Buyer Beware

[NorCalPiper]

"I will not be made to feel as if I am committing a cardinal sin for purchasing an article that is made legally in its country of origin."



I should have used that statement for the typical westerner who rationalizes purchases as long as they don't have to see, or witness the conditions of which it was produced. Very nice.....

[NorCalPiper]

Daredove wrote:"Just for instance, in Pakistan in 2003 the average income was about $2000. If a company were to go in and pay all its workers $4000, that would make the workers very well off, but that's poverty level wages for us in the States"

The I.L.O. wrote this about the child labor conditions in Sialkot:
FYI-Rs 800 =17US$
the children’s average work time is nine hours a day and their monthly income ranges between Rs780 and Rs1,733 (according to age and experience). ILO project manager (Sialkot) Mian Muhammad Binyamin told journalists that a majority (56.7 per cent) of the working children preferred to go to school. Some want full-time schooling, others part-time and some others vocational training.

The alarming aspect of the situation was the physical health of the working children a majority of whom had disturbed sleep. Physical punishment by parents/elders and injuries during work besides poor height, weight and pulmonary functions were part of such children’s lives.

[MacMillan of Rathdown]

Daredove wrote:"Just for instance, in Pakistan in 2003 the average income was about $2000. If a company were to go in and pay all its workers $4000, that would make the workers very well off, but that's poverty level wages for us in the States"

The I.L.O. wrote this about the child labor conditions in Sialkot:
FYI-Rs 800 =17US$
the children’s average work time is nine hours a day and their monthly income ranges between Rs780 and Rs1,733 (according to age and experience). ILO project manager (Sialkot) Mian Muhammad Binyamin told journalists that a majority (56.7 per cent) of the working children preferred to go to school. Some want full-time schooling, others part-time and some others vocational training.

The alarming aspect of the situation was the physical health of the working children a majority of whom had disturbed sleep. Physical punishment by parents/elders and injuries during work besides poor height, weight and pulmonary functions were part of such children’s lives.

As alarming, heart-wrenching, and morally outrageous as this may be, what would be their condition without the Rs 1200 the average child worker takes home? I doubt, over all, that their lot would be improved one bit. So, should one boycott Pakistani products on moral grounds with the increase in human misery that would create, or should one just accept the fact that we are dealing with a different culture, one that places a lesser value on the welfare of their children? I know this is probably not a popular view out on the west coast of America, but in my book paying a kid Rs 1200 to work 12 hours a day sure beats watching him starve to death on the sidewalk.

I find it interesting that people decry imperialism in all its forms, unless it is a cultural imperialism designed to make the "natives" more like the "enlightened" westerners. Then it seems to be okay.

[beloitpiper]

I find it interesting that people decry imperialism in all its forms, unless it is a cultural imperialism designed to make the "natives" more like the "enlightened" westerners. Then it seems to be okay.

This is something I have been fighting for years.

[Chas]

While I agree with you, I don't know who these people are; if their business practises are unethical, they are certainly not going to tell me about it.

Just because it is illegal in the US, does not mean that it is illegal everywhere. I will not be made to feel as if I am committing a cardinal sin for purchasing an article that is made legally in its country of origin. If memory serves it is the large multinationals that stand accused of exploiting third-world populations not a small company in the developing world trying to break into the western market. Nike comes to mind. 'Just do it' Well they have done it, all over the third world.

All because it is legal in the country of origin does not mean that as a consumer that you don't have a certain amount of moral obligation.

Duchess - How, oh how are we supposed to know? If a vendor sources goods from unethical manufacturers, how am I, the consumer, supposed to know? All of us live on trust every day. We trust our doctors, our lawyers, our plumbers, our street sweepers. We trust everybody. So when a vendor says that he only sells goods manufactured in the US, we trust that he is telling the truth. How do we know? We don't - we trust.

Which raises the second point. Why should I, living in the UK, buy goods produced in the US. Would it not be more ethical for me to spend my money in an economy that needs it, rather in an economy that doesn't. Or would anybody argue that the Pakistani economy is in a better position than the economy of the US.

Lastly, and I think the most telling point, morals are not universal. They vary on a day to day, moment to moment and place to place basis. They even vary within families. There are very few husbands and wives that agree totally about everything. All the events in a person's life add up to produce a set of personal morals.

I go back to my first contention.

I will not be made to feel as if I am committing a cardinal sin for purchasing an article that is made legally in its country of origin.

If the goods are produced legally and no laws have been broken as to manufacture or export or import or sale, who am I to say that they have not been made ethically.

More to the point - How am I going to know?

Regards

Chas

[Chas]

"I will not be made to feel as if I am committing a cardinal sin for purchasing an article that is made legally in its country of origin."

I should have used that statement for the typical westerner who rationalizes purchases as long as they don't have to see, or witness the conditions of which it was produced. Very nice.....

You didn't win with rational argument, so you resort to random insults. I really want to answer you in kind, but will only say this - I can see that you don't want me as a customer, so rest assured, I will never be a customer of yours.

Very nice.....

Regards

Chas

[duchessofnc]

Just because it is illegal in the US, does not mean that it is illegal everywhere. I will not be made to feel as if I am committing a cardinal sin for purchasing an article that is made legally in its country of origin. If memory serves it is the large multinationals that stand accused of exploiting third-world populations not a small company in the developing world trying to break into the western market. Nike comes to mind. 'Just do it' Well they have done it, all over the third world.

Regards

Chas

All because it is legal in the country of origin does not mean that as a consumer that you don't have a certain amount of moral obligation.