3 ms·

ghanaian here: it’s not the business of mars (m&m makers) to ensure that no children are exploited during the production of the cocoa beans. and americans shou

ghanaian here: it’s not the business of mars (m&m makers) to ensure that no children are exploited during the production of the cocoa beans. and americans shouldn’t eat their chocolate with some trepidation that they might be eating the body and blood of a 5-yo. we, not they, commit these boys and girls to these activities, of our own volition. it’s a fucked up society that looks to hold an external party responsible for ills within itself. if child labor is bad, we don’t need mars and the rest of the world to tell us so. we should be civilized enough to get ourselves out of the ongoing era of barbarism and brutishness that has plagued the continent. fuck!

autoexec 3y ago
> it’s a fucked up society that looks to hold an external party responsible for ills within itself. I agree with you there, however Mars knowingly exploits children so that they can stuff their own pockets with cash. That too is sick and the US should hold them accountable for that for our own sake. We've spent a long time profiting from slavery in this country and more recently we've patted ourselves on the back for ending slavery while in reality we simply outsourced it and moved the slave plantations out of sight. We should absolutely think about what it is we're supporting while we buy or eat chocolate.
MyShawdowySelf 3y ago
West African here too. This is too simplistic, and a problem can have multiple guilty parties. There is enough blame to go around. > we, not they, commit these boys and girls to these activities, of our own volition. We can judge people's choices without taking in consideration the context and the options that they have. The alternative to not sending those young people to work is them starving, or not going to school. > if child labor is bad, we don’t need mars and the rest of the world to tell us so. we should be civilized enough to get ourselves out of the ongoing era of barbarism and brutishness that has plagued the continent. fuck! Child labor is the best solution within a see of worst solutions to a complex problem. Having talked and knowing people in similar conditions, every parent naturally wants they kids to have an easy and better life. That's not being civilized it's just being human. Saddly those parent can not afford the luxury of giving that to their parent. > it’s a fucked up society that looks to hold an external party responsible for ills within itself. The economical situation in African countries is complex and multivariate. And yes the governments are usually corrupt and ineffective. But the failed policies of international bodies such as the IMF or world banks, the complicity of european banks in money laundering. The meddling of international companies that are happy to support which ever dictatorship du-jour suit their needs best are definitely not helping. > it’s not the business of mars (m&m makers) to ensure that no children are exploited during the production of the cocoa beans They made it their business by participating in it. > americans shouldn’t eat their chocolate with some trepidation that they might be eating the body and blood of a 5-yo. No... It's a personal choice. If some people can become vegan out of compassion of animals, we should be able to avoid chocolate out of compassion our fellow human beings even if they happen to not be from the same country.
- yawboakye 3y ago
  so maybe a little more context will help here. i've been in the situation described as child labor here—been involved in hard labor since i was about 6-yo, mainly working on the farm, carrying heavy load of produce and firewood on my head for long walk home. all these along with other kids—so i'm mainly speaking from experience. it's a complex problem, of course, but nothing to do with all the entities you have invoked. bear in mind that these abused kids don't live in cities, nor do they belong to middle class families: they're village dwellers, not poor by the standards of the village but by the standards of world bank. their families and communities need their labor because that's all they have known. people in these communities barely speak english. their whole lives all they've known is tilling the land and dutifully committing the next generations to the same task. if you don't want munira working the farm, you don't accost mars. rather you systematically educate and civilize her community so that they become self-aware of the benefits of education and the perils of denying their children this opportunity. without any systematic effort to transform the elders of the community, you can't stop child labor. mars may decide to stop buying from munira's community. but that will never take munira and other kids her age away from the farm: it's their fate, according to the beliefs of their elders.
tdb7893 3y ago
They've been aware for a long time now and are content to exploit the situation and now definitely share culpability. There's more than enough blame to pass some of it around. The fact that they pay people wages where they work and still live in abject poverty while raking in a literally obscene amount of wealth is not right.

autoexec 3y ago

> it’s a fucked up society that looks to hold an external party responsible for ills within itself. I agree with you there, however Mars knowingly exploits children so that they can stuff their own pockets with cash. That too is sick and the US should hold them accountable for that for our own sake. We've spent a long time profiting from slavery in this country and more recently we've patted ourselves on the back for ending slavery while in reality we simply outsourced it and moved the slave plantations out of sight. We should absolutely think about what it is we're supporting while we buy or eat chocolate.

MyShawdowySelf 3y ago

West African here too. This is too simplistic, and a problem can have multiple guilty parties. There is enough blame to go around. > we, not they, commit these boys and girls to these activities, of our own volition. We can judge people's choices without taking in consideration the context and the options that they have. The alternative to not sending those young people to work is them starving, or not going to school. > if child labor is bad, we don’t need mars and the rest of the world to tell us so. we should be civilized enough to get ourselves out of the ongoing era of barbarism and brutishness that has plagued the continent. fuck! Child labor is the best solution within a see of worst solutions to a complex problem. Having talked and knowing people in similar conditions, every parent naturally wants they kids to have an easy and better life. That's not being civilized it's just being human. Saddly those parent can not afford the luxury of giving that to their parent. > it’s a fucked up society that looks to hold an external party responsible for ills within itself. The economical situation in African countries is complex and multivariate. And yes the governments are usually corrupt and ineffective. But the failed policies of international bodies such as the IMF or world banks, the complicity of european banks in money laundering. The meddling of international companies that are happy to support which ever dictatorship du-jour suit their needs best are definitely not helping. > it’s not the business of mars (m&m makers) to ensure that no children are exploited during the production of the cocoa beans They made it their business by participating in it. > americans shouldn’t eat their chocolate with some trepidation that they might be eating the body and blood of a 5-yo. No... It's a personal choice. If some people can become vegan out of compassion of animals, we should be able to avoid chocolate out of compassion our fellow human beings even if they happen to not be from the same country.

yawboakye 3y ago
so maybe a little more context will help here. i've been in the situation described as child labor here—been involved in hard labor since i was about 6-yo, mainly working on the farm, carrying heavy load of produce and firewood on my head for long walk home. all these along with other kids—so i'm mainly speaking from experience. it's a complex problem, of course, but nothing to do with all the entities you have invoked. bear in mind that these abused kids don't live in cities, nor do they belong to middle class families: they're village dwellers, not poor by the standards of the village but by the standards of world bank. their families and communities need their labor because that's all they have known. people in these communities barely speak english. their whole lives all they've known is tilling the land and dutifully committing the next generations to the same task. if you don't want munira working the farm, you don't accost mars. rather you systematically educate and civilize her community so that they become self-aware of the benefits of education and the perils of denying their children this opportunity. without any systematic effort to transform the elders of the community, you can't stop child labor. mars may decide to stop buying from munira's community. but that will never take munira and other kids her age away from the farm: it's their fate, according to the beliefs of their elders.

tdb7893 3y ago

They've been aware for a long time now and are content to exploit the situation and now definitely share culpability. There's more than enough blame to pass some of it around. The fact that they pay people wages where they work and still live in abject poverty while raking in a literally obscene amount of wealth is not right.