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Dark Side Of Valentines Day - 2/14/2007 4:13:43 PM

juliaoceania

Posts: 21383
Joined: 4/19/2006
From: Somewhere Over the Rainbow
Status: offline

This is not a guilt post, it is more to make you aware if you were not already of how there is exploitation with three of the most popular Valentines Day gift traditions so that next year you can make better choices when selecting gifts.

First is about child slavery and chocolate
http://www.american.edu/ted/chocolate-slave.htm

The way to stop this to buy chocolate from companies that promote civil society and use only fair trade cocoa. One such company that sells in the USA is Divine chocolate.

The next one is the blood diamond trade (conflict diamonds)
http://www.un.org/peace/africa/Diamond.html

Here is a list of four things you can do to ensure that the diamonds that you give will not be tainted
http://www.amnesty.org.nz/web/pages/home.nsf/dd5cab6801f1723585256474005327c8/07697825f6001416cc257265006f9483!OpenDocument

The next is the flower industry which has a history of exploitation of single mothers, often exposing them to dangerous pesticides with no worker protection
http://www.alternet.org/rights/47847/

Ask where the flowers you bought came from.

It takes just a little effort and it is well worth it to make sure that our dollars are spent humanely... that way we give our money in a way that grows the kind of world we want our children to live and love in.

_____________________________

Once you label me, you negate me ~ Soren Kierkegaard

Reality has a well known Liberal Bias ~ Stephen Colbert

Great minds discuss ideas; Average minds discuss events; Small minds discuss people. Eleanor Roosevelt

Post #: 1

RE: Dark Side Of Valentines Day - 2/14/2007 4:16:49 PM

goodpet

Posts: 458
Joined: 6/8/2005
Status: offline

thanks

Makes ya stop to think a bit.

(in reply to juliaoceania)

Post #: 2

RE: Dark Side Of Valentines Day - 2/14/2007 5:04:18 PM

ScooterTrash

Posts: 1407
Joined: 1/24/2005
From: Indiana
Status: offline

OK...and? No offence julia, but this is sort of a typical Cali mentality isn't it? They do this and they do that, so I'm not going to buy "insert your whatever here". Damnit folks, you are not going to save the world, give it up, brutality and killing will go on as it has for centuries, it's a world market, not a nursery school. I'll buy a product because that is what I want to buy and without doing a ton of research or worrying who did what to who to get it to the shelf or if it's going to cause mutants in a thousand years. If a few people don't buy a product, oh well, there are thousands others who will. I don't like McDonalds because they support gun control, but I've noticed that although I wouldn't eat a Big Mac if I was starving, they are still in business...so I support other organizations that have more pull. If you really feel strongly about something and want to make an impact, political influence or promoting a help organization would seem more prudent.

_____________________________

Formal symbolic representation of qualitative entities is doomed to its rightful place of minor significance in a world where flowers and beautiful women abound.
-Albert Einstein

(in reply to juliaoceania)

Post #: 3

RE: Dark Side Of Valentines Day - 2/14/2007 5:15:48 PM

PoisonRoses

Posts: 65
Joined: 6/12/2006
Status: offline

hmmm... to weigh my thoughts..
kooky julia who cares and actually tries to change things for the better or trashy scooterboy who accepts defeat and finds life and the world hopeless so just sticks his head up his ass and goes with the easiest way out.

Julia wins !!!!

(in reply to ScooterTrash)

Post #: 4

RE: Dark Side Of Valentines Day - 2/14/2007 5:21:23 PM

juliaoceania

Posts: 21383
Joined: 4/19/2006
From: Somewhere Over the Rainbow
Status: offline

Consumers have successfully switched market forces. In fact there are conflict diamond laws because of consumer pressure, but we should remain vigilent (those of us that give a fuck) to where we get our diamonds.

You are responsible for your dollars, i am responsible for mine. I am not trying to convince the individual that is scootertrash to buy or not buy anything. I am speaking to people who want to know, and who care, and who do not mind taking a couple of minutes out of their schedules to inform themselves of where their dollars go. If it feels good to you to spend your money the way you do, then hey, more power to you! I think we should all feel good! I want to feel good too! I want to know where my money goes and feel good about that!

My post was not to inspire guilt, because that is not a good motivator to change behavior, it was meant to empower people in a positive way to know that we do have the power of the purse to improve our world in our own small way. I do not know why that bugs you, or why you are hostile to that. I did not say I judge those who want to spend their money differently than I do, i do not judge you... I just want to spend my money the way I want to, and I want to let others know they have options too... they are not without options to buy the things they want! A person can have chocolate, flowers and diamonds that no child suffered for... it is absolutely possible! I want to focus on that, not on the other side of the equation. I believe in my individual power to make the world slightly better, all it takes is information... and I feel good about that!

