4 ms·

> At a certain point the host country has to start taking responsibility for whoring its people out. Yes, but this in no way absolves us. You don't have to buy

> At a certain point the host country has to start taking responsibility for whoring its people out. Yes, but this in no way absolves us. You don't have to buy just because someone's offering. > Apple should under no circumstances be held accountable for China's inability (or unwillingness) to regulate its economy. In your example, Apple should absolutely be held accountable. If I buy goods I know are stolen, I'm committing a crime. So why shouldn't a company be accountable for buying goods that it knows were made through exploitation?

wdewind 17y ago
You don't have to buy, but if you want what they are freely offering quite frankly I don't see where Apple (I'm using Apple as example, I mean Apple et al) is wrong. Apple should under no circumstances be held accountable for China's inability (or unwillingness) to regulate its economy. And yes, you absolutely have to regulate both the supply and the demand, it's just WHO has to be doing the regulating. China is no fool: if they regulated their GDP would plummet and their ridiculous 9% year on year growth would finally stop.
- zooey 17y ago
  So,for example, if a family need money and they sell their young little girl as a prostitute, just to make money, you know, but in a country where the State is not so hard in fighting that behavior, the "buyer" should under no circumstances be held accountable for that Country's inability (or unwillingness) to regulate its economy? I think your point of view it's too simplistic and auto-absolving.
  - wdewind 17y ago
    I think you are missing entirely the value of a cultural and societal system. The alternative to what is currently going on in China isn't a workers' paradise where everyone is happy with a middle class, 40 hour a week job. The alternative is a nation starving (Mao?). I think your view discounts the rubble that China has come out of and the place it is today entirely. I doubt many Chinese feel their parents were better of than they are. As for prostitution, if the family doesn't need the money to eat and survive that is one thing, and actually based on the economic specifics going on there I don't actually think it's relevant. If they are selling their daughter for hunger/survival, well it really sucks but we with cushy lives forget that survival is actually the most important thing. In that case, sadly, the buyer is supporting the local economy. (hello downvotes...)
    - Zarkonnen 17y ago
      No, the alternative is that we stop making excuses for what we're doing and demand that the people who make our junk are paid a living wage. Yes, really.
      - wdewind 17y ago
        Talk about too simplistic.
Terretta 17y ago
Apple is one of the ones that takes that accountability seriously, monitors and requires compliance from its vendors: http://www.chinacsr.com/en/2009/07/17/5713-apple-admits-its-chinese-oems-bad-labor-practices/ http://www.chinacsr.com/en/2009/07/17/5713-apple-admits-its-... Year after year stories like this appear, headlined, "OMG, Apple's bad labor practices", ignoring that unlike Martha Stewart et al., this labor news comes from Apple's own audits and public reports.

wdewind 17y ago

You don't have to buy, but if you want what they are freely offering quite frankly I don't see where Apple (I'm using Apple as example, I mean Apple et al) is wrong. Apple should under no circumstances be held accountable for China's inability (or unwillingness) to regulate its economy. And yes, you absolutely have to regulate both the supply and the demand, it's just WHO has to be doing the regulating. China is no fool: if they regulated their GDP would plummet and their ridiculous 9% year on year growth would finally stop.

zooey 17y ago
So,for example, if a family need money and they sell their young little girl as a prostitute, just to make money, you know, but in a country where the State is not so hard in fighting that behavior, the "buyer" should under no circumstances be held accountable for that Country's inability (or unwillingness) to regulate its economy? I think your point of view it's too simplistic and auto-absolving.
- wdewind 17y ago
  I think you are missing entirely the value of a cultural and societal system. The alternative to what is currently going on in China isn't a workers' paradise where everyone is happy with a middle class, 40 hour a week job. The alternative is a nation starving (Mao?). I think your view discounts the rubble that China has come out of and the place it is today entirely. I doubt many Chinese feel their parents were better of than they are. As for prostitution, if the family doesn't need the money to eat and survive that is one thing, and actually based on the economic specifics going on there I don't actually think it's relevant. If they are selling their daughter for hunger/survival, well it really sucks but we with cushy lives forget that survival is actually the most important thing. In that case, sadly, the buyer is supporting the local economy. (hello downvotes...)
  - Zarkonnen 17y ago
    No, the alternative is that we stop making excuses for what we're doing and demand that the people who make our junk are paid a living wage. Yes, really.
    - wdewind 17y ago
      Talk about too simplistic.

Terretta 17y ago

Apple is one of the ones that takes that accountability seriously, monitors and requires compliance from its vendors: http://www.chinacsr.com/en/2009/07/17/5713-apple-admits-its-chinese-oems-bad-labor-practices/ http://www.chinacsr.com/en/2009/07/17/5713-apple-admits-its-... Year after year stories like this appear, headlined, "OMG, Apple's bad labor practices", ignoring that unlike Martha Stewart et al., this labor news comes from Apple's own audits and public reports.