tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7795269967620406838.post8661890368288558543..comments2023-11-27T00:10:23.518-06:00Comments on My Coat of Many Colours: Agonising about Consumer ElectronicsHadass Eviatarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09619240774309947361noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7795269967620406838.post-68282505542451929552012-02-24T09:51:00.977-06:002012-02-24T09:51:00.977-06:00I lived most of my life in Africa, I have seen pov...I lived most of my life in Africa, I have seen poverty on a scale most North Americans cannot imagine. In many parts of Africa, people work long hours under atrocious conditions for $1 a day.<br /><br />There are long queues of people outside businesses and factories waiting for more of those jobs.<br /><br />If you are destitute, those jobs, even if they will shorten your life, are better than you or your kids starving.<br /><br />Remember it was only a couple of hundred years ago that many of our ancestors worked under similar conditions in the coal mines and cotton mills of Europe. Our modern industrial society and better labour practices have evolved from that.<br /><br />The best thing that we can do for the Chinese workers is to buy as many iPhones as possible. Some of the wealth will trickle down to improve the lowest levels of society. The more competition for labour, the better the conditions will be.<br /><br />It might take a couple of generations, but evolution will take place. In the interim, bad as it is for those workers, it is still better than the alternative.<br /><br />So go ahead and buy your phone with a clear conscience.Peter Wrighthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09017005255460751328noreply@blogger.com