awareness day. They have ways on their blog to help spread the awareness which is a great idea - because I definitely would not have known if i hadn't gone through and looked at their blog.
ReplyDeletehttp://blog.slaveryfootprint.org/
When I saw this blog entry posted, I had to take the quiz right away. Throughout taking the quiz to find out how many slaves I supposedly have working for me, every new question I found myself coming to a realization of how many luxuries I have, and how much of them I take for granted. I almost felt ashamed by the end and was scared to see what my results were going to be. It turned out I had 62 slaves working for me and once I saw that number I felt immediate guilt. I'm really glad I took the quiz and discovered this website because it made me realize the impact of what I choose to buy, whether it be food, clothing, electronics, etc. and how a lot of it was made by someone who never has and never will have the chance to enjoy such luxuries, let alone the products they are being forced to produce themselves. This website was very eye-opening and does a very good job at incorporating something like a fun quiz that teens tend to like to see what their results may be, meanwhile educating them on such an important and hush issue that tends to be not talked about.The fact that so many people in our society have been brainwashed to think having the newest "it" items, that have been made at basically the expense of someones life, is more important than a life. I found this blog post that talks about where in the world slavery is taking place and the different kinds of slavery that happen now, that did not before. Though I am more knowledgeable about slavery that takes place in factories, this blog made me even more aware that there are different kinds of slavery such as sex trafficking and state imposed forced labour, and that they all need to be abolished. In order for that to happen people need to know more about it and stop letting companies keep the terrible things that are putting people through so secretive. Taking peoples lives away just to simply gain a higher title in the worldwide consumer industry is wrong on so many levels.
ReplyDeleteBlog Link
http://filipspagnoli.wordpress.com/stats-on-human-rights/statistics-on-labor-conditions/statistics-on-modern-slavery/
Society views people based on all the materialistic possessions we own, this quiz was something I would encourage everyone to take. I personally had 25 slaves working for me and when you really think about that, that is 25 people (more then likely kids) working so that I can live my life more comfortably. I never really took into accountability how many 'things' I own until I watched the British youtuber Alex Day. As Sheri K said above he owns less then 100 things he doesn't own a cellphone, books, DVD's, games, soap, shampoo or deodorant. Reflecting on the way I live I can't imagine owning less then 100 things. I wish I could just rid myself of my possessions because thats it, their just possessions, they are a part of me, not who I am. Our society revolves so much around extravagance and how people view us based on our materialistic possessions really do define us. But I think that if everyone took a second to think about what the cost of making those materials were, that a little boy or girl working in a factory for less to nothing in conditions I can't even begin to imagine that maybe we would start to think twice before picking up that new top think about who had to make it and if its really worth it.
ReplyDeleteI do understand that having 0 slaves realistically is not going to happen because of a couple things, if everyone lived off only what they had to then economy would never survive. The economy thrives off people who have 50+ slaves. It also is not practical to live with only the bare minimum like Adam does, people rely on cars, cellphones and clothing for work on an everyday basis. I think that this quiz just holds people accountable for how much 'stuff' they have and how many people around the world work for us to live the kind of life we live.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vbN5a2oG0A
I found this site really shines the light on how a typical person in a developed country relies upon those less fortunate. As a humanitarian I believe that any number of slaves working for a person too many, yet even I had several slaves working for me. It really makes you think that society pushes you into consuming more but at what point are you over purchasing and causing a negative impact on the environment as well the well being of these slaves. I think that the awareness this sight is creating is definitely beneficial to everybody in developing countries because the vast majority are unaware consumers. Do you think somebody would order 10 extra pair of shoes if they knew the working conditions of the slave that produced those goods? This issue made me think about Socialism and in particular Karl Marx because Marx believed in a Communist system that implemented "equal work for equal pay" which is a very ideal system assuming you believe in equality. Developed countries essentially extort developing countries, by creating working poor as a standard throughout that country they are extorting. Now as shocking as it may seem but because the socio-economic system of almost all developed countries is Capitalism and the private sector is not exactly democratic this slave labor occurs. This occurs because large private businesses want to produce goods as cheap as possible so that they can have the cheapest product and appeal to the masses. So why is it that they are essentially doing slave labor? This is because the businesses are greedy and even though they are leading the market in sales and are gaining a substantial profit out of sales they still want more because the Capitalist system encourages Monopolies. Once the a company has edged out competition by lowering their labor costs to the bare minimum, the competition because scarce and slowly but sure they become the only producer of that item. So overall this site/quiz really reminded me of how corrupt the Capitalist system is and how many world issues today are caused because this system is still implemented.
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marxism
^Xander
ReplyDelete