China -- Our Silent Partner. I thought I was the fist one to coin the phrase in this context, "Our Silent Partner" but a quick Google search shows I'm not alone. However, it seems exceedingly strange to me that our media pays such scant attention to China. No I don't just mean news stories of Obama's trip to ASEAN member nations or the conflict over Taiwan or Korea or even over our trade conflict. I find it exceedingly strange that we don't solicit Chinese opinions on every other mundane topic in the public consciousness. I fear we insult them by our total lack of interest about who they are.
As much as I am reluctant to admit it we can't wipe our butts without using a Chinese product. No...wait...that might be the one and only product they don't make for us. I stand corrected.
What the Chinese think and what they do, and feel and what their opinions are about world affairs should be front and center in our minds and in the American conscience.
Have you ever picked up a product Walmart, Kmart, Target, Lowes, or Home Depot or virtually any store, except maybe the Made In America Store and wondered exactly, where in China it was made? No? I have and I imagine, with some embarrassment, trying to explain to some 50 year old Chinese assembly line factory working making 3000 Yuan a month why we buy the crap we buy from them. I'm talking about the Toys and Dollar Store crap we buy.
What must these people think sitting on an assembly line, day in and day out making little injection molded plastic birds that balance on your index finger? I wonder if they ever dream of following one of those little plastic birds from their factory in Guangzhou Provence to the ultimate consumer in Walls, Mississippi or to a convenience store in up state New York? If they could do that, what would they think? Would they care? Do they care? I don't know but I think we should.
Don't get me wrong I can defend our other purchases. The quality is OK and the products pretty much work as advertised. I don't begrudge the Chinese making products and profits. I wish them luck. But I wish we hadn't totally abandoned our domestic industrial capacity, and capabilities but we have. