I knew there was something I forgot to do. Put this uncensor China information on my website. I think we were supposed to do this the other day when the 10 day countdown to the olympics started. Apologies for lateness.
I can’t get the script to work, so I give you this:
<object type=”application/x-shockwave-flash” height=”248″ width=”180″ data=”http://action.uncensor.com.au/media/swf/cici_index.swf”></object>
It will all make much more sense if you got Amnesty’s uncensor website.
On a not unrelated note, I see my eldest boy’s name is on the whiteboard in the list of people who haven’t done their homework yet. He is the kind of person who likes to do the right thing and also doesn’t like to draw attention to himself.
But homework was to find five things made in China. I explained to him that I try not to buy too many things made in China unless I know they’re fair trade by which I mean people should not just be paid fairly, but also treated with respect. But then I had to explain to him that I don’t generally support blanket boycotts as such, because they fail to take account of the complexities of situations. Poor kid. No wonder he gave up on it.
So nice to know that other parents do this to their children too.
When Miss Nine came home looking for water saving tips, she got the full analysis of why all the water saving tips in the world won’t matter unless SA Water sorts out its pricing policy, whereby the ‘water use’ component of your annual water bill is comparatively trivial. In reality, SA Water relies on a rather nasty form of neighbourly social pressure to make sure that people conserve water, and I didn’t want to buy into it. More than that, the school was buying into SA Water’s social control strategy, and I simply did not want to support them in doing that.
I think she found some tips on her own.
Me too. How to explain to a child that multinational corporations do a lot (landscaping, funds for welfare institutions & schools)for their local (distribution [read Western]) regions but not very much for their manufacturing regions without getting the “OMG, Mum’s off again” eyebrow?
Sigh. I think my son would just like us to think less sometimes.
Perhaps the 5 things could be ‘lead paint’, ‘shoddy non-earthquake proof housing’, ‘bulldozers for getting rid of shanty-towns’, ‘copied DVDs’ and ‘completely bogus propaganda regarding Tibet and other matters’… oops, did I say that?
alby mangroves, L, as they say, OL.
Life is complicated. And, alas, this something that children have to learn about.
Glad you’re doing ok.
I think Alby M said it all . . .
TC! Go into town and find one or two of those tourist souvenir shops, and find some koalas and boomerangs and stuff. Sure to be heaps of stuff made in China! That will give the kids a laff and perhaps start them on their own career of over-thinking.