Necessary Evil

                Mr. Daisy bring to light a lot of things that people would like to not think about in this world. One, we are dependent on the production of goods from lesser developed nations. And two, this generally means the employment of millions in conditions we would never accept in our lives back at home. While these are tragic stories that should appall anyone who reads them, is it not necessary for everyone involved?

                Throughout the story, Mr. Daisy points out what is happening wrong with these overseas factories (the apple factory being an example of all). Children working more than twelve hours a day and being shuttled off to other parts of the factory when regulation officers show up. Living conditions at the dormitories being something akin to animal pins at produce farms. Workers losing their work after being tragically maimed. And at the end of the segment, Mr. Daisy's translator asks a surprising question. "Do you think these people are mentally ill?" Taken back by this, Mr. Daisy finally sees the translator for what she really was. A person in a job everyone inspired to have. Even she, a native to China, could not believe what she had seen and heard in the past few days.

                But why are these people still working here? If conditions are this outrageously bad then why haven't they found another place to make their living? While he is busy painting the horror story of the Chinese factory, he does not cover what is right about these conditions. While at this time it may seem impossible to find something right in all that was said, Mr. Daisy may of been describing the "silver lining." While I admit my studies may have made me numb with their focus on economics though statistics. I would like to think that the conditions, while unfavorable, are better than what they could have without the factory.

                The commonly quoted article as mentioned in the end of the episode, Two Cheers for the Sweatshops, does paint a somewhat different story to the life in these factories. It points out that "-sweatshops that seem brutal from the vantage point of an American sitting in his living room can appear tantalizing to a Thai laborer getting by on beetles." The people of Asia, while  working in these bad conditions, actively fight campaigns against sweatshops. That having a job in the "horrible conditions" of a sweat shop is by far better than not having the job available.

               This is why I think that, while conditions should be improved in some way, the sweatshops serve as a necessary evil. Not only do they bring us products for a very cheap price, and keep our economy sustained because of it. But the people who work in the sweatshops are better off in their lives for a few reasons. They now have access to a regular income that most the population doesn't have. The conditions in most these sweatshops can actually be safer than other jobs. And lastly the sweatshops are the gateway to further economic growth which hopefully will lead to increased living conditions for the country as w whole.