The Rich Mans Burden

Do you ever stop to take a look at the label on the shirt that you are wearing? What does it say, Taiwan, China, India, Mexico? Now think about the people who made that shirt for you to wear, what kind of life do they lead? Where do they work?

Our modern consumer society leads us to disconnect between the item and its producer. We no longer buy goods, we buy comodities. When you buy chicken breasts in the supermarket all pristenly wrapped in plastic ready for you to cook and eat, do you stop to think about the chicken(s) that had to die for you to have a meal? Do you consider the standard of living of that chicken or of the farmer that produced it for you?

Where do you think the workers that mass produce our clothes, etc work?

In a nice shiny factory with lots of room, decent pay and many safety procedures? Or do they work in crowded, hot factories, where they get no benefits, little pay for their work and no chance of equal rights. They cannot mobilize and collaborate their feelings with workers like themselves, as forming a union would make them lose their jobs. What is better working for practically nothing or having no one to work for?

Is it right that we are doing this to them? We the consumer allows companies and corporations to expoloit these foreign workers because we are always looking for the cheapest consumable commodity. Since when did shopping mean making other individuals lose their rights?

I am not saying that we should all go out and start buying clothes, food, etc only from sources which we know to be good, because these items are often much more expensive than other items available, often too expensive for the average consumer to buy on a daily basis. However I feel that we should make a stand against the companies that are exploiting individuals, we need to let them know that the consumer does not agree with the policies that their company (ies) endorse. 

We are not too blame, yet we are no innocent bystander, we know what is happening and why it is happening, yet we chose to simply ignore it. Ignorance is not always bliss, for many individuals it is their living hell.