[hackerlight]

> continues to do business with China ... It's absolutely disgusting.

I want to inject some nuance here. Competition in the labor market, which drives business to low- or middle-income countries like China, is really really good for the typical low-middle income person in China. If wealthy countries pulled out entirely, then China's GDP per capita will probably drop from $12,000 back to sub-$5,000 and you will be causing more suffering for the people you're concerned about. By all means, advocate for better pay and conditions and regulations, but don't advocate for pulling out of poor or middle income countries with lax labor protections entirely. It wasn't clear to me which avenue you're arguing for but I feel it's an important point worth stressing.

[holoduke]

No fuck that argument people use to whitewash bad/harsch working conditions. "A low income is better than no income". "Better be employed as a slave than unemployed" is basically what they say. Inless its not a close relative or your own kids working there. You would immediately change your opinion if thats the case. That fucked western hypocritical way of thinking needs to stop. Its really bad. Better everyone being a poor rice farmer than working in shit factory.

[thaumasiotes]

> Better everyone being a poor rice farmer than working in shit factory.

Why do the poor rice farmers line up to apply for factory jobs?

[hackerlight]

I said that X is bad but Y is worse. It seems you're not even trying to challenge that claim, instead you're saying X is a "fucked western hypocritical way of thinking" and "you would change your opinion from X to Y if you had family in that situation". Then your concluding sentence is "Y is actually better than X" but you didn't even make the case for that in the first place. Unconvincing. I am honestly disgusted at the virtue signalling and moral grandstanding. You would condemn people to the worst depths of poverty because ... well it's not entirely clear to me what moral depravity would cause someone to adopt that position.

[sgjohnson]

Except this has nothing to do with the west. The west is not responsible for working conditions in China in any way, shape or form. It's strictly a Chinese problem.

[peyton]

FYI China needs to import food. The alternative is famine for hundreds of millions of people, not bucolic rice farming.