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Faced with 0.1% possiblity to make cash: "Disrupt markets!!1 Work myself to the bone!" Faced with child-slavery they benefit from: "<shrug> Jeez, I just don't

Faced with 0.1% possiblity to make cash: "Disrupt markets!!1 Work myself to the bone!" Faced with child-slavery they benefit from: "<shrug> Jeez, I just don't know, guess it's inevitable <shrug>, I'm sure they're better off as slaves... <shrug>"

TeMPOraL 11y ago
I can even understand that - real problems are hard. I'd only wish people making overpriced trinkets would stop saying they're changing the world.
- theseatoms 11y ago
  Pretty safe to say that no one takes those who say that they're changing the world all that seriously. It's just modern business-speak.
  - TeMPOraL 11y ago
    True, but it does make it harder to trust people who are actually changing the world. Not to mention it's annoying. And it messes up with the worldview of people who are not tech-savvy enough to evaluate such claims. Only yesterday I had to explain to someone that the hot startup they just saw getting $shitton in investment actually doesn't make anything particularly useful or insightful. They were genuinely surprised by that.
meric 11y ago
I don't know, are we going to pay the children directly to not work in cobalt mines, or are we going to prevent them from accessing the 100% opportunity to make cash? It sounds like they have the same attitude as the people you are chastising. Reading this comment, it appears I'm one of them. What's an action you would suggest to improve things?
- fucking_tragedy 11y ago
  Stop viewing people that use child laborers as a benevolent force that are keeping children from dying in the streets. These people buy, sell and take children by force employing tactics such as threats, violence and (gang) rape. They then traumatize, abuse, kill and use force to secure their profit. Understand that children and families are not weighing the option as "send my kid to a factory or starve". It is "I just got murdered / will be murdered if these people don't take my kid" or "I simply want to sell my child for cash".
  - spdustin 11y ago
    Stop making the same-but-different sweeping generalizations! You cannot discredit one hypothesis by changing the Boolean and calling it a proof. While this child labor could be performed by abducted children, it's also possible that it's performed willingly by children to pay for their school uniforms or supplies, rather than drop out of school. [0].pdf discusses this sort of thing. [0]: http://www.oeko.de/oekodoc/1294/2011-419-en.pdf http://www.oeko.de/oekodoc/1294/2011-419-en.pdf (PDF link)
- calibraxis 11y ago
  I don’t know you well enough to recommend appropriate actions. Should you could visit nearby activist groups on topics you care about? Subscribe to Model View Culture and read things by David Graeber? If you don't have time, want to participate in Fund Club? The typical steps: have people mutually educate you (with great respect for their time), team up, act. A lot of these different topics are ultimately related. So acting on one applies to a web of things.
- Lawtonfogle 11y ago
  >I don't know, are we going to pay the children directly to not work in cobalt mines, or are we going to prevent them from accessing the 100% opportunity to make cash? As I pointed out elsewhere, they can make more money with greater physical safety if we only changed the laws to allow for certain work involving camera phones. I'm pretty sure their clientele would even provide the phones to the children at no cost. >What's an action you would suggest to improve things? What about the one I suggested? It isn't perfect, but the children are physically safer and will make more money and get a phone with internet access out of the deal.

TeMPOraL 11y ago

I can even understand that - real problems are hard. I'd only wish people making overpriced trinkets would stop saying they're changing the world.

theseatoms 11y ago
Pretty safe to say that no one takes those who say that they're changing the world all that seriously. It's just modern business-speak.
- TeMPOraL 11y ago
  True, but it does make it harder to trust people who are actually changing the world. Not to mention it's annoying. And it messes up with the worldview of people who are not tech-savvy enough to evaluate such claims. Only yesterday I had to explain to someone that the hot startup they just saw getting $shitton in investment actually doesn't make anything particularly useful or insightful. They were genuinely surprised by that.

meric 11y ago

I don't know, are we going to pay the children directly to not work in cobalt mines, or are we going to prevent them from accessing the 100% opportunity to make cash? It sounds like they have the same attitude as the people you are chastising. Reading this comment, it appears I'm one of them. What's an action you would suggest to improve things?

fucking_tragedy 11y ago
Stop viewing people that use child laborers as a benevolent force that are keeping children from dying in the streets. These people buy, sell and take children by force employing tactics such as threats, violence and (gang) rape. They then traumatize, abuse, kill and use force to secure their profit. Understand that children and families are not weighing the option as "send my kid to a factory or starve". It is "I just got murdered / will be murdered if these people don't take my kid" or "I simply want to sell my child for cash".
- spdustin 11y ago
  Stop making the same-but-different sweeping generalizations! You cannot discredit one hypothesis by changing the Boolean and calling it a proof. While this child labor could be performed by abducted children, it's also possible that it's performed willingly by children to pay for their school uniforms or supplies, rather than drop out of school. [0].pdf discusses this sort of thing. [0]: http://www.oeko.de/oekodoc/1294/2011-419-en.pdf http://www.oeko.de/oekodoc/1294/2011-419-en.pdf (PDF link)
calibraxis 11y ago
I don’t know you well enough to recommend appropriate actions. Should you could visit nearby activist groups on topics you care about? Subscribe to Model View Culture and read things by David Graeber? If you don't have time, want to participate in Fund Club? The typical steps: have people mutually educate you (with great respect for their time), team up, act. A lot of these different topics are ultimately related. So acting on one applies to a web of things.
Lawtonfogle 11y ago
>I don't know, are we going to pay the children directly to not work in cobalt mines, or are we going to prevent them from accessing the 100% opportunity to make cash? As I pointed out elsewhere, they can make more money with greater physical safety if we only changed the laws to allow for certain work involving camera phones. I'm pretty sure their clientele would even provide the phones to the children at no cost. >What's an action you would suggest to improve things? What about the one I suggested? It isn't perfect, but the children are physically safer and will make more money and get a phone with internet access out of the deal.