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jinju
Joined: 22 Jan 2006
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 Posted: Sun Sep 16, 2007 4:05 am Post subject: China, the de-evolution of a nation |
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| Is China a place where Darwin has been literally reversed? From a nation that made the great wall and Terracotta Warriors to a country that now gives us poison Puppy Chow and lead poisoned Elmos. What a cesspool. |
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blaseblasphemener
Joined: 01 Jun 2006
Location: There's a voice, keeps on calling me, down the road, that's where I'll always be
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| Posted: Sun Sep 16, 2007 4:15 am Post subject: |
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| It's the utopian market economy, without a democratic backbone or rule of law to reign it in. |
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Alyallen
Joined: 29 Mar 2004
Location: The 4th Greatest Place on Earth = Jeonju!!!
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| Posted: Sun Sep 16, 2007 4:28 am Post subject: |
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I have to wonder about that place. It seems like every day something is being recalled from China because it has the unfortunate side effect of KILLING someone. I mean, that is not the way to win or keep customers....
This story sums up how bad things are...
Chicken chokes after testing the water
Mon Sep 10, 10:34 AM ET
BEIJING (Reuters) - Think a bottle of mineral water might have poisoned you? Then test it on a chicken.
One Chinese family on the southern island province of Hainan had just that idea when one of their number started vomiting blood after drinking a bottle of water, a newspaper said.
They fed the luckless chicken the rest of the water to see what would happen, the Beijing News said, citing a report in a local paper. "The result was the chicken died within a minute," it said, showing a picture of a man holding a plastic bottle squatting over the crumpled body of the bird.
The province's authorities were investigating, it added.
Barely a day goes by without some new scandal over a made-in-China product, be it toys, toothpaste or fish, which has raised safety concerns in major export markets around the world.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070910/od_nm/china_safety_chicken_odd_dc |
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jinju
Joined: 22 Jan 2006
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| Posted: Sun Sep 16, 2007 4:32 am Post subject: |
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| The CEO of Mattel recently apologized and stressed how Mattel cares about the safety of kids. I wonder if anyone asked him this: "If yoi care about kids why do you make toys in a country where they not only kill their own kids as part of a government policy, but a place where no safeguards at all exist to make sure China doesnt start killing ours." If Mattel cares about kids they would get the hell out of China. What a vile place. |
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jg
Joined: 27 May 2003
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| Posted: Sun Sep 16, 2007 8:44 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| Is China a place where Darwin has been literally reversed? From a nation that made the great wall and Terracotta Warriors to a country that now gives us poison Puppy Chow and lead poisoned Elmos. What a cesspool. |
China built a middle class on selling cheaply made products to Americans, and at the same time the American middle-class has been decimated by the outsourcing of low-skill factory jobs and their attendant managerial positions, supply chain revenue, etc. But your post was (unintentionally, I'm certain) accurate for one reason - the great wall was built with slave labor, not much different than the labor that builds "poisoned Elmos". I'd give them a lot more credit than "reversed Darwin".
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| I have to wonder about that place. It seems like every day something is being recalled from China because it has the unfortunate side effect of KILLING someone. I mean, that is not the way to win or keep customers.... |
You ought to also "wonder about" the CEO's/brain trust of American companies that cut costs to such a low degree that they will continually patronize companies in countries that have such lax standards. Do you really think Mattel expects factories staffed by uneducated teenagers working in third world conditions to apply rigorous QC standards? They got away with it for as long as they could, and they certainly have an army of lobbyists to make sure inspection remains a low priority, despite their public apologies. Have you heard the news about American car companies? We pay our factory workers exponentially higher than China pays theirs and we still have frequent recalls at all the big Detroit carmakers. Even a basic understanding of manufacturing lets one know that somewhere along the line, there had to appear a breakdown in quality when companies pursue such harsh cost cutting measures. I think everyone (but in this specific case, Americans) is willing to conveniently overlook it until hurts them, as opposed to only hurting others.
No one forced Mattel - and the vast majority of the rest of manufacturers - to go overseas, and everyone (myself included) happily shopped at Walgreens, Target, Best Buy, etc, for years, paying ridiculously low prices on consumer goods. Now you want to moan? Instead of jumping on the "China bad!" soundbyte news bandwagon, pay attention to the bigger picture. I don't intend to defend China, but how myopic can you be? I would think just going through somewhat one-sided articles and bolding the parts that scare you would eventually give way to a more thorough examination of the news itself.
