Last Week Tonight with John Oliver: Chocolate
October 30, 2023 2:07 AM - Season 10, Episode 15 - Subscribe
This week, on Not-Bill-Maher.... Republicans choose Mike Johnson to be Speaker of the House. Argentina failed to elect a President last week, with one of the two front-runners being Javier Milei, a self-described "anarcho-capitalist," but described as John Oliver as "a lot," and "a politician who workshops his ideas with his four dog." (not a typo) And Now: Dagen McDowell Seems Like She Was A Fun Kid. Main story: Chocolate. And the show is up front: "Are you going to make this weird for me?" Yep. Because the great majority of farmers who grow cocoa do not share in the profits of this $140 billion dollar industry. 60% of cocoa comes from Ivory Coast and Ghana, where most farmers live in extreme poverty. (On Youtube, 23 minutes) And Now: Local Law Enforcement Agencies Go All Out With Their Halloween Safety PSAs.
F.37: "Shaftus Rex," RICHARD ROUNDTREE
F.37: "Shaftus Rex," RICHARD ROUNDTREE
Yeah, and I've come to expect something pretty shitty when the word Nestle is involved, given their approach to buying up water rights from locations in order to bottle it up and sell it at a gigantic markup elsewhere.
It's interesting though that it's one of the less dire LWT segments they've done. It is a terrible situation for the farmers, but at least the solution in this case is fairly obvious, and there are companies trying to do it better, like Tony's Chocolonely mentioned at the end.
LWT does a sterling job week after week of showing us how our view of a world that's generally okay except for the handful of instances that filter through to us is false, that the world is built atop countless injustices with more happening all the time.
posted by JHarris at 2:53 PM on October 31, 2023 [1 favorite]
It's interesting though that it's one of the less dire LWT segments they've done. It is a terrible situation for the farmers, but at least the solution in this case is fairly obvious, and there are companies trying to do it better, like Tony's Chocolonely mentioned at the end.
LWT does a sterling job week after week of showing us how our view of a world that's generally okay except for the handful of instances that filter through to us is false, that the world is built atop countless injustices with more happening all the time.
posted by JHarris at 2:53 PM on October 31, 2023 [1 favorite]
.
posted by fairmettle at 2:39 AM on November 1, 2023
posted by fairmettle at 2:39 AM on November 1, 2023
This was an important angle to cover, but I'd also have liked a mention that American chocolate isn't really chocolate anymore and is mostly unpalatable oils and corn syrup. Each time I try to eat it, I vomit it up. I no longer try.
posted by Servo5678 at 5:32 AM on November 1, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by Servo5678 at 5:32 AM on November 1, 2023 [1 favorite]
Is it because so much of it ultimately has Hershey as its source? Urp.
posted by JHarris at 4:32 PM on November 1, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by JHarris at 4:32 PM on November 1, 2023 [1 favorite]
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I am going to stick with mint candies for a while, I think.
posted by wenestvedt at 8:02 AM on October 31, 2023