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1

Am I the only one surprised by none of this?

Posted by Dianna | August 14, 2007 2:16 PM
2

You know what can you expect from 8 year old factory workers?

Posted by Cato the YY | August 14, 2007 2:17 PM
3

Seriously though, the workers in China are nothing more than slaves to the American consumer. The conditions they live and work in are deplorable (no matter what our corporate execs or China's government want us to hear) and at some point people under those conditions are going to take it out anyway they can.

In Denmark workers who felt their livelihoods being destroyed by the machine threw there wooden shoes called "Sabots" into the workings of the machine: Hence Sabotage. I think we maybe seeing something similar happening.

Posted by Cato the YY | August 14, 2007 2:22 PM
4

@3 No, I think it's much simpler than that. They simply have no enforcement of any safety standards, and a manufacturing sector that's far, far, far too widely distributed (meaning that while an American manufacturer may have seven suppliers, a Chinese one will have seventy, even with the same amount of production), and greedy bastards in charge of the factories.

Also, they wouldn't get the cultural context of the swastika. In East Asia, the swastika maintains its pre-war connotations of good luck.

Posted by Gitai | August 14, 2007 2:29 PM
5

5 pts goes to Cato the YY for his Star Trek 6, Kim Cattrall quote.

Posted by monkey | August 14, 2007 2:30 PM
6

I wouldn't say it's sabotage; it's just extreme greed and a total lack of any kind of effective regulatory apparatus.

There's also an epidemic of corruption in China right now at the public and private level, where bribes and shoddy workmanship are just the cost of doing business. The problem is so serious, it’s why they have the death penalty for public and private officials who are caught.

It's like the Industrial Revolution over there times 1000. Eventually, the Chinese people are going to have to demand fair labor and environmental laws as workers have in North America and Europe.

Posted by Original Andrew | August 14, 2007 2:32 PM
7

reason #89,421 that I'm glad I don't have children.


Although I am aware of the economic implications or whatevs.

Posted by mr. ryan | August 14, 2007 2:45 PM
8
Although I am aware of the economic implications or whatevs.

Ha!

Posted by Dianna | August 14, 2007 2:51 PM
9

I blame Wal-Mart and the "entitlement" culture it has created ... does no one remember the adage "You Get What You Pay For?"

Posted by Gordon Werner | August 14, 2007 3:20 PM
10

I blame corporate greed.

Posted by monkey | August 14, 2007 3:24 PM
11

OK, so why can't we get a master list of just which Hotels have been passing out this stuff? I've just completed 2 weeks in upscale Alaskan hotels and used some toothpaste from them in almost everyone. AM I AT RISK? HOW DO I KNOW? Help us please! Post a list!

Posted by Kirk G | August 14, 2007 3:48 PM
12

A few months ago a little girl asked her mother what color n----- brown was, because that was what was printed on the label of their couch. Made in China.

Posted by D. | August 14, 2007 3:56 PM
13

But can't you see we need these Wal-Martian Chinese-produced goods, people? We just need them, and forget that silly concept of the Chinese adapting OSHA mentalities. They will do whatever they must to succeed and a few bodies in the mines, a few kids run over by tanks, a few squatters crushed by bulldozers is small ricecakes. As Napoleon once allegedly said, albeit in French: "China is a sleeping giant. When she awakes the world will tremble." Begin trembling right about....now.

Posted by KENTUCKY KERNEL OF TRUTH | August 14, 2007 5:10 PM
14

Yeah and an additional kernel of truth: Not a single person on SLOG or probably in Seattle is Chinese Product free.

Posted by Dave Coffman | August 14, 2007 5:56 PM
15

@14 Of course not. How could we be?

Posted by Gitai | August 14, 2007 7:46 PM
16

@11: Unless you swallow your toothpaste I imagine the risk is probably low. The fatal does for ethylene glycol in human adults is about 100 grams.

Posted by Orv | August 14, 2007 7:56 PM
17

I really hope that Americans can manage to separate our impressions of Chinese manufacturing from our impressions of the Chinese people. We're often too quick to conflate things...(admittedly, in the same way that the Chinese often conflate U.S. government policies with the American people).

Posted by ShanghaiDidact | August 15, 2007 2:23 AM
18

As I've said before, what can you expect from a culture where their word for "honesty" means gullible.

Posted by JessB | August 15, 2007 2:12 PM

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