Interesting links below for those who want a less simplistic picture than the above article:
http://www.chinalawblog.com/2007/07/china_products_its_always_dark.html
http://www.chinalawblog.com/2007/08/china_food_safety_the_science.html
The high cost of low prices indeed. |
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just4u
Joined: 30 May 2007
Location: Georgia, USA
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| Posted: Sun Sep 16, 2007 2:36 pm Post subject: |
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...
Last edited by just4u on Sun Sep 16, 2007 8:24 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Alyallen
Joined: 29 Mar 2004
Location: The 4th Greatest Place on Earth = Jeonju!!!
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| Posted: Sun Sep 16, 2007 6:36 pm Post subject: |
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| jg wrote: |
| Quote: |
| Is China a place where Darwin has been literally reversed? From a nation that made the great wall and Terracotta Warriors to a country that now gives us poison Puppy Chow and lead poisoned Elmos. What a cesspool. |
China built a middle class on selling cheaply made products to Americans, and at the same time the American middle-class has been decimated by the outsourcing of low-skill factory jobs and their attendant managerial positions, supply chain revenue, etc. But your post was (unintentionally, I'm certain) accurate for one reason - the great wall was built with slave labor, not much different than the labor that builds "poisoned Elmos". I'd give them a lot more credit than "reversed Darwin".
| Quote: |
| I have to wonder about that place. It seems like every day something is being recalled from China because it has the unfortunate side effect of KILLING someone. I mean, that is not the way to win or keep customers.... |
You ought to also "wonder about" the CEO's/brain trust of American companies that cut costs to such a low degree that they will continually patronize companies in countries that have such lax standards. Do you really think Mattel expects factories staffed by uneducated teenagers working in third world conditions to apply rigorous QC standards? They got away with it for as long as they could, and they certainly have an army of lobbyists to make sure inspection remains a low priority, despite their public apologies. Have you heard the news about American car companies? We pay our factory workers exponentially higher than China pays theirs and we still have frequent recalls at all the big Detroit carmakers. Even a basic understanding of manufacturing lets one know that somewhere along the line, there had to appear a breakdown in quality when companies pursue such harsh cost cutting measures. I think everyone (but in this specific case, Americans) is willing to conveniently overlook it until hurts them, as opposed to only hurting others.
No one forced Mattel - and the vast majority of the rest of manufacturers - to go overseas, and everyone (myself included) happily shopped at Walgreens, Target, Best Buy, etc, for years, paying ridiculously low prices on consumer goods. Now you want to moan? Instead of jumping on the "China bad!" soundbyte news bandwagon, pay attention to the bigger picture. I don't intend to defend China, but how myopic can you be? I would think just going through somewhat one-sided articles and bolding the parts that scare you would eventually give way to a more thorough examination of the news itself.
Interesting links below for those who want a less simplistic picture than the above article:
http://www.chinalawblog.com/2007/07/china_products_its_always_dark.html
http://www.chinalawblog.com/2007/08/china_food_safety_the_science.html
The high cost of low prices indeed. |
The thread is about China, so I talked about China. That doesn't make me myopic that makes me one who can stay on topic.
You did make some good points. I don't shop at walgreens, walmart or try and save. Last time I checked, I've never had any reason to buy much of anything from Mattel so I think I can stay on my platform of righteous indignation 
Funny you used myopic. I actually am... -7.5 in one eye and 7.0 in the other. Thanks for the reminder  |
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JMO
Joined: 18 Jul 2006
Location: Daegu
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| Posted: Sun Sep 16, 2007 8:54 pm Post subject: |
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You do know that Darwin's theory of evolution does not apply to this situation?
Really, people who do not understand what evolution is, are almost as bad as the bloody creationists. |
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jinju
Joined: 22 Jan 2006
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| Posted: Sun Sep 16, 2007 9:26 pm Post subject: |
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| JMO wrote: |
You do know that Darwin's theory of evolution does not apply to this situation?
Really, people who do not understand what evolution is, are almost as bad as the bloody creationists. |
It was a play on words. What the *beep* did you evolve from? An amoeba without a sense of humor? |
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