Comments on: The Great Migration in China http://dangerousintersection.org/2008/02/03/the-great-migration-in-china/ Human Animals at the Crossroads of Culture, Science, Religion and Media Sat, 22 Nov 2008 07:36:25 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.3 By: Erich Vieth http://dangerousintersection.org/2008/02/03/the-great-migration-in-china/#comment-15993 Erich Vieth Tue, 05 Feb 2008 17:03:25 +0000 http://dangerousintersection.org/?p=2126#comment-15993 Vicki: You've described a situation that many Americans simply chuckle about-- "Oh, those Chinese people make all of our stuff." But you've piqued my interest. How are these workers treated? How many chemicals are the people being exposed to, thanks to those many factories cranking away? When I buy from China, shouldn't I care about these issues? Unless we know more about the global ramifications for our local decisions, we are flying blind. This is why I rail against those who put such unearned faith in the "free market." http://dangerousintersection.org/?p=1844 I think that markets are, indeed, driven at the local level. But that's not the entire story for those of us who give a damn. We need to investigate further to know what we are doing to whom when we grab ten packs of plastic toys to blithely hand out as party favors. And when we joyously upgrade to a bigger screen TV. We don't really want to know these things, of course. It takes effort and how many of us have an hour or two to spare when the information we find out might convince us that buying those new THINGS is not all fun and games? That buying them drives a global engine that economically compels many workers across the world to earn a living doing things that we, ourselves, could never ever imagine doing. Not for that sort of wage and not in that working environment. Or, sometimes, the situation might be something in which we can participate in good conscience. But isn't it worth a bit of time to investigate? Synchronicity? Yeah. And I'm going to read the book too. I've also got another incentive for knowing more about the working conditions of these workers--both of my daughters were born in China, which causes me to feel an additional tie to China. Vicki: You’ve described a situation that many Americans simply chuckle about– “Oh, those Chinese people make all of our stuff.” But you’ve piqued my interest. How are these workers treated? How many chemicals are the people being exposed to, thanks to those many factories cranking away? When I buy from China, shouldn’t I care about these issues?

Unless we know more about the global ramifications for our local decisions, we are flying blind. This is why I rail against those who put such unearned faith in the “free market.” http://dangerousintersection.org/?p=1844

I think that markets are, indeed, driven at the local level. But that’s not the entire story for those of us who give a damn. We need to investigate further to know what we are doing to whom when we grab ten packs of plastic toys to blithely hand out as party favors. And when we joyously upgrade to a bigger screen TV. We don’t really want to know these things, of course. It takes effort and how many of us have an hour or two to spare when the information we find out might convince us that buying those new THINGS is not all fun and games? That buying them drives a global engine that economically compels many workers across the world to earn a living doing things that we, ourselves, could never ever imagine doing. Not for that sort of wage and not in that working environment.

Or, sometimes, the situation might be something in which we can participate in good conscience. But isn’t it worth a bit of time to investigate?

Synchronicity? Yeah. And I’m going to read the book too. I’ve also got another incentive for knowing more about the working conditions of these workers–both of my daughters were born in China, which causes me to feel an additional tie to China.

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