You know what’s been bugging me lately? People complaining that others should boycott buying cheap goods (e.g. stuff from Walmart) from nations like China etc, because that’s encouraging incredibly bad work conditions, child labour etc. Instead it’s optimal to buy things made in your own country to support it economically. You know what? The world doesn’t work optimally. That’s why there’s even such a problem for them to complain about in the first place.
You know what happens when people en masse stop buying things like 50 pairs of socks for $2 a packet from Walmart? Someone in China, probably entire factory full of people in China, are out of work. Instead of getting their pittance of US$3.1/AU$3.8 a month they’re going to be unemployed, dependent on measly state welfare, and even poorer than they were. Upset about hungry children having to work? How about instead a starving child, having to find alternative work (maybe in the form of child prostitution, begging) like the rest of the family?
On the other side of things, some Americans have criticised other Americans from not “wanting” to buy US products because they expensive. I don’t think the problem is not “wanting” but that they simply CAN’T. Americans have a terrible welfare system and there’s so many people living in poverty. They don’t care about where their next meal is Chinese or American, sometimes it’s good enough that they have a next meal.
People have also surmised that Americans would never work in the conditions that many Chinese have to endure in sweatshops because the Chinese would get gaoled/killed if they were to protest against the conditions. Actually I believe that many such Chinese sweatshop owners have embraced capitalism at its core; don’t want to work for us? You’re fired, there’s twenty other people desperate enough for our money anyway. Not only is this a problem concerning the amazingly (and by “amazingly” I mean “terribly”) deregulated market in China, but also with an huge lack of resources for its burgeoning population. There’s simply not enough money to go around.
What I’m trying to say, is stop freaking blaming the victim. The victims are the poor workers in China (and whatever other nations that are exploited for their goods) and poor consumers in more well-off nations. Boycott goods that both groups of people depend on would ultimately serve to do nothing but harm those involved. Yes it is a terrible situation, but not all solutions are good ones, and may actually cause more harm than good. It would at least help to recognise that it’s not the fault of the victims for what is going on. Of course, I’m optimistic that a few digg members aren’t representative of the general population. :P
While I’m ranting, God Giuliani pisses me off. The most WTFery for me was when he said,
“We don’t want socialized medicine. Maybe you should go see ‘Sicko,’ see if you agree with Michael Moore that we should have the Cuban health care system. That’s where the Democrats are taking us… All the places that have government-run health care, it’s inferior to us. We’ve got to preserve our private system. People will have to earn some of that access. Let’s not become a nanny state. You don’t help somebody when you make them dependent. You make it within their realm to do it, but give them a chance to earn it. The system gets destroyed when you start making big promises.”
Of course, those who are poor simply aren’t “earning” their access. What, holding down three minimum-wage jobs to try to support your kids? Not good enough, slacker. What, you have some sort of illness that makes you not be able to work properly? That’s totally non-American, freaking leecher. Now get back out there and work like everyone else. I also loved how he spun the example of the Cuban health care system. Michael Moore saw it that EVEN an “inferior nation” has better healthcare, however, Giuliani suggests that Cuban economy collapsed or something because they have healthcare. Sure, that’s what happened. Ugh. I really hope he doesn’t become president, and I’m not even American. :(
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