I sincerely mean this, if it does not feel good to you to pay attention to the information I presented, well then the information was not meant for you. I do not want to control how people spend, I just want to feel good about how I spend. I am actually happy about something, that I can receive a diamond without guilt! I have told men I was involved with before not to buy me one because of my own moral compass. I do not expect others to share that compass with me.

I respect your opinion, really I do. I would hope that you respect my trying to feel good about where the money that is spent on me goes to, and where my money goes to... it is all about personal choice. I am not out to take yours away.

_____________________________

Once you label me, you negate me ~ Soren Kierkegaard

Reality has a well known Liberal Bias ~ Stephen Colbert

Great minds discuss ideas; Average minds discuss events; Small minds discuss people. Eleanor Roosevelt

(in reply to ScooterTrash)

Post #: 5

RE: Dark Side Of Valentines Day - 2/14/2007 5:25:30 PM

pahunkboy

Posts: 33061
Joined: 2/26/2006
From: Central Pennsylvania
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: juliaoceania

This is not a guilt post, it is more to make you aware if you were not already of how there is exploitation with three of the most popular Valentines Day gift traditions so that next year you can make better choices when selecting gifts.

First is about child slavery and chocolate
http://www.american.edu/ted/chocolate-slave.htm

The way to stop this to buy chocolate from companies that promote civil society and use only fair trade cocoa. One such company that sells in the USA is Divine chocolate.

The next one is the blood diamond trade (conflict diamonds)
http://www.un.org/peace/africa/Diamond.html

Here is a list of four things you can do to ensure that the diamonds that you give will not be tainted
http://www.amnesty.org.nz/web/pages/home.nsf/dd5cab6801f1723585256474005327c8/07697825f6001416cc257265006f9483!OpenDocument

The next is the flower industry which has a history of exploitation of single mothers, often exposing them to dangerous pesticides with no worker protection
http://www.alternet.org/rights/47847/

Ask where the flowers you bought came from.

It takes just a little effort and it is well worth it to make sure that our dollars are spent humanely... that way we give our money in a way that grows the kind of world we want our children to live and love in.

Dear Julia, your post is intriguing. Offbeat sorta. Thought provoking.

It sorta took me aback.

CM amaze me with the wide aray of stimulating ideas.

Im not so fast to write off west coast ideas. If every household switched lightbulbs [even just 1!] to the new efficient ones it would do wonders the stats are staggerrring. I bought one on sale at Aldis. $2.79. They last 7 years it says. Im just one person. If everyone did this- maybe we can buy abit more time of clean air. It certainly is better then rolling over and playing dead.

In the larger scheme of things are tribes and villages are inter-dependent.

:-)

Cheers!

(in reply to juliaoceania)

Post #: 6

RE: Dark Side Of Valentines Day - 2/14/2007 5:28:03 PM

juliaoceania

Posts: 21383
Joined: 4/19/2006
From: Somewhere Over the Rainbow
Status: offline

quote:

In the larger scheme of things are tribes and villages are inter-dependent.

Yes that is soooo true, what I do and what you do has impacts far beyond us. It is a sobering thought, because we really are all connected... I am such a hippy dippy granola eating nut amongst many other nuts and fruits...smiles

_____________________________

Once you label me, you negate me ~ Soren Kierkegaard

Reality has a well known Liberal Bias ~ Stephen Colbert

Great minds discuss ideas; Average minds discuss events; Small minds discuss people. Eleanor Roosevelt

(in reply to pahunkboy)

Post #: 7

RE: Dark Side Of Valentines Day - 2/14/2007 5:28:14 PM

pahunkboy

Posts: 33061
Joined: 2/26/2006
From: Central Pennsylvania
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: ScooterTrash

OK...and? No offence julia, but this is sort of a typical Cali mentality isn't it? They do this and they do that, so I'm not going to buy "insert your whatever here". Damnit folks, you are not going to save the world, give it up, brutality and killing will go on as it has for centuries, it's a world market, not a nursery school. I'll buy a product because that is what I want to buy and without doing a ton of research or worrying who did what to who to get it to the shelf or if it's going to cause mutants in a thousand years. If a few people don't buy a product, oh well, there are thousands others who will. I don't like McDonalds because they support gun control, but I've noticed that although I wouldn't eat a Big Mac if I was starving, they are still in business...so I support other organizations that have more pull. If you really feel strongly about something and want to make an impact, political influence or promoting a help organization would seem more prudent.

