(no subject)

[petermarcus]

Shhhh! You hear that? That little voice off in the distance? Somewhere there's a martini calling me. Think I'll go out in a bit and find it. I'll bet it's right next to dinner :)

I'm gonna start planting clues in case I get time-looped with billijean again. Three Blind Mice...Three Wise Men...Three Dog Night...

Before I go, though, my mini-China rant as it somewhat obliquely came up.



I boycott China whenever I can get away with it. Sometimes it's hard, because the strangest, commonest things are made, farmed, packaged, or assembled there. I'm talking things like the screwdriver I bought the other day, the frozen crawfish tails I bought the other day, etc. My boycott isn't political per se, I couldn't care less if they're communist as long as they play nice with other nations (which, of course, they don't always do). Anyway, their working conditions are horrible, their internal human rights violations bother me, and they have no respect for intellectual property. If they want to run their country that way, I don't think the US or anyone else should go in and meddle, but I, personally, am going to take my business elsewhere.

There are actually three Chinas. China itself, Hong Kong which used to be Britain but is now a bastardized capitalist bubble, and Taiwan which is more or less democratic and free with the better work standards and private intellectual property respect that usually follow capitalistic democracies.

I will happily buy stuff from Taiwan. Hong Kong ain't bad either. I want to avoid China wherever possible. Unfortunately, sometime during the Clinton era (and I don't want to get into a Clinton rant), a lot of the labeling of items started to take a one-China policy. Things may be labeled "Made in China" when they are, in fact, made in Hong Kong or made in Taiwan.

So I feel guilty twice -- if I don't boycott, I feel guilty about giving dollars to China. If I do boycott, I'm afraid I may be boycotting a country or region that I think should be patronized.

Comments

[billijean.livejournal.com]

Three Little Bears... damn! I knocked that glass over - I knew I was going to do that!

And yeah... pretty much what you said :)