I’m not sure that sweatshops are ALWAYS the terrible places our media makes them out to be. Not that they are ideal…that’s not what I’m saying. But sometimes those families need the income that the kids bring in…and it’s the only way they see available to get it.
We watched the whole movie in Ethics Class. Very disturbing. The whole disease of retail consumption needs to be cured from the American people, however, we have been seduced by the low price leaders. I do not know many people who will buy American made products and pay twice the amount as a foriegn made product.
I get a spectacular view of the ocean from where I live. One of the things I see day after day is the dozens of loaded container ships sailing into Long Beach & San Pedro harbors to unload containers of foriegn goods. Unfortunately, the bleeding hearts will tell us if we do not buy these goods from foriegn lands, the economy of those countries will go bust. Isn’t that exactly what is happening to our economy?
Keep spreading the words sister, and buy American.
@NightCometh - well, then pay them a good wage. Let them have the saftey equipment and things like that. Proper work hours, etc.
You have children being forced to work 19 hours a day 7 days a week. That leaves 5 hours for sleep if all they do is work and sleep. They aren’t given proper potty breaks etc.
It is never ever ok to treat another human that way.
@NightCometh - So it would be ok for people to buy clothing made by you and your family if all you were able to get was $1 an hour? If it isn’t ok for you and your family then why is it okay for other people?
Thanks for the insightful videos.
btw this is an awesome background Kristen!
I am not interested in anything a UAW representative has to say.
@NightCometh - So it’s ok for your child, your siblings etc. to be taken advantage of, just as long as you get what you want correct? Because that is exactly what you are saying is ok for those in sweat shops to endure. Take a week of your life and spend “only” 17 cents a day. No more, no less. And live on that. I won’t even ask you to support your family on that amount as they have to, just yourself. This is not media sensationalism, it’s proven fact. If you’d like information on this problem? I’d be more than happy to show you all the information that you can read to look into this yourself. It’s very sad.
Kristen? Thank you so much for posting this. I’ve recommended it and I’m also looking into the website that those young girls were looking in to. Responsibleshopper.org
God Bless you all.
It sure is a sick world.
Very thought provoking, especially the first vid.
Have been to the mass factories in China (a long time ago). Yes, no safety precautions and bad work. But… sadly bad work is better than no work, but BEST to bring up everyone together, and awareness (with films like this) makes strides in that direction.
All people are PEOPLE and should be treated humanely. When the King comes!
@yorel - I’m a CUPE member….does that make a difference? or are all unions bad? Just think…without them we wouldn’t need to consider this stuff at all ‘cos we’d still be living it
so many thoughts i don’t know what to pull out and write.
Ok, I think I am going to have an opinion that might not be readily agreed with here, but that’s nothing new.
First, yes. Of course Wal Mart should pay them more money. That goes without saying. However, I think we are missing the boat here. The welfare of the poor people is not a mandate given to the Gov’t or private corporations. It is a mandate given to the church. By the church I mean both the local visible assembly, and the church which is the Bride of Christ, His people. Perhaps we should be expecting corporations to do better, but should we not also, in fact first, be asking our elders and pastors what percent of our church’s budget goes to address these types of needs? The speaker said that Wal-Mart was the world’s largest corporation. That may be so, however the church is the one from whom the most monies, and aid could be supplied from. What if we spent the money we spent on frivolous walmart purchases instead on child sponsorship, and the printing of Bibles. What is more important really? The money in their pocket, even the food in their bellies, or the fact that they have or will or could hear the gospel and repent?
AGAIN, LET ME MAKE IT CLEAR. I WHOLEHEARTEDLY SUPPORT GIVING TO THE POOR.
Second, let’s not go overboard in demonizing these corporations. Sure, they can pay more, and we can work for that. However, remember that aside from these corporations, those people making seven cents an hour would be making NOTHING per hour. They are being given jobs they otherwise would not have. If we are to work for their benefit, let’s do so in a way that does not “bite the hand that feeds them” as it were.
Just my two cents. Let the attacks begin.
You know who earns less money than sweat-shop workers?
People with no jobs or opportunity what-so-ever.
I’m not condoning the conditions, but it’s better than nothing. If it weren’t, they wouldn’t do it.
@James3_1 - not an attack really, but….. would you like if your son was forced to work 19 hours a day in a room where he cant see out side, doesn’t get potty breaks, the equipment is missing its safety stuff so your some might be injured or killed but he does this so you can eat.
You say keep buying the stuff? Keep supporting the harm of children? Just because “what will they eat”?
Well, like you said how about the church help feed them rather then force them to work the 19 hours a day. Rather then buying at walmart
@Kristenmomof3 - I don’t remember saying anything about continuing to buy walmart goods. In fact, what I asked was what if we spent that money on sponsoring children instead. Not sure you got my point. What I am saying is that this is not the way to help the poor. By boycotting walmart and that being the end of it. Walmart may or may not miss the money from those who participate. What we can be sure of however, is that these kids will love the money we send them instead of sending it to walmart. Additionally, suppose all we do is boycott walmart, and because of the decline of sales, Walmart moves it’s operations to an village that they can pay even less. Have we helped those who are getting that seven cents an hour then?
I am simply saying… if we want to help them… let’s actually help them instead of relying on corporations, and gov’t to do what we, as Christians, have already been told to do independantly.
Also, “Forced to work?” I would think that they are jumping at the chance to get that work. Is it tiring? Yes. Is it even torture? Most likely. But let’s not cause them to lose what they have now in order to help them.
It’s like on Narnia, when Susan shoots the arrow into the guard as he is holding the little man above the river. She shouts “Drop him.”
What does he say, after the man does drop him… right into the river?
“They were doing just fine drowning me before you showed up.”
Again, I am not saying “just keep buying the stuff.” I boycotted McDonald’s when they pulled that gay and lesbian chamber of commerce nonsense, and it worked. I can support this too. I am simply saying it’s not to be our chief method, nor is it really our job to give a flip what Walmart does or does not do to help these people. That is a job given to us. Us alone.
@Lamb@revelife - I would say that it sure would be ok for others to buy clothing that my family and I only got paid a dollar to make if the other option was that my family and I didn’t have a job at all.
America is not the standard. America is the diseased one. In the same comment that we damn our spending habits, we laud our affluence and expect that the whole world should be so. Yet, in countries where this persecution takes place, God is more dedicatedly worshipped by His children, and families are closer together.
Is the bad treatment that does happen of foreigners horrible? Yes. But let me ask this… to the rubbish with what walmart does or does not do… what are you doing to help them? Directly?
That’s not an assumption you are doing nothing. Don’t take it that way. The point I am making is that it’s on us to help them, not on us to force walmart to help them.
@James3_1 - My comment/reply above wasn’t about “let’s boycott wal-mart”. I want people to think about the fact that could be them (or a family member/friend) and to have some empathy. A lot of people don’t have empathy for those in other countries. They don’t see the poor and they don’t want to think about how their lifestyle affects them. Not to toot my own horn but we do send money to organizations like Gospel for Asia (they help people in tangible ways, providing food and making income possible for the poorest of the poor), that was almost all that we gave for gifts this Holiday season. I think I can say that we probably agree on this. An excellent book to read on this subject is Living More With Less` by Doris Janzen Longacre.
@Lamb@revelife - My apologies for the unsolicited comment, but what you wrote to NightCometh really sounded like you misunderstood her point and were replying to her in an unwarranted anger, or offense. She wasn’t saying that the situation was perfect or that they deserved less than us, which seemed to be what you thought she was implying.
She was saying, I believe, that while this is a horrible situation, it often is made out to be worse than it really is by the media who loves to get us all fired up over persecution and unfair treatment, which they then use (and this is my speculation now) as a stepping stone to make the gov’t in control of corporations, welfare, aid etc. Something that NEVER helps the people who need help.
That having been said, let’s also keep something else in mind. It is not Walmart, or any corporation directly that is/are forcing these conditions on these people. Believe it or not… IT’S THEIR OWN PEOPLE doing it to them.
My whole point is this… Let’s be the answer, us. You, me, Night, Kristen… If people are out there who don’t have empathy, that’s sad. But we don’t accomplish anything by telling other people how apathetic other people are. We benefit other people by doing what WE can to help the ones who need it. If there are others who are uncaring, or uninformed about this suffering, then let’s do the ONE thing that will actually address that. Let’s preach the gospel to them as well. I assure you, someone who is saved… truly saved.. has a heart for all poor people, and lost people.
The gospel is always the answer.
God bless you, and again sorry for the long winded reply.
@James3_1 - media attention like this is one way to expose this type of corruption, sure it’s not perfect (and I totally agree that government usually messes things up). But it’s stuff like this that has opened my own eyes, we need to know about the problem so that we can do something…whether that something is praying or giving to a good organization like GFA. It’s not okay to say something like “Eh, it’s not that bad, at least they’re still alive.” If you haven’t been there you don’t know.
@Lamb@revelife - That’s my whole point though. Neither NightCometh, nor I, were saying anything like “Eh, it’s not that bad, at least they are still alive.”
Until you can see that, it’s pointless to continue this discussion. God’s grace to you, and thank you for all you do to help disadvantaged people.
Comments (29)
I will be checking where the clothes are made next time I buy them.
Wow… I haven’t thought much about it. I will from now on.
Thought provoking.
I’m not able to actually hear the video. I would love to know the content though.
@CH1216a - IT is talking about how much of the clothing american’s buy in made in sweatshops in other countries.
@Kristenmomof3 - I thought that was probably what it was about. It’s a lot more than we realize!
@CH1216a - yes, it is very widespread
I’m not sure that sweatshops are ALWAYS the terrible places our media makes them out to be. Not that they are ideal…that’s not what I’m saying. But sometimes those families need the income that the kids bring in…and it’s the only way they see available to get it.
We watched the whole movie in Ethics Class. Very disturbing. The whole disease of retail consumption needs to be cured from the American people, however, we have been seduced by the low price leaders. I do not know many people who will buy American made products and pay twice the amount as a foriegn made product.
I get a spectacular view of the ocean from where I live. One of the things I see day after day is the dozens of loaded container ships sailing into Long Beach & San Pedro harbors to unload containers of foriegn goods. Unfortunately, the bleeding hearts will tell us if we do not buy these goods from foriegn lands, the economy of those countries will go bust. Isn’t that exactly what is happening to our economy?
Keep spreading the words sister, and buy American.
@NightCometh - well, then pay them a good wage. Let them have the saftey equipment and things like that. Proper work hours, etc.
You have children being forced to work 19 hours a day 7 days a week. That leaves 5 hours for sleep if all they do is work and sleep. They aren’t given proper potty breaks etc.
It is never ever ok to treat another human that way.
@NightCometh - So it would be ok for people to buy clothing made by you and your family if all you were able to get was $1 an hour? If it isn’t ok for you and your family then why is it okay for other people?
Thanks for the insightful videos.
btw this is an awesome background Kristen!
I am not interested in anything a UAW representative has to say.
@NightCometh - So it’s ok for your child, your siblings etc. to be taken advantage of, just as long as you get what you want correct? Because that is exactly what you are saying is ok for those in sweat shops to endure. Take a week of your life and spend “only” 17 cents a day. No more, no less. And live on that. I won’t even ask you to support your family on that amount as they have to, just yourself. This is not media sensationalism, it’s proven fact. If you’d like information on this problem? I’d be more than happy to show you all the information that you can read to look into this yourself. It’s very sad.
Kristen? Thank you so much for posting this. I’ve recommended it and I’m also looking into the website that those young girls were looking in to. Responsibleshopper.org
God Bless you all.
It sure is a sick world.
Very thought provoking, especially the first vid.
Have been to the mass factories in China (a long time ago). Yes, no safety precautions and bad work. But… sadly bad work is better than no work, but BEST to bring up everyone together, and awareness (with films like this) makes strides in that direction.
All people are PEOPLE and should be treated humanely. When the King comes!
@yorel - I’m a CUPE member….does that make a difference? or are all unions bad? Just think…without them we wouldn’t need to consider this stuff at all ‘cos we’d still be living it
@Lamb@revelife - thank you
so many thoughts i don’t know what to pull out and write.
Ok, I think I am going to have an opinion that might not be readily agreed with here, but that’s nothing new.
First, yes. Of course Wal Mart should pay them more money. That goes without saying. However, I think we are missing the boat here. The welfare of the poor people is not a mandate given to the Gov’t or private corporations. It is a mandate given to the church. By the church I mean both the local visible assembly, and the church which is the Bride of Christ, His people. Perhaps we should be expecting corporations to do better, but should we not also, in fact first, be asking our elders and pastors what percent of our church’s budget goes to address these types of needs? The speaker said that Wal-Mart was the world’s largest corporation. That may be so, however the church is the one from whom the most monies, and aid could be supplied from. What if we spent the money we spent on frivolous walmart purchases instead on child sponsorship, and the printing of Bibles. What is more important really? The money in their pocket, even the food in their bellies, or the fact that they have or will or could hear the gospel and repent?
AGAIN, LET ME MAKE IT CLEAR. I WHOLEHEARTEDLY SUPPORT GIVING TO THE POOR.
Second, let’s not go overboard in demonizing these corporations. Sure, they can pay more, and we can work for that. However, remember that aside from these corporations, those people making seven cents an hour would be making NOTHING per hour. They are being given jobs they otherwise would not have. If we are to work for their benefit, let’s do so in a way that does not “bite the hand that feeds them” as it were.
Just my two cents. Let the attacks begin.
You know who earns less money than sweat-shop workers?
People with no jobs or opportunity what-so-ever.
I’m not condoning the conditions, but it’s better than nothing. If it weren’t, they wouldn’t do it.
@James3_1 - not an attack really, but….. would you like if your son was forced to work 19 hours a day in a room where he cant see out side, doesn’t get potty breaks, the equipment is missing its safety stuff so your some might be injured or killed but he does this so you can eat.
You say keep buying the stuff? Keep supporting the harm of children? Just because “what will they eat”?
