Rachel Wallace
Professor Jordan Hayes
English 1A
April 21, 2014
Word Count : 1,063
Obliterate Modern Slavery
The issue of modern day slavery is one filled with secrecy and sorrow. It is filled with infernal corruption, pure hate, and unqualified discrimination. The official definition of slavery is the utter domination of one human over another. Often times it involves young, helpless, children forced to work in harsh conditions for no pay. Other times it is an innocent woman forced to work in the sex trade industry. These forms of slavery exist because of three major benefactors, rapid population growth, the corruption of local government, and extreme poverty. These topics and explored by two speakers, Sheryl WuDunn and Kevin Bales in their individual speeches presented live to an audience at TEDGlobal 2010. Both speeches present an argument for change, and are for the abolishment of the modern slave industry. WuDunn focuses on describing the success that follows the horrific lives of a few select groups of underprivileged women who have been lifted out of poverty by outside benefactors . Bales quickly acknowledges a few key subjects and their success stories, all the while keeping his main focus and presentation on the need to abolish slavery effectively, permanently, and humanely. All the while spelling out the exact steps we need to take as a global community to achieve such a goal. He does this by sharing his personal thoughts on modern slavery, offers expert personal opinions, and presents reliable data.
In the transcript from Sheryl WuDunn’s presentation at Ted Global she discusses many different examples of rags to riches stories created from small outside investments. She elaborates on the details of the sorrow in the women's lives before the donations and then the joy they experience after. The stories WuDunn tells to validate her plea for donations directly pulls at the heart strings. They make you feel bad and this draws on the appeal to nurture. You just want to come to their aid and make everything better. She does this purposefully, and although WuDunn is an eloquent writer, it is obvious she is fishing for donations.
In the presentation by Kevin Bales, he shares his thoughts of how to combat modern day slavery. He offers his personal opinions, having visited five different countries from across the globe to track down these hidden societies. In doing this he was able to arrange numerous meetings with the slave owners as well as interview slaves. He acquired vast amounts of interpersonal reflection through his hands on approach. Gaining a more intimate knowledge of slavery in the 21st Century, which he expresses in his speech. All the while backing it up with data from seasoned professionals. This assuring the target audience its validity as well as the pull of their heart strings from the eye opening facts. Through this Bales appeals to us using many of the basic appeals used for advertising. He uses the need to nurture when he speaks of the little boys being forced to fish in Ghana. It was most prominent when he showed the video featuring his ex-slave friend and hero, James Kofi Annan. The clip portrays a small child with his head deformed from being abused while in slavery. Annan states, " He was hit with a paddle in the head…" this clearly showing one of the many horrible things that happen to these boys on a daily basis.
WuDunn's main argument is that women are discriminated against and need equal treatment not only for their well being but for the improvement and future success of the world. She validates her claim with many examples of when donations have worked with amazing success stories. Gives an example of when it hasn't, and moves on. She uses emotion as a main advertising plea and evokes people's sympathy by arguing and presenting the details most wish would remain covered. She uses an effective writing format which lets her display all of her main points beautifully in detail while still keeping a professional essay format. She continues to stay on topic as she evokes her audiences emotions. Then seemingly leads her audience down a path of discovery with her interesting style.
The argument Bales presented was one of a close minded viewpoint. Bales is closed minded in the best way. In the way that he can only see what is right and not accept what the opposing party views as logical. The fact that he can read a flier and find the content so moving that he is willing to change his life and travel to five countries to see slavery from all aspect is inspiring. If more people chose to get involved in something world changing like Bales the earth would be utterly amazing. I found this speech to be extremely informative in the regards of a solution rather than really getting in depth into the problems. I like that. I think instead of speaking on the negative present and dwelling on the horrible past, it is best to focus on finding a solution for the promacing future. The fact that there is at least one solution to this horrific problem is encouraging, and if people could get together and realize that there are viable answers and imediate solutions slavery can end entirely.
The writing styles of WuDunn and Bales differ entirely, with WuDunn taking the descriptive approach and Bales taking on the approach of unwavering reform supported by hard facts. WuDunn ultimately being the more eloquent writer and speaker conveyed her points almost theatrically. While Bales is more on the level of a businessman making a presentation. This being said it is important to remember that although WuDunn did succeed in dominating the pen, it was Bales who flourished in the content. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights mirrors his ideas perfectly, like in Article 4, where it states , “No one shall be held in slavery or solitude…”. Bales, like these leaders, came up with a business plan to abolish slavery. He gives the numbers of what it would cost and he further goes into detail comparing it to similar costs of purchases Americans buy without even thinking twice. The presentations as a pair were extremely informative, making the reader look in the eyes the very things most try to avoid. Having to look an uncomfortable and demeaning problem dead on is hard yet necessary, and WuDunn and Bales are inspiring for bringing this harsh, cruel topic into light.
Bibliography
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, § Article 5 (1948). Print.
WuDunn, Sheryl. "Our Century's Greatest Injustice." TEDGlobal 2010. Web. 20 Apr. 2014. <http://conferences.ted.com/TEDGlobal2010/program/>.
