So you're advancing the idea that because some people who used to own slaves eventually voted to abolish it, those people should be commended even though they first failed to reject slavery as evil when they had the first opportunity, thereby tolerating and partaking in an institution that destroyed hundreds of thousands of lives?
I'm not buying it.
I am pretty sure the same logic can be applied to you...
What is stopping you from boycotting goods produced literally with modern slave labor in stead of buying items that pay people a decent living wage? Chances are you buy the cheapest product like most people, and because it is socially acceptable, you too support modern slavery. Now if someone might not be completely aware of this dynamic, this individual changing their behavior in favor of support of human rights is now suddenly not commendable because they once enjoyed a higher standard of living at the expense of others?
I argue that you yourself are doing the very same thing right now, only with a lot less awareness of how your habits cause human suffering. You should probably check your judgment lest ye be judged. IMO some one doing wrong, admitting it, and changing their behavior shows a lot more strength than the person that pretends they aren't perpetrators (you).
I'm not talking about sweat shops. I am talking about literal slavery. Did you know more African American males are in forced servitude now than ever before in US history?
First, what logic can be applied to me? OP said we should praise white Europeans for abolishing slavery, and I said no, you can't claim credit for eventually getting rid of an evil you started. Then you come along and say "the same logic can be applied to you, you support slavery." You're not responding to anything I said with your attack.
The only thing I said was white people don't get credit for abolishing slavery after they ruined so many lives with it.Second, your attack is a lot of unsubstantiated garbage. Please find common products sold in the US that are made "
literally with modern slave labor." Be specific, the fact that clothes come from a country that is known to use slave labor is not evidence it was produced with slave labor. Further, clothes is a category, not a specific product. You will quickly see that your over-generalization breaks down when you get specific, because if there were products known to be created with forced labor, they wouldn't be for sale in the US for the public and political outrage, not to mention the damage it would do any US company to be associated with actual forced labor.
And to reiterate your point, we're not talking about sweat shops, we're talking about a product made with forced servitude of a human being without recompense for the profit of a corporation, sold in the US and that I might reasonably buy, since you're so adamant that I'm supporting slavery in the modern age, which again was an attack you just lobbed out of nowhere, because it was not in response to anything I said.
And finally, if we just accept your charge at face value, do you realize that the argument that developed nations
still indirectly support slavery in the developing world
strengthens my point that there's nothing prideful about the western world's track record on slavery?
First of all this was not an attack but simply applying the same standards to you, that you casually apply to an entire race of people (gee that's not at all racist). White people didn't invent slavery, additionally even if you buy this disingenuous presumption by no means did the same people who brought the system into use, end it. People were born into the system, realized its flaws, had the power to change the system, and changed it accordingly. Just the same way you were born into a system that uses forced labor and remain ignorant of it while criticizing an entire race of people for the same injustice. As far as slavery in the "western world", I think you will find if you bother to look that slavery is STILL a global phenomenon, not just reserved for the west. A right doesn't erase a wrong and a wrong doesn't erase a right. Millions of people gave their lives to see that slavery was ended, and at great economic cost. Discounting that is quite arrogant and an affront to the people who actually struggled to end slavery.
As far as products using forced labor in the US, you are quite incorrect. Products produced with forced captive labor are sold and manufactured all over the US. Here is an abridged list of corporations that profit directly from forced labor:
BANKS: American General Financial Group, American Express Company, Bank of America, Community Financial Services Corporation, Credit Card Coalition, Credit Union National Association, Inc., Fidelity Inestments, Harris Trust & Savings Bank, Household International, LaSalle National Bank, J.P. Morgan & Company, Non-Bank Funds Transmitters Group
ENERGY PRODUCERS/OIL: American Petroleum Institute, Amoco Corporation, ARCO, BP America, Inc., Caltex Petroleum, Chevron Corporation, ExxonMobil Corporation, Mobil Oil Corporation, Phillips Petroleum Company.
ENERGY PRODUCERS/UTILITIES: American Electric Power Association, American Gas Association, Center for Energy and Economic Development, Commonwealth Edison Company, Consolidated Edison Company of New York, Inc., Edison Electric Institute, Independent Power Producers of New York, Koch Industries, Inc., Mid-American Energy Company, Natural Gas Supply Association, PG&E Corporation/PG&E National Energy Group, U.S. Generating Company.
