Survival of the Fittest: Exploitation of Cambodia Under the Khmer Rouge

Slavery has existed throughout history and it even exists today in various forms. Slavery is the imprisonment of an individual by another. Herbert Spencer proposed the idea of survival of the fittest in human society. With slavery, especially in today’s time, there are people who are socially stronger taking advantage of those who are weaker and more vulnerable. The societies of today view money as a form of power, and with this power it is used to entrap the weak and using them as disposable objects. One of the forms of slavery that exist today but goes unnoticed is human trafficking. Somaly Mam’s autobiography, The Road of Lost Innocence, gave her readers an inside look into her world as a sex slave in Cambodia. Throughout her book, she describes the cruel and awful things slaves experience throughout their slavery. Sex slaves and violence are persistent in societies around the world, especially in the Cambodian society, because of the lack of respect and morals a nd the disconnection between the people with in that society. Cambodia is one of the poorest countries in Southern Asia. Cambodia’s poverty is causing a lot issues within the country; two of these issues are crime and enslavement. The citizens of that society are working hard and are receiving little to no pay. The damage that the Khmer Rouge has done to Cambodia has left the people emotionally and physically scarred. In Mam’s book she talks a lot about the effects that the Khmer Rouge had on the people and her country. Her words painted a picture for her readers showing the way people acted towards one another due to the Khmer Rouge. For example, she states, â€Å"It was important not to see, not to hear, not to know anything about what was happening† (Mam 14). Mam... ...the Khmer Rouge.† Time World, 17 February 2009 Date Accessed: 25 January 2012 Mam, Somaly. The Road of Lost Innocence: The True Story of a Cambodian Heroine. Ruth Marshall, Trans. New York: Spiegel& Grau, 2008. Pearl, Mariane. â€Å"Global Diary: Cambodia.† Glamour Magazine, 1 August 2006. Date Accessed: 25 January 2012 cambodia#ixzz1kXXN4LqD> Spencer, Channing. â€Å"Modern-Day Slavery in America: Sex Trafficking and Labor Exploitation.† Perspective Magazine, Harvard’s Liberal Monthly, 30 March 2010. Weinstein, David, "Herbert Spencer", The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2009 Edition), Edward N. Zalta (ed.) Date Accessed: 25 January 2012 .

John Donnes’ “A Valediction: Forbidden Mourning” Essay

In the poem â€Å"A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning†, by John Donne, the speaker is consoling his lover who is mournful of the speaker’s imminent departure. The speaker is saying that since they have stronger than ordinary love for one another, their love will endure the separation. Donne uses metaphysical conceits and comparative imagery to illustrate the crux of the poem. The speaker is reassuring his lover by reminding her of how great their love is; it transcends the physical and therefore will overcome whatever obstacle is set on their path. He is forbidding his lover to mourn his departure. In the first half of the poem the speaker contrasts their love between that of spiritual and material objects; the inferior actions of the earth compared to those of the heavenly â€Å"spheres† (11). He is trying to prove to his lover how their love is not of the ordinary kind; it is more than simple affection. He compares their love to that of pure gold saying â€Å"let us melt, and make no noise† (5). Pure gold, when melted, does not spatter, it melts down smoothly. Therefore he is saying that if there love was gold it would make no noise for their love is that of the purest kind. The speaker then says that earthly things â€Å"[bring] harm and fears† (9) but since their love is above earthly matters, they should consequently not be afraid of parting. The speaker feels that there should be no grieving and exaggerates his lovers anguish, telling her there should be â€Å"no tear-floods, nor sigh-tempests† (6). The narrator talks of â€Å"dull sublunary lovers†¦whose [souls are] sense'† (13/14); these lesser couples’ love is based upon the five senses. He is saying that love cannot be simply based upon these senses, which are purely physical. Love has to transcend the physical to be pure and their love does. The speakers tone then turns comforting by saying that they both know that their love is more than physical therefore they should be at ease. A physical separation is ensuing but not an emotional one: their love will endure. He describes their â€Å"two souls†¦which are one† (21). He says that their separation will not be a â€Å"breach but an expansion† (24) of their love; their souls are united and cannot be separated by whatever forces shall come in their way. He continues to develop the image between their love and pure gold by saying that through this separation their souls will simply spread  apart â€Å"to aery thinness† (24) but never separate (as does pure gold when flattened). Donne compares the couple to a geometrical compass, a metaphor which carries two significant meanings. The first being the idea of a compass being two separate entities, two feet, which are attached but not always together. He says that the compass is them, separate beings but still united as one, by their soul. One foot of the compass will stay as the other moves around and away, and the stationary foot â€Å"hearkens after it† (31) but is unable join the other. The speaker is making the point that not matter how far one of them may travel they will always complete the circle and eventually return to the beginning. The compass also portrays their love as a circle. A circle is an image of perfection: never ending and continuing for eternity as is their love. The speaker is saying that no matter how far apart they may travel they will always come back to one another. He may travel far but he will   [draw] his circle just, and†¦ end, where [he] began† (36). The speaker described before how their love transcends the physical, it is deeper than sex and arousal of the senses. In the final stanzas though, the speaker addresses all the factors of any healthy relationship. The speaker says that his â€Å"compass foot†, as it draws nearer home, grows â€Å"erect† (32), an allusion to the sexual component of their relationship. Despite the awesome power of an emotionally based relationship there is still a strong a physical aspect. He misses her with his soul but also physically yearns for her. This poem is written to comfort a lover. Donne opens with comparative images of the physical and earthly, saying that the sentiment between the two lovers is more than earthly love. He then uses metaphysical conceits, comparisons of unrelated objects–the physical and the spiritual–to further emphasize his point. The two compasses, no matter how far apart they travel will always return to the other. If one is truly in love then physical separation does not matter; if anything it will only strengthen the union. The feelings between the speaker and his lover are greater than common love, therefore they can endure the separation; the speaker’s departure should not  be mourned.

