Slavery

[stormdog]

I have this really visceral, negative reaction to slavery that I didn't have before going back to undergrad. Not to say I was pro-slavery before; c'mon. But having read both 3rd person and 1st person accounts more in depth, I have a more emotional response to it than I did

Comments

[schnee]

Not to say I was pro-slavery before;

Well, so much for my impression of you, then. :P

[stormdog]

Sorry to shatter your illusions. *grins*

[resonant]

Slavery seems more like an atrocity to me the older I get, instead of just the way things were in the past. When I went to a museum and saw casual mentions of it, I got angry.

[stormdog]

I think I understand. I know that the older I get, the more politically left I seem to get and the less tolerant I am of various kinds of inequality.

[basefinder]

Age has been doing that to me also.

[mikazo]

I remember when I was very much into animal rights, there was a mercenary for hire in a video game I liked to play. He was very competent, but his bio said that he liked to hunt down endangered species. Needless to say, he never lasted very long when I hired him.

[stormdog]

Heh.

[cranberrynomiko]

The two parts of your post together make me feel the need to point out that a lot of large chocolate brands use child and slave labor to meet their cocoa needs. Mars (the maker of Twix) even had a lawsuit brought against them late last year on their use of child labor.

They are taking steps to improve, (or at least claim they are) but I can't recommend enough looking up some companies that are more careful about their cocoa supply until the major brands get their act together. I've been doing it myself this year, and have had some really magnificent chocolate as result. :)

[stormdog]

Thanks for wanting to mention that. I've been talking about the child labor and slavery in the production of chocolate for a while with my family and friends. When I buy chocolate bars, I usually go for single-source darks, preferably from South America or from certified fair-trade suppliers. I do buy discount chocolate after holidays, especially Cadbury Eggs, and I always feel hypocritical about it. *sighs* It's hard. Thanks for the link to the list; that's helpful.

[cranberrynomiko]

I figured it had probably crossed your radar, but y'know, seemed like a good chance to talk about it anyway. And it's not like everyone can know every possible issue. :)

I've sort of jumped in head first this year with changing my buying and eating practices and it's damnably difficult. At least there's a lot more pressure on the companies now, so with any luck they'll slowly shift over.

What's your favorite fair trade chocolate? My partner and I have made a spreadsheet to track the ones we've tried so far and that's been great fun. My latest find was a mint and rosemary oil dark chocolate bar from... (I had to check) Dagoba? Isn't that the name of a Star Wars planet or something?

[stormdog]

A spreadsheet; I like that. So would Danae; she spreadsheets almost everything. *grins*

I like almost any fairly dark chocolate. Vosges is really good, is Chicago-based, and makes some interesting flavors. I have to admit, though, that I typically buy whatever happens to strike my fancy when I want some dark chocolate. I'm not very picky. *grins* I have seen Dagoba around here, and I think of Star Wars every time....