Mcdonalds food is dog food. cutter canner.

I proudly display a NRA sticker on my car. [the only sticker I might add]

(in reply to ScooterTrash)

Post #: 8

RE: Dark Side Of Valentines Day - 2/14/2007 5:34:08 PM

pahunkboy

Posts: 33061
Joined: 2/26/2006
From: Central Pennsylvania
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: juliaoceania

quote:

In the larger scheme of things are tribes and villages are inter-dependent.

Yes that is soooo true, what I do and what you do has impacts far beyond us. It is a sobering thought, because we really are all connected... I am such a hippy dippy granola eating nut amongst many other nuts and fruits...smiles

we have choice and free will. IF scooter chooses as he posted I wont slam him. Free will.

Conversly- at 1st glance the OP seemed polically correct in the gag me sense.

Re-reading it tho. Julia, keep on coming.

Scooter keep em coming.

Via the Internet- the 1% divide and conqueer tactics wont work. And certainly not amongst 2 of CMs more outstanding members!

Thanks for the posts!

(in reply to juliaoceania)

Post #: 9

RE: Dark Side Of Valentines Day - 2/14/2007 5:39:16 PM

juliaoceania

Posts: 21383
Joined: 4/19/2006
From: Somewhere Over the Rainbow
Status: offline

Actually if I was truly politically correct I would not post bad things about America's sweetheart holiday.... I mean it is mostly about the almighty dollar in this country... people like me rarely get heard on the news... so we blog. I mean there are no mainstream politicians spouting boycott info, or trying to stop these sorts of things are there? I would suppose if I was really PC, there would be a lot more talk about it... Now breast cancer research money... a totally PC topic!

_____________________________

Once you label me, you negate me ~ Soren Kierkegaard

Reality has a well known Liberal Bias ~ Stephen Colbert

Great minds discuss ideas; Average minds discuss events; Small minds discuss people. Eleanor Roosevelt

(in reply to pahunkboy)

Post #: 10

RE: Dark Side Of Valentines Day - 2/14/2007 5:46:26 PM

pahunkboy

Posts: 33061
Joined: 2/26/2006
From: Central Pennsylvania
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: juliaoceania

Actually if I was truly politically correct I would not post bad things about America's sweetheart holiday.... I mean it is mostly about the almighty dollar in this country... people like me rarely get heard on the news... so we blog. I mean there are no mainstream politicians spouting boycott info, or trying to stop these sorts of things are there? I would suppose if I was really PC, there would be a lot more talk about it... Now breast cancer research money... a totally PC topic!

Julia, be whoever you are- and keep on being you.

I trust you 1000x more then a multinational corporation, it media, its puppet politicians.

You are a human- with a heart.

Ild have you as a guest in my home before any CEO.

You realize life is more then greed.

Much of CM people- same deal.

The 1% WANT we the peons isolated.

Thats why it is so important that we use the net as a tool to check the run-a-muck greed. Greed is nothing new..its been around for centuries.

HUGS.

Keep posting!

Roger

(in reply to juliaoceania)

Post #: 11

RE: Dark Side Of Valentines Day - 2/14/2007 5:49:34 PM

juliaoceania

Posts: 21383
Joined: 4/19/2006
From: Somewhere Over the Rainbow
Status: offline

You are so sweet Roger!... Happy Valentines Day!

_____________________________

Once you label me, you negate me ~ Soren Kierkegaard

Reality has a well known Liberal Bias ~ Stephen Colbert

Great minds discuss ideas; Average minds discuss events; Small minds discuss people. Eleanor Roosevelt

(in reply to pahunkboy)

Post #: 12

RE: Dark Side Of Valentines Day - 2/14/2007 5:51:46 PM

KatyLied

Posts: 13029
Joined: 2/24/2005
From: Pennsylvania
Status: offline

Well, sheesh, if you're gonna visit him, stop by and visit me on the way....

_____________________________

“If you want to live a happy life, tie it to a goal, not to people or things.”
- Albert Einstein

(in reply to juliaoceania)

Post #: 13

RE: Dark Side Of Valentines Day - 2/14/2007 5:53:56 PM

pahunkboy

Posts: 33061
Joined: 2/26/2006
From: Central Pennsylvania
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: juliaoceania

You are so sweet Roger!... Happy Valentines Day!

