22 Humans

I  saw the link to Slavery Footprint on my ELA teacher's blog and decided to check it out.  (The link is: slaveryfootprint.org.)  It is a program that tries to spread the  word about modern day slavery.  So many people worked SO hard to kill slavery off, but it's still here.  I'm not talking about picking cotton for rich white southern plantation owners during the 1800's.  What I'm talking about is the idea that people NOW are being forced to work for consumer's needs.  When you buy something that is mass produced, chances are, unless it is a special company making the product, it has been touched by a slave.  Anything from shorts to shrimp to diamonds to cars can and probably employs some sort of slave labor.

The web site gives you two options, you can either pick the "What? I have slaves working for me?" button or the "Take the Survey!" button.  I first read the about page on the site, then took the survey.  There was a huge variety of questions about your lifestyle.  They asked about diet, clothing, sports equipment, electronics, where you live, housing, medicine, age, gender, children or not, and jewelery.  At first I didn't really understand why they were asking about these things, then I began to read the facts beside the questions and I was shocked.  For example, "Bonded labor is used for much of Southeast Asia's shrimping industry, which supplies more shrimp to the U.S. than any other country. Laborers work up to 20-hour days to peel 40 pounds of shrimp. Those who attempt to escape are under constant threat of violence or sexual assault.", this fact was listed next to the diet questions.  The mere thought that people wouldn't get paid to do their work is shocking to me, but the idea that if they tried to escape they could be abused if unbelievable.  It really makes me sick.

22.  That's 22 people forced into labor without their consent.  I have 22 slaves working for me.  At the end of the survey they give you your results with comparisons to the average, extraneous variables, and other extra tidbits of information.  I still can't believe I only have 3 people under the average "working for me".  I felt awful when I read my results.  In the future I will be much more cautious about how I conduct my life and my consumption of stuff that could be produced by slaves.

The most interesting part to me is the fact that if you told me this was something that happened in the past I would be angry and shocked, but my response in the end would be, "It was different back then."  The problem is that when we say that slavery happened because "It was different back then,", it's ridiculous because it still happens now. 

Does Class Matter?

I am reading Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld.  I just started it an I already really enjoy it.  It is a book about a girl named Lee Fiora who moves from Indiana to a Massachusetts boarding school called Ault.  Ault is really fancy and has not just an air of wealthiness, but a consuming air of wealthiness.  The book deals with a lot of issues, but the most pressing one is separation of the classes.

Life is wildly different at Ault than in Indiana. In Indiana, Lee was the kid who was the top of her class.  In Indiana, Lee was praised constantly for being so smart.  Lee always knew the right thing to say in Indiana.  In Indiana, money never mattered.  Lee's life at Ault is the exact opposite.  Here Lee is really lonely and really has no friends to help her adjust.  She's nice and kind and smart, but no one feels the need to be her friend because everyone else has friends already.  At Ault all the kids come from incredibly rich and wealthy backgrounds.  In Indiana, Lee didn't have a lot of money but there it didn't matter.  Here at Ault, it's part of what makes her an outcast.  In fact, the plot doesn't entirely revolve around how much her being on scholarship affects her, but it's a huge component. At Ault kids really throw money around.  It truly doesn't matter for them.  Like the character Little says at one point, "They buy 70 dollar track warmups and it means absolutley nothing."  Most of the kids have lawyers and doctors as parents.  Lee has farmers for parents.  Now while Lee didn't go from rags to riches, her surroundings definitely did.

If I were in Lee'splace I don't know if I would be able to keep it together.  It must be really stressful to be an outcast the way Lee is.  It kind of humiluiating to be in her shoes.  She's so lonely, and it's all because of her economic class.  I mean, can you imagine being with a ton of kids who can do the one thing you can't and being an outcast because of it?  Lee is already lonely, because she's not being accepted into multiple different social circles, but on top of that she's on scholarship.  Lee is an outcast on both counts, socially and econnomically.  She came from a accepting place where her economic situation was common, now Lee is uncommon.  Lee had to transition radically.  One day, top of the world (In Indiana), the next, bottom of the heap (at Ault).  One day average income, next, "dirt poor".  Now, she's not poor but she's definitely not in the same class as most of the kids at Ault. 

I think enconomic class separation is a huge issue both in this book and in the world.  It can prevent people from becoming friends, and can even tear apart friendships.   It is a destructive and elitest mindset, and it doesn't just happen economically, it happens racially and socially too.  Just look at Maria and Tony in West Side Story, true love torn apart by class differences.