Lesser of Two Evils

                

             While listening to Mr. Daisey I came to realize and to actually understand that it is horrible over in China, what he did was give these workers a voice and a face for us to picture in our heads. It isn’t just China anymore, more specifically it is Shenzhen. It isn’t just random faceless workers anymore, now we see a 13 year old girl or a man with a deformed hand that was crushed in a factory and received no medical attention. What Mr. Daisey has done is create sympathy in our minds; he has described in such detail, with an immense amount of enthusiasm, what is happening in the factories that create our livelihoods.  That’s really what they are making for us; our livelihoods. Our phones and our laptops are our lives and without them we can’t survive, most people wouldn’t know what to do if they couldn’t Facebook with their friends or just talk or text them on their cell phone.  

                Looking at our society today you know that we are set in our ways of living with all this technology. Because of the demand, gadgets are being made in such massive quantities and we have to be ok with what is happening in these factories.  Is it acceptable for us to just stand by and let this happen? In the eyes of modern people it is ok as long as Billy and Sally can get the new phone they want to be able to talk to their friends whenever they want?  What are the other options for us really though? We can manufacture all these items in the United States, which would indeed provide quite a few jobs for the unemployed Americans to benefit from, but would people be willing to spend twice as much for the same iPod or laptop that they have now? I really think the average person wouldn’t even have the money for these items. 

What is going on over in China and in other third world countries isn’t necessarily considered bad by everyone because the local populous consider these factories as the lesser of two evils. These evils being either:  working in the fields all day to simply put food on the table or working in the factories making money and helping to improve the economy in their area. These employees aren’t slaves to the corporations they work for, they can quit anytime they want. The only problem with that is they can’t survive without a job to provide their family with the essentials. This I believe makes these factories necessary to make everyone happy and provide them with a better life.

                Everyone’s lives whether they are from the U.S. or the countries that house these factories, are better from our arrangement that we have. I’m not saying that it’s perfect, because there is definitely room for improvement on the factories’ and the corporations end, but as I said before it is the lesser of two evils. It is also up to the corporations like Apple and Samsung and all the other companies that use this cheap labor to improve the employees living and working environment so that it is closer to the standards that we have and abide by here in the U.S.