The problem isn't just China. It's all those poor countries who at a terrible toll on their people and natural environment produce things that Westerners buy cheaply and treat poorly.So, I want to boycott China because of Hong Kong and the Uighurs, and I've been working towards that for quite some time now. Some things I've noticed.
One, boycotting China is expensive, expect to spend at least 10% more on most things. — Benkei
What we should campaign against is the desire to get more for less. Against greed. Against the desire to keep up the appearance of a rich or at least middle class person while not actually being one.
Countries that produce low or lower quality goods and export them cheaply to first world countries are feeding precisely these Western desires. If Westerners wouldn't be so damn greedy, those poor countries wouldn't ruin their own people and their own land, as there'd be no demand for those cheap low(er) quality goods and unethical means of production.
You can point out how dirty the industry in those mostly poor countries is, how unethical their means of production, how totalitarian their governments. But are you willing, and more importantly, are you able to live your current lifestyle without buying their products? — baker
The problem isn't just China. It's all those poor countries who at a terrible toll on their people and natural environment produce things that Westerners buy cheaply and treat poorly. — baker
One guy on NPR suggested America should have the goal of having a population of a billion people by century's end, just for this reason. — Foghorn
If you put North America and South America together, you get pretty close. It may not be a nice thought but what else do you suggest? — Apollodorus
I have a bit of a warped view on this, as I live in Florida, where the population has grown 7X during my lifetime. The population of the United States has doubled in my lifetime. More people = more problems. I'm a woods hermit, it just ain't for me. — Foghorn
Overpopulation in urban areas is going to be a big problem everywhere as everyone wants to live in megacities where the jobs and the nightlife are. — Apollodorus
Yes, imho, the biggest under reported story of the 20th century is the urbanization of humanity. More and more people are being born in to life almost completely cut off from nature. — Foghorn
and has thus rescued
a considerable part of the population from the idiocy of rural life." — Apollodorus
Well, it has to be admitted that, the Chinese communists have rescued many millions from an ancient rural life which so many willingly abandoned. — Foghorn
Unfortunately, millions were "rescued" by being starved to death when Mao insisted on putting Marxist intellectuals with no experience or knowledge of agriculture in charge of the countryside. Same happened under Stalin and others. — Apollodorus
But, I am not really sure, because I don't always know where to get reliable news, as I am sure that there is so much going on behind the scenes of news headlines and stories. — Jack Cummins
The war on terrorism involved America having control of the Middle East, and I believe that we are now moving into the possibility of power over China. Of course, it is easy to see oppression in other nations, but I think that an underlying aspect behind the scenes of politics, and manufactured news, is the fight for oil, which is running out rapidly. — Jack Cummins
The oppression and injustice does require people to make a stand but dangers of political conflict, and nuclear threats make the conflicts even more ominous. It all feels like such a dangerous juggling act. — Jack Cummins
It seems to me that the reality is that the world's largest nation is going to be a dominant player on the world stage. That said, there are threats to the stability of China which may reduce it's influence. — Foghorn
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