Well, like you said how about the church help feed them rather then force them to work the 19 hours a day. Rather then buying at walmart
@Kristenmomof3 - I don’t remember saying anything about continuing to buy walmart goods. In fact, what I asked was what if we spent that money on sponsoring children instead. Not sure you got my point. What I am saying is that this is not the way to help the poor. By boycotting walmart and that being the end of it. Walmart may or may not miss the money from those who participate. What we can be sure of however, is that these kids will love the money we send them instead of sending it to walmart. Additionally, suppose all we do is boycott walmart, and because of the decline of sales, Walmart moves it’s operations to an village that they can pay even less. Have we helped those who are getting that seven cents an hour then?
I am simply saying… if we want to help them… let’s actually help them instead of relying on corporations, and gov’t to do what we, as Christians, have already been told to do independantly.
Also, “Forced to work?” I would think that they are jumping at the chance to get that work. Is it tiring? Yes. Is it even torture? Most likely. But let’s not cause them to lose what they have now in order to help them.
It’s like on Narnia, when Susan shoots the arrow into the guard as he is holding the little man above the river. She shouts “Drop him.”
What does he say, after the man does drop him… right into the river?
“They were doing just fine drowning me before you showed up.”
Again, I am not saying “just keep buying the stuff.” I boycotted McDonald’s when they pulled that gay and lesbian chamber of commerce nonsense, and it worked. I can support this too. I am simply saying it’s not to be our chief method, nor is it really our job to give a flip what Walmart does or does not do to help these people. That is a job given to us. Us alone.
@James3_1 - that I can agree with
@Lamb@revelife - I would say that it sure would be ok for others to buy clothing that my family and I only got paid a dollar to make if the other option was that my family and I didn’t have a job at all.
America is not the standard. America is the diseased one. In the same comment that we damn our spending habits, we laud our affluence and expect that the whole world should be so. Yet, in countries where this persecution takes place, God is more dedicatedly worshipped by His children, and families are closer together.
Is the bad treatment that does happen of foreigners horrible? Yes. But let me ask this… to the rubbish with what walmart does or does not do… what are you doing to help them? Directly?
That’s not an assumption you are doing nothing. Don’t take it that way. The point I am making is that it’s on us to help them, not on us to force walmart to help them.
@James3_1 - My comment/reply above wasn’t about “let’s boycott wal-mart”. I want people to think about the fact that could be them (or a family member/friend) and to have some empathy. A lot of people don’t have empathy for those in other countries. They don’t see the poor and they don’t want to think about how their lifestyle affects them. Not to toot my own horn but we do send money to organizations like Gospel for Asia (they help people in tangible ways, providing food and making income possible for the poorest of the poor), that was almost all that we gave for gifts this Holiday season.
I think I can say that we probably agree on this. An excellent book to read on this subject is Living More With Less` by Doris Janzen Longacre.
@Lamb@revelife - My apologies for the unsolicited comment, but what you wrote to NightCometh really sounded like you misunderstood her point and were replying to her in an unwarranted anger, or offense. She wasn’t saying that the situation was perfect or that they deserved less than us, which seemed to be what you thought she was implying.
She was saying, I believe, that while this is a horrible situation, it often is made out to be worse than it really is by the media who loves to get us all fired up over persecution and unfair treatment, which they then use (and this is my speculation now) as a stepping stone to make the gov’t in control of corporations, welfare, aid etc. Something that NEVER helps the people who need help.
That having been said, let’s also keep something else in mind. It is not Walmart, or any corporation directly that is/are forcing these conditions on these people. Believe it or not… IT’S THEIR OWN PEOPLE doing it to them.
My whole point is this… Let’s be the answer, us. You, me, Night, Kristen… If people are out there who don’t have empathy, that’s sad. But we don’t accomplish anything by telling other people how apathetic other people are. We benefit other people by doing what WE can to help the ones who need it. If there are others who are uncaring, or uninformed about this suffering, then let’s do the ONE thing that will actually address that. Let’s preach the gospel to them as well. I assure you, someone who is saved… truly saved.. has a heart for all poor people, and lost people.
The gospel is always the answer.
God bless you, and again sorry for the long winded reply.
@James3_1 - media attention like this is one way to expose this type of corruption, sure it’s not perfect (and I totally agree that government usually messes things up). But it’s stuff like this that has opened my own eyes, we need to know about the problem so that we can do something…whether that something is praying or giving to a good organization like GFA. It’s not okay to say something like “Eh, it’s not that bad, at least they’re still alive.” If you haven’t been there you don’t know.
@Lamb@revelife - That’s my whole point though. Neither NightCometh, nor I, were saying anything like “Eh, it’s not that bad, at least they are still alive.”
Until you can see that, it’s pointless to continue this discussion. God’s grace to you, and thank you for all you do to help disadvantaged people.