Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by CamperBob 5206 days ago
My wife and I used to live in China, and we did traveling in both the high and the low places.

What was your impression of working conditions on the rural farms that are one of the most often-cited alternatives for many of the Foxconn workers?
1 comments
batista 5206 days ago
My impression is that you should not just a dire or unfair condition based on the existence of an even more dire or unfair condition.

If there is a famine in an area, and people are dying, is it OK to offer them food and water in exchange for slave labour? No pay, just food and water, and everybody that doesn't like can go and die of hunger. How does this deal sound?

A forced choice is not much of a choice.

Also check how the once substinent farm economy is affected by industrialization, pollution and the state push for ever more production.

link
pron 5205 days ago
Hey batista. Good to see you here. Sorry I didn't read your comment before writing a very similar one somewhere else on this thread. Keep fighting the good fight!
link
CamperBob 5205 days ago
If there is a famine in an area, and people are dying, is it OK to offer them food and water in exchange for slave labour? No pay, just food and water, and everybody that doesn't like can go and die of hunger. How does this deal sound?

My impression is that like most Westerners living today, you have no earthly idea what the term "slave labor" actually means, so we'll leave it at that. Peace.

link
batista 5205 days ago
> My impression is that like most Westerners living today, you have no earthly idea what the term "slave labor" actually means, so we'll leave it at that. Peace.

And my impression is that I very much have an accurate idea, plus I hardly consider myself a "westerner", and not only because I'm some 15,000 miles away from the nearest Walmart. It's not like we grew up with Fox News (or NPR at best) -- we have a penchant for history in these here parts plus we have been living it in the live, frequently (including now).

OTOH, you might be unaware that beside the basic determinant (i.e no choice on the matter), slave labour has had a great variety of working conditions in the past. Some were even better that Foxconn by a lot (say, a black lady cooking and/or taking care of the kids in a huge Southern estate would often be treated quite like family -- or in Ancient Greece slaves were even able to amass their own fortune and run businesses, while remaining legally slaves).

link