The problem with human rights is that it’s not just Kitkats that will become significantly more expensive if countries stuck the the ideals they claim to uphold. Everything would be more expensive. If you think the west is in a cost of living crisis now, wait until every low wage worker in China and India is treated and paid to western standards. Imagine actually boycotting all of that cheap Asian and African labour for their countless human rights violations!
Of course some people just want to abolish human rights to pad their own wallets by hiring unreasonably cheap labour for their own companies, or to get out of the legal protections that protect minorities against their hatred, but I don’t think there’s a country in the world that actually cares about human rights outside their own borders. Your best bet for that stuff is charities and other NGOs.
So, if children aren’t used as slave laborers, everything becomes more expensive.
Isn’t that just what things cost? I mean, I could get free produce if I stole it from the local produce market. There are plenty of morally gray areas where reasonable people can have legitimate disagreements, but we can all get behind making child slaves illegal.
But you’ll say it’s a slippery slope. First the child slaves, then maybe all the slaves? What about the sex slaves? Are we just supposed to stop letting rich people have sex with unwilling humans? Where doe it end? If everyone has rights and freedom and access to food, shelter, medical care, and education, how will a tiny fraction of the population amass mountains of wealth and power? How will they manage to orgasm without squeezing the life from a poor immugrant who has been forcibly hooked on drugs?
No, I don’t think boycotting cheap goods will create human rights in China and India. People will need to fight for human rights, and we, the privileged few who can afford to vote with our dollars, should demand fair trade foreign policies from our elected officials. We should vote for people who are for human rights everywhere. We should support policies that promote equality everywhere. And if that means we can’t buy cheap jeans at Walmart, we should be prepared to accept that as an inconvenience.
The problem with human rights is that it’s not just Kitkats that will become significantly more expensive if countries stuck the the ideals they claim to uphold. Everything would be more expensive. If you think the west is in a cost of living crisis now, wait until every low wage worker in China and India is treated and paid to western standards. Imagine actually boycotting all of that cheap Asian and African labour for their countless human rights violations!
Of course some people just want to abolish human rights to pad their own wallets by hiring unreasonably cheap labour for their own companies, or to get out of the legal protections that protect minorities against their hatred, but I don’t think there’s a country in the world that actually cares about human rights outside their own borders. Your best bet for that stuff is charities and other NGOs.
So, if children aren’t used as slave laborers, everything becomes more expensive.
Isn’t that just what things cost? I mean, I could get free produce if I stole it from the local produce market. There are plenty of morally gray areas where reasonable people can have legitimate disagreements, but we can all get behind making child slaves illegal.
But you’ll say it’s a slippery slope. First the child slaves, then maybe all the slaves? What about the sex slaves? Are we just supposed to stop letting rich people have sex with unwilling humans? Where doe it end? If everyone has rights and freedom and access to food, shelter, medical care, and education, how will a tiny fraction of the population amass mountains of wealth and power? How will they manage to orgasm without squeezing the life from a poor immugrant who has been forcibly hooked on drugs?
No, I don’t think boycotting cheap goods will create human rights in China and India. People will need to fight for human rights, and we, the privileged few who can afford to vote with our dollars, should demand fair trade foreign policies from our elected officials. We should vote for people who are for human rights everywhere. We should support policies that promote equality everywhere. And if that means we can’t buy cheap jeans at Walmart, we should be prepared to accept that as an inconvenience.