INSURANCE: Alliance of American Insurers, Allstate Insurance Company, American Council of Life Insurance, American Insurance Association, Blue Cross and Blue Shield Corporation, Coalition for Asbestos Justice, (This organization was formed in October 2000 to explore new judicial approaches to asbestos litigation." Its members include ACE-USA, Chubb & Son, CNA service mark companies, Fireman's Fund Insurance Company, Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc., Kemper Insurance Companies, Liberty Mutual Insurance Group, and St. Paul Fire and Marine Insurance Company. Counsel to the coalition is Victor E. Schwartz of the law firm of Crowell & Moring in Washington, D.C., a longtime ALEC ally.)
Fortis Health, GEICO, Golden Rule Insurance Company, Guarantee Trust Life Insurance, MEGA Life and Health Insurance Company, National Association of Independent Insurers, Nationwide Insurance/National Financial, State Farm Insurance Companies, Wausau Insurance Companies, Zurich Insurance.
PHARMACEUTICALS: Abbott Laboratories, Aventis Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Bayer Corporation, Eli Lilly & Company, GlaxoSmithKline, Glaxo Wellcome, Inc., Hoffman-LaRoche, Inc., Merck & Company, Inc., Pfizer, Inc., Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of
America (PhRMA), Pharmacia Corporation, Rhone-Poulenc Rorer, Inc., Schering-Plough Corporation, Smith, Kline & French, WYETH, a division of American Home Products Corporation.
MANUFACTURING:American Plastics Council, Archer Daniels Midland Corporation, AutoZone, Inc. (aftermarket automotive parts), Cargill, Inc., Caterpillar, Inc., Chlorine Chemistry Council, Deere & Company, Fruit of the Loom, Grocery Manufacturers of America, Inland Steel Industries, Inc., International Game Technology, International Paper, Johnson & Johnson, Keystone Automotive Industries, Motorola, Inc., Procter & Gamble, Sara Lee Corporation.
TELECOMMUNICATIONS: AT&T, Ameritech, BellSouth Telecommunications, Inc., GTE Corporation, MCI, National Cable and Telecommunications Association, SBC Communications, Inc., Sprint, UST Public Affairs, Inc., Verizon Communications, Inc.
TRANSPORTATION: Air Transport Association of America, American Trucking Association, The Boeing Company, United Airlines, United Parcel Service (UPS).
OTHER U.S. COMPANIES: Amway Corporation, Cabot Sedgewick, Cendant Corporation, Corrections Corporation of America, Dresser Industries, Federated Department Stores, International Gold Corporation, Mary Kay Cosmetics, Microsoft Corporation, Newmont Mining Corporation, Quaker Oats, Sears, Roebuck & Company, Service Corporation International, Taxpayers Network, Inc., Turner Construction, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
ORGANIZATIONS/ASSOCIATIONS: Adolph Coors Foundation, Ameritech Foundation, Bell & Howell Foundation, Carthage Foundation, Charles G. Koch Charitable Foundation, ELW Foundation, Grocery Manufacturers of America, Heartland Institute of Chicago, The Heritage Foundation, Iowans for Tax Relief, Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation of Milwaukee, National Pork Producers Association, National Rifle Association, Olin Foundation, Roe Foundation, Scaiffe Foundation, Shell Oil Company Foundation, Smith Richardson Foundation, Steel Recycling Institute, Tax Education Support Organization, Texas Educational Foundation, UPS Foundation.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2010/12/14/928611/-INSOURCING-Identifying-businesses-involved-in-prison-labor-or-supporting-those-who-arehttp://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/10/prison-labor_n_2272036.htmlhttp://www.globalresearch.ca/the-prison-industry-in-the-united-states-big-business-or-a-new-form-of-slavery/8289http://teamsternation.blogspot.com/2013/05/corporations-using-prison-labor-to-grab.htmlhttp://www.alternet.org/story/151732/21st-century_slaves%3A_how_corporations_exploit_prison_labor
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