Timeline and History of Chocolate and the Cocoa Bean

Chocolate has a long and fascinating past, as delicious as its taste. Heres a timeline of notable dates in its history! 1500 BC-400 BC: The Olmec Indians are believed to be the first to grow cocoa beans as a domestic crop.250 to 900 CE: The consumption of cocoa beans was restricted to the Mayan societys elite, in the form of an unsweetened cocoa drink made from the ground beans.AD 600: Mayans migrate into northern regions of South America establishing earliest known cocoa plantations in the Yucatan.14th Century: The drink became popular among the Aztec upper classes who usurped the cocoa beverage from the Mayans and were the first to tax the beans. The Aztecs called it xocalatl meaning warm or bitter liquid.1502: Columbus encountered a great Mayan trading canoe in Guanaja carrying cocoa beans as cargo.1519: Spanish explorer Hernando Cortez recorded the cocoa usage in the court of Emperor Montezuma.1544: Dominican friars took a delegation of Kekchi Mayan nobles to visit Prince Philip of Spain. The Mayans brought gift jars of beaten cocoa, mixed and ready to drink. Spain and Portugal did not export the beloved drink to the rest of Europe for nearly a century.16th Century Europe: The Spanish began to add cane sugar and flavorings such as vanilla to their sweet cocoa beverages.1570: Cocoa gained popularity as a medicine and aphrodisiac.1585: First official shipments of cocoa beans began arriving in Seville from Vera Cruz, Mexico.1657: The first chocolate house was opened in London by a Frenchman. The shop was called The Coffee Mill and Tobacco Roll. Costing 10 to 15 shillings per pound, chocolate was considered a beverage for the elite class.1674: Eating solid chocolate was introduced in the form of chocolate rolls and cakes served in chocolate emporiums.1730: Cocoa beans had dropped in price from $3 per pound to a price within the financial reach of those other than the very wealthy.1732: French inventor, Monsieur Dubuisson invented a table mill for grinding cocoa beans.1753: Swedish naturalist, Carolus Linnaeus was dissatisfied with the word cocoa, so renamed it theobroma, Greek f or food of the gods.1765: Chocolate was introduced to the United States when Irish chocolate-maker John Hanan imported cocoa beans from the West Indies into Dorchester, Massachusetts, to refine them with the help of American Dr. James Baker. The pair soon after built Americas first chocolate mill and by 1780, the mill was making the famous BAKERS  ® chocolate.1795: Dr. Joseph Fry of Bristol, England, employed a steam engine for grinding cocoa beans, an invention that led to the manufacture of chocolate on a large factory scale.1800: Antoine Brutus Menier built the first industrial manufacturing facility for chocolate.1819: The pioneer of Swiss chocolate-making, Franà §ois Louis Callier, opened the first Swiss chocolate factory.1828: The invention of the cocoa press, by Conrad Van Houten, helped cut prices and improve the quality of chocolate by squeezing out some of the cocoa butter and giving the beverage a smoother consistency. Conrad Van Houten patented his invention in Amster dam and his alkalizing process became known as Dutching. Several years earlier, Van Houten was the first to add alkaline salts to powdered cocoa to make it mix better with water.1830: A form of solid eating chocolate was developed by Joseph Fry Sons, a British chocolate maker.1847: Joseph Fry Son discovered a way to mix some of the cocoa butter back into the Dutched chocolate, and added sugar, creating a paste that could be molded. The result was the first modern chocolate bar.1849: Joseph Fry Son and Cadbury Brothers displayed chocolates for eating at an exhibition in Bingley Hall, Birmingham, England.1851: Prince Alberts Exposition in London was the first time that Americans were introduced to bonbons, chocolate creams, hand candies (called boiled sweets), and caramels.1861: Richard Cadbury created the first known heart-shaped candy box for Valentines Day.1868: John Cadbury mass-marketed the first boxes of chocolate candies.1876: Daniel Peter of Vevey, Switzerland, experimented for eight years before finally inventing a means of making milk chocolate for eating.1879: Daniel Peter and Henri Nestlà © joined together to form the Nestlà © Company.1879: Rodolphe Lindt of Berne, Switzerland, produced smoother and creamier chocolate that melted on the tongue. He invented the conching machine. To conch meant to heat and roll chocolate in order to refine it. After chocolate had been conched for seventy-two hours and had more cocoa butter added to it, it was possible to create chocolate fondant and other creamy forms of chocolate.1897: The first known published recipe for chocolate brownies appeared in the Sears and Roebuck Catalogue.1910: Canadian, Arthur Ganong marketed the first nickel chocolate bar. William Cadbury urged several English and American companies to join him in refusing to buy cacao beans from plantations with poor labor conditions.1913: Swiss confectioner  Jules Sechaud of Montreux introduced a machine process for manufacturing filled chocolat es.1926: Belgian chocolatier, Joseph Draps starts the Godiva Company to compete with Hersheys and Nestles American market. Special thanks go to John Bozaan for the additional research.