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True, you really shouldn’t care that much about where or who made your stuff. People are people. They all need a way to earn a living. Being an American shouldn
by baron816 9y ago
True, you really shouldn’t care that much about where or who made your stuff. People are people. They all need a way to earn a living. Being an American shouldn’t entitle you to some quality of life that is far above what those around the world doing the same thing are (equal pay for equal work and all that, right?).
That said, many of those brands are of exceptional quality. I’ve been wanting a pair of Alden’s for a long time and I was able to buy some just this weekend. I’ve had a pair of Redwings for 5 years, treated them like shit, and they still look great and feel great.
Not every American company makes top quality products, and there are companies in other countries that make top quality products as well.
- ekianjo 9y ago> That said, many of those brands are of exceptional quality. but then it's nothing about "being American". I can point you to extremely high quality producers in France, Japan, Belgium, Switzerland... so what does it say? Citizenship has no correlation to greatness.
- rayiner 9y agoI strongly disagree. There’s my people and there’s your people, and we can all be responsible for taking care of the people in our own communities. Because it’s impossible to actually care about people a world away in the same way you care about your neighbors, we’ve developed into a society that’s just given up on caring. We buy the cheapest crap we can find from countries that don’t have labor and environmental laws because we don’t care about anyone.
- jacquesm 9y ago> There’s my people and there’s your people No, there is just people.
- DanAndersen 9y agoDo you ever prioritize the needs of family members over the average person on the street?
- jacquesm 9y agoTricky semantic bits won't get you there. See also: the trolley problem and other interesting mental gymnastics to prove that others are less important than the ones that you know about. Eventually such thinking leads to wars.
- harryh 9y agoAll people might have equal objective value. But some people matter more to me than other people. And what matters to me is what informs my choices and actions.
- jacquesm 9y ago> And what matters to me is what informs my choices and actions. Obviously. Now let's hope that 'you and yours' will not be on the receiving end of that stick with someone else wielding it. I'm pretty sure that if that were to happen you would be all up in arms and screaming for the equality that you now wish to deny others. See also: force protection doctrine, contractors being able to commit war crimes with impunity and other exponents of such thinking.
- harryh 9y agoI certainly don't expect people on the other side of the world to care about me very much. Why would I? Do you really have that expectation? Has it been your experience of the world?
- jdietrich 9y agoI share no kinship with a stranger just because they have they carry the same passport, speak the same language or have the same colour of skin. To imagine otherwise is an extraordinarily dangerous error.
- tonyedgecombe 9y ago> There’s my people and there’s your people That line of thinking leads to some pretty dark places.
- rayiner 9y agoIt also leads to happy tight-knit communities.
- tonyedgecombe 9y agoTight-knit I can see, I'm not sure it makes any difference to happiness.
- jacquesm 9y agoPlease point one out to me.
- gurkendoktor 9y ago> People are people. They all need a way to earn a living. But governments are not governments. For example, by buying goods from the PRC you support a totalitarian government that draws its legitimacy from the fact that the economy keeps growing. I see it like paying taxes, I live in places that I want to support and then buy local goods.