I'm mad at the EU right now

Fun ?


but yeah please don't ..ok start a new thread if you like.. sure it would be very good.

 

she started ths one agree or disagree, but try not to spam Skip.

 

I was being sarcastic. And what I meant was that I'd rather not have Rat refraining himself from bitching about the EU when this thread is made for that purpose.

 

yeah..what she said.

 

.. maybe bad choice of words from me ? anyhoo i misunderstood about you wishing him too bitch on about the E.U .. i thought you did not ?.

I have never and will never spam skip.. i apreciate his site even if i don't agree with anything he says.. as for agreeing or disagreeing i don't know all the facts as to what jo is saying yet.. so i have just given my point of view as best i see it.. chill out dude .

*goes too look for pressed rat*

 

I'm in an anthro class on development & globalization -- so far we've had a few intro lectures on basic economics & read an ethnography of maquiladoras (Mexican sweat shops)... It's really disturbing that it's so easy to link so many of our social problems to the capitalist system. The few rich people at the top need those people in extreme poverty to provide cheap labor... I mean, look at Mexico -- they were a Mecca for sweatshops (at least for US based companies), then the big companies found that you can pay Malaysians even less, so who needs Mexicans anymore?

Also inherent in this system is the need for a class of people to take those crap jobs washing dishes & whatnot that nobody really wants. So let immigrants in, they really want those jobs (better than what they left), right? Then, the established lower class would have someone to look down on & would start getting inflated egos, thinking they deserve better jobs... Which leads to greater competition for those better jobs... As this cycle progresses, you get more & more competition for those highest positions -- the people at the top, making the decisions, can't have that!

I don't know what the solution is, really, other than to work on the small piece that any one person can influence...

 

Not doing anything anthropological myself , but i thought that countries that were 'abused' for cheap labour .. eventualy raise their bar so they are infact better off.. they have too or they have their trade moved to another country...so yeah they get exploited to a point but benefit in the long run..You have to think what they would do to survive if they were not paid wages we find disgraceful ?. This sounds pig ignorant i realise.

China for one we moan about 'taking all our jobs' 'cheap labour' etc etc , but their economy is booming so they then become a threat and not just for jobs

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2393/is_2_162/ai_58243521
http://www.greenspun.com/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg.tcl?msg_id=00CjY0
http://www.themoderntribune.com/china_threat.htm

depends i suppose how you look at it ?

 

Depends on what angle you're looking at it from. Women working in sweatshops wind up with nasty health issues from breathing fumes from noxioius chemicals or breathing lint from industrial sewing machines (develop breathing problems in time). Those who work soldering parts that they have to look thru a microscope to see what they're doing wind up with their hands burnt to ship & often with deteriorating eyesight.

However, these are women who otherwise would have no economic options, so this is liberating, right? Previously, only men did wage labor. I mean, in a way, it does benefit them in that they have their own income, which affords them a bit more freedom. But at what cost? And those in better socioeconomic positions like to talk about how they will finally rise up to become closer to equals in these societies -- the problem with that is that they won't actually rise up until they find someone else to put in their current position.

Depends on where we're talking about. Honestly, we can blame the capitalist system that comes in & declares ownership of huge tracts of land for the sake of banana or rubber or other types of plantations for creating this available workforce to begin with. If these Western forces did not come in & shove them off their land or limit their access to resources, they could simply do what they have been doing for centuries to survive. But, I guess leaving thier traditional culture in tact sounds like leaving them behind in the Stone Age when everyone should be brought up to modern standards, right?

On that topic, tho, we had someone come to my university to talk last fall... He works in Papua New Guinea with a society that has been largely uninfluenced by Westerners because the terrain is so rough. His goal is to teach them to avoid being exploited -- because, in that part of the world, big timber companies have in many cases come in, gotten people to sign contracts that are not worded clearly, then hugely degraded the land, or mining companies come in or whoever... The goal is to help them preserve their culture at least in so much as they are able to make informed decisions instead of having "progress" shoved upon them... It was a really cool talk, I don't think I'm doing it justice in my description... But it will be interesting to see how things go...

 

Ever helpful , here comes colenzo x with his thoughtful erm thoughts .

Who are we putting into nazi concentration camps ... or is this a new kind of nazi camp that helps people. Are we putting 'them' into camps near large factorys and using 'them' as cheap labour ?... like they did during the war. Or are you being erm 'funny' ?.

 

I think colenzo is on to something, that would provide virtually free labor, and solve the immigrant problem! Yeah, why not bring back slavery!
(In case any one is in doubt, I am not serious. )

 

omg what a riot. but I didn't think you could say stuff like that. lol. so maybe the problem really is then that we gotta keep these spics&niggers out of our stuff and lives and country? wouldn't it be nice if every citizen wanted to move to another country? why don't we ALL try to get into Africa?? I'd love to live in Europe but don't feel free to do so. I'm open to marriage proposals from European women. (no racists or fascists though).

 

I honestly don't know what too say ... please say something on topic and not in some persons mind a funny little thought .. please . personaly it aint funny what you said.. the whole conentration camp thing was a little risky in itself..yeah i do have a sense of humour , honest.

 

Sorry but it wasn't off-topic just incoherent.

I think me & colenzo just are deeply aware that life/the world is fucked up. It is sooooo fucked up it had better be funny. It is tough for you English blokes to communicate w/other english speakers sometimes, though. right? I heard in Holland there's a LOT of misundersantings in bizness btwn Dutch&English.

I'd love to live in a world with "no illegal immigrants" as that bloke from Texas eloquently put it.

I don't think that there's anything worse than not being funny. That's like the only sin. I'm glad you got a sense of humor.

cheers.

 

Have you paid much attention to the prison industry in the US lately? How many of them are working in sweatshop level conditions for under $1 per hour? Yeah, they get room & board for free, but would you, of your own free choice, agree to such an arrangement? Gives a new spin to the war on drugs...

(And, Matthew, I'm not trying to avoid responding to your points, but that will take more time than I have at the moment!)

 

I cannot possibly explain my hatred for the U.S. prison system... Speaking of it would only serve to piss me off.
But yeah, that's basically what it is....

 

while I think the drug laws are unjust and overly harsh, I have to disagree with you on one point. Those people, unless convicted of crimes they did not commit, did of their own free will break the law, and if they didnt know prison was a possibility, then they are pretty stupid as well as guilty of a crime.

 

The Europeans don't believe in immigration they want to keep France culturally "french" and Germany culturally "German"..... and so on...
For a Continent that prides itself in being sophisticated it's awefully closed minded

 

I agree the world is fucked up, as 4 billion people live in the third world and are struggling to survive under the weight of debt poverty etc etc i think the small point of your little incoherent post aint nothing too worry about .. heck you should read some of my howlers

 

No problem..