Happy Valentines Day to you as well Julia! :-D

(in reply to juliaoceania)

Post #: 14

RE: Dark Side Of Valentines Day - 2/14/2007 5:55:54 PM

ScooterTrash

Posts: 1407
Joined: 1/24/2005
From: Indiana
Status: offline

I don't know you from Adam, but apparently you have no clue about me either. Supporting an organization who CAN make a difference is a hell of a lot more effective than a silent protest that won't affect diddly shit. If that's having my head up my ass to you, your problem is obvious.

_____________________________

Formal symbolic representation of qualitative entities is doomed to its rightful place of minor significance in a world where flowers and beautiful women abound.
-Albert Einstein

(in reply to PoisonRoses)

Post #: 15

RE: Dark Side Of Valentines Day - 2/14/2007 5:57:26 PM

juliaoceania

Posts: 21383
Joined: 4/19/2006
From: Somewhere Over the Rainbow
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: KatyLied

Well, sheesh, if you're gonna visit him, stop by and visit me on the way....

Are you going to share your conversation hearts with me

_____________________________

Once you label me, you negate me ~ Soren Kierkegaard

Reality has a well known Liberal Bias ~ Stephen Colbert

Great minds discuss ideas; Average minds discuss events; Small minds discuss people. Eleanor Roosevelt

(in reply to KatyLied)

Post #: 16

RE: Dark Side Of Valentines Day - 2/14/2007 5:57:29 PM

twicehappy

Posts: 2706
Joined: 2/5/2006
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: PoisonRoses

trashy scooterboy who accepts defeat and finds life and the world hopeless so just sticks his head up his ass and goes with the easiest way out.

That is Scooter Trash as in a biker, not boy.

It is not that he finds the world hopeless it is that he choose to fight his battles in a non "California peace love it's all good" manner.

quote:

ORIGINAL: ScooterTrash
so I support other organizations that have more pull. If you really feel strongly about something and want to make an impact, political influence or promoting a help organization would seem more prudent.

At least he posts genuine well thought out posts. After having read all of your 29 one or two liners you might want to consider that.

< Message edited by twicehappy -- 2/14/2007 5:58:14 PM >

_____________________________

Infinite Diversity in Infinite Combinations.

The human heart is not a finite container but an ever expanding universe with all the stars contained there in.

(in reply to PoisonRoses)

Post #: 17

RE: Dark Side Of Valentines Day - 2/14/2007 5:58:01 PM

pahunkboy

Posts: 33061
Joined: 2/26/2006
From: Central Pennsylvania
Status: offline

quote:

ORIGINAL: KatyLied

Well, sheesh, if you're gonna visit him, stop by and visit me on the way....

Katy, another long time CM upstanding member. She is about 4 hours from me- in the Pittsburgh region.

Katy- how is the snow situation there? Roads have pretty much shut everything down here- an ice alvalanche fell on the road at Herndon. [40 miles north of Harrisburg, on rt 147]

Im hoping we dont loose power.

During the last big black out where the east coast and part of Canada lost power- we had power.....

(in reply to KatyLied)

Post #: 18

RE: Dark Side Of Valentines Day - 2/14/2007 6:05:42 PM

juliaoceania

Posts: 21383
Joined: 4/19/2006
From: Somewhere Over the Rainbow
Status: offline

FR,

funny how California is the topic of conversation, and not Africa and South America where these problems are taking place... *scratches head*...and PoisonRose is from Oklahoma.... hmmmm

edited for sloppy typing.

< Message edited by juliaoceania -- 2/14/2007 6:09:38 PM >

_____________________________

Once you label me, you negate me ~ Soren Kierkegaard

Reality has a well known Liberal Bias ~ Stephen Colbert

Great minds discuss ideas; Average minds discuss events; Small minds discuss people. Eleanor Roosevelt

(in reply to pahunkboy)

Post #: 19

RE: Dark Side Of Valentines Day - 2/14/2007 6:13:13 PM

juliaoceania

Posts: 21383
Joined: 4/19/2006
From: Somewhere Over the Rainbow
Status: offline

quote:

Supporting an organization who CAN make a difference is a hell of a lot more effective than a silent protest that won't affect diddly shit

I really truly would like to know what organizations that you think make a difference that are worth donating money to... perhaps I could look into them and give them a few bucks. I am pretty choosy about organizations to give money to because many of them are a racket... but I know there are some truly wonderful orgs that help people.

There is more than one way to skin a cat, thanks for sharing your way.

_____________________________

Once you label me, you negate me ~ Soren Kierkegaard

Reality has a well known Liberal Bias ~ Stephen Colbert

Great minds discuss ideas; Average minds discuss events; Small minds discuss people. Eleanor Roosevelt

(in reply to ScooterTrash)

Post #: 20

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