I can't be the only one
I made a note to blog with this title. However, I can't remember what I was thinking about.
The Chinese gov't and business makes me mad every time I hear something new. I've known for a long time that they treat their factory workers like crap. Companies keep multiple people living in small dorm rooms in shifts while other roommates work their shifts in the factories, keeping everything running 24/7. They are bussed there to live for weeks at a time and send their meager wages home to their families. When vendors come to inspect their factories, they only get shown what they want them to see. "Oh, that's not our part of the factory." And no children working? One sales rep said everyone looked so young, there was no telling how old they really were. (Source, a conversation I had with a sales rep at a job in Eden Prairie, about 10 years ago.)
I should have banned Chinese made items from my home years ago, in my own little protest, and encouraged others to do so.
Their latest antics have really ticked me off. "Oh, we'll clean up our polluting ways, sure. But we won't sign anything holding us to that commitment." And now hearing about their cyber warfare, particularly stealing intellectual property from Google. Do your own damn work, people! Didn't anyone teach you that in school? Eyes on your own test! (Source, listening to the news on MPR.)
Apparently they do this often, a way to get ahead in the world using technologies developed by other countries that foster creative thinking and development. Then they are able to keep collars and blindfolds on their own people as they see fit.
Gross.
So I call for a ban on all things made by China. Clean up your act, China. You're not allowed to be any kind of world superpower until you act with some dignity and respect for your people and the world.
(Yes, I type this knowing the USA isn't nearly perfect, either. In fact, we enable them and have our own messes to clean up.)
Now, of course, the problem is this giant foothold the world has allowed China to take in our stores because of their cheap manufacturing. I personally am addicted to Target. I think we make a Super Target run weekly now. Diapers, groceries, inexpensive kids' clothing, make-up, vitamins, furnace filters, etc. It's hard to get out of there without spending $100 or more.
I was just there this week for baby ibuprofen and new bedding for Lila's new bunk bed (to be delivered tomorrow-yay!). In my typical fashion, and one I think is pretty standard, I didn't check where anything was made.
What will be our wake-up call? If the lead in our children's toys and clothing wasn't bad enough, what will do it?
So I encourage everyone to think about it. Make a conscious effort and ban buying anything new made in China. Encourage your friends and neighbors to do so as well. Write to your Senators and Representatives. Maybe if there is a severe drop off, a movement through the world, we can force a change. God knows the governments aren't doing it for us.
The Chinese gov't and business makes me mad every time I hear something new. I've known for a long time that they treat their factory workers like crap. Companies keep multiple people living in small dorm rooms in shifts while other roommates work their shifts in the factories, keeping everything running 24/7. They are bussed there to live for weeks at a time and send their meager wages home to their families. When vendors come to inspect their factories, they only get shown what they want them to see. "Oh, that's not our part of the factory." And no children working? One sales rep said everyone looked so young, there was no telling how old they really were. (Source, a conversation I had with a sales rep at a job in Eden Prairie, about 10 years ago.)
I should have banned Chinese made items from my home years ago, in my own little protest, and encouraged others to do so.
Their latest antics have really ticked me off. "Oh, we'll clean up our polluting ways, sure. But we won't sign anything holding us to that commitment." And now hearing about their cyber warfare, particularly stealing intellectual property from Google. Do your own damn work, people! Didn't anyone teach you that in school? Eyes on your own test! (Source, listening to the news on MPR.)
Apparently they do this often, a way to get ahead in the world using technologies developed by other countries that foster creative thinking and development. Then they are able to keep collars and blindfolds on their own people as they see fit.
Gross.
So I call for a ban on all things made by China. Clean up your act, China. You're not allowed to be any kind of world superpower until you act with some dignity and respect for your people and the world.
(Yes, I type this knowing the USA isn't nearly perfect, either. In fact, we enable them and have our own messes to clean up.)
Now, of course, the problem is this giant foothold the world has allowed China to take in our stores because of their cheap manufacturing. I personally am addicted to Target. I think we make a Super Target run weekly now. Diapers, groceries, inexpensive kids' clothing, make-up, vitamins, furnace filters, etc. It's hard to get out of there without spending $100 or more.
I was just there this week for baby ibuprofen and new bedding for Lila's new bunk bed (to be delivered tomorrow-yay!). In my typical fashion, and one I think is pretty standard, I didn't check where anything was made.
What will be our wake-up call? If the lead in our children's toys and clothing wasn't bad enough, what will do it?
So I encourage everyone to think about it. Make a conscious effort and ban buying anything new made in China. Encourage your friends and neighbors to do so as well. Write to your Senators and Representatives. Maybe if there is a severe drop off, a movement through the world, we can force a change. God knows the governments aren't doing it for us.