4 ms·
The USA used to have problems like that too (read The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair, and many other works). The public demanded change, and got it. The same thing w
by beat 8y ago
The USA used to have problems like that too (read The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair, and many other works). The public demanded change, and got it. The same thing will happen in China. It's all part of the process of modernization.
- 1024core 8y agoUnfortunately, in China, the public does not have much of a voice.
- jdietrich 8y agoThe Chinese government are legitimately afraid of political speech. Consider for a moment what that implies about the balance of power between the governed and the government. China has no equivalent of Fox News or MSNBC, but that does not mean that the Chinese people are voiceless.
- leereeves 8y agoIs that fear because of the balance of power or the consequences of losing power? In the US, losing power means looking for a new job, or retiring with a pension. I believe the consequences of losing power are typically worse in China.
- joe_the_user 8y agoThese problems don't fix themselves automatically. In the US, it required regulations and the creation of institutions like the FDA. These will remain sufficient to prevent further abuse hinges on the combination of regulatory institutions and the press (who reports grievous abuse when regulators allow grievous abuse, given regulatory capture is a constant threat). China's press and public institutions seem to be getting weaker and weaker. Thus things may or may not get better.
- beat 8y agoI'm not saying it's automatic. I'm saying it's inevitable. It took decades to get decent safety standards in the USA (one could argue we're still working on it). But a government that doesn't do basic things to protect its citizens risks its own legitimacy. And contrary to popular opinion here, the Chinese government has legitimacy, not just brute force. The people trust it to do the right thing most of the time, eventually.
- xbmcuser 8y agoFood safety standards in the west have come up over time and gotten stricter as time goes on. Not just China but most of developing world has a lot of food adulteration going on. I know because I actually am involved in agricultural trade. Most manufacturers have 2 separate product lines for selling to the west/developed countries vs selling locally as the products sold locally would not get past testing in the developed countries.
- reaperducer 8y agoThe USA used to have problems like that too (read The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair The key phrase here is used to. Because things were bad in the United States over 100 years ago (The Jungle was published in 1904), doesn't mean that today's adulterated Chinese food is somehow magically OK.
- beat 8y agoI'm not saying it is okay. Sheesh, how do you even come to that conclusion? I'm saying that in a hundred years (assuming no social collapse/revolution), China won't have these problems anymore, just like the US. Probably much less time than that, as they have a model to draw from already.
- thereare5lights 8y agoIt's likely you were misinterpreted because many people immediately jump to the worst possible interpretation of things when it comes to China on hn.
- beat 8y agoIt's not just China... I see this response all the time. It's a variant of the strawman fallacy... draw a ridiculous conclusion from something someone said, and criticize the ridiculous conclusion. I love a good tussle, but a lot of people are really, really bad at it. Political discussion online is like the Dunning-Kruger Effect made flesh.