At
Cornell, in
Willard Straight Hall, where all the
politicos and
liberals hang out and discuss the evils of the world and why
capitalism is the root of it all, one display I always see regards
China's "
sweatshops". It urges people not to buy any
clothing made in
China because it helps the
suffering of the poor workers there.
Buy American! it said. The people told there told you that by wearing those
clothes you are contributing to the evils of
oppression and
capitalism.
I couldn't help but laugh. I read a book a year ago, written by a female doctorate student from Hong Kong as part of her thesis. She posed to be a poor villager and applied for jobs in several clothing factories in Southern China, not only to look at the working conditions, but also to talk to the other village women working there and their attitude regarding the new capitalist way of living.
According to her, out of the twelve or so factories she worked 20-day stints at, none of them had the "slave factory" conditions that Western media were so fond of talking about. The working hours were decent, the factories clean, the pay much higher than the average farmer's earnings. The workers themselves were mostly glad to be working in the factories, because of the money.
In any case, I'd like to see if the American working conditions are that much better than China. It seems that most of those protestors didn't realize that America is the richest nation on Earth, and hence the working conditions here is one of the highest. To demand that African and Asian countries raise their standards to American levels is plain absurd. If it's decent, leave it. They're not working 12 hour days, so quit complaining.
The blatant generalizations made by these "activists", unfortunately, are all too appealing. People are very gullible sometimes. The lies and slander spread by these people is almost like a disease. I've met people who actually believe that China is a giant slave labor camp or something. How inane, that people can believe in something so steadfastly without doing a single bit of research.