Boy, you know what? I’m more conflicted than ever. On the one hand I agree with Cardo that it’s morally reprehensible to purchase items produced under deplorable conditions. I mean, who'd want their
mother to work for peanuts while shivering to death?
I would, but then we dont get along. LOL On the other, Jim and trex are right that in Asia, China specifically, $1.50 an hour is a king’s ransom—and the prospect for even better wages is on the horizon (Jim didn’t say that last blurb; I just threw it in to sound knowledgeable
).
Question: By purchasing diecast models, do we compound third-world peasant misery—or subtract from it?
Frankly, I’m guilty of turning a blind eye. I purchase loads of merchandise from WalMart, knowing full well that a huge dollop of that stuff flies off assembly lines maned by ill-fated, poorly paid workers. Poorly paid by my standards—not theirs.
In fact, until I dreamt up this thread, I hadn’t given it one thought. Probably didn’t
want to think about it. Now I’m wondering if I’m contributing to human misery, if I’m a vulgar capitalist hypocrite so consumed with materialism I couldn’t care less about proletariat privation (cue the crocodile tears
).
Whatever, as crass as this sounds, I’m not ditching diecast collecting. Every time I plunk down coin for a brand-spanking-new diecast model, I’ll exult that I’m paying for somebody’s rice bowl, and at the same time wince that I’m not providing more.