Comment by clay_the_ripper | Hacker News Reader

Comment by clay_the_ripper | Hacker News Reader

clay_the_ripper

These articles sadden me. As a resident of a developed country with a decent salary I am definitely the beneficiary of the exploitave practices that keep manufactureed goods as cheap as possible. It is sickening to think that my dollars flow to the people and companies that make these practices possible. It doesn’t seem necessary, and is the result of callousness and greed. Whatever your views on capitalism and market forces, the practices that make this kind of exploitation of fellow humans possible are simply not necessary or worth it to save a couple of bucks. Does anyone know what individuals can do to combat this type of thing or have further reading to recommend?

Spend a few years as a subsistence farmer in one of these countries. It will both drastically reduce your consumption and give you an understanding of the life you want to force on people to “save” them from exploitation.

False dichotomy. European imperialism has been creating the conditions that make peasant farming hell for centuries now (and millennia if you count their own people).

Every single sweatshop laborer takes a job because it is better than the alternatives, but their range of choices is dictated by imperialist aggression.

Peer pressure built up over generations through awareness.

Just as to exhibit homophobia today is seen as brutish, it can be done with this as well if you keep things in people's faces.

This is why companies go to extreme lengths to hide the realities of manufacturing and resource procurement from the public.

Whatever we do, it cannot be tariffs on countries that manufacture products with slave labor.

Sarcasm?

Campaign and contribute to people who want to restrict goods to come from places with good labor protections.

The only real solution is to develop automation that is cheaper than the human counterpart.

You could give back the money you indirectly took from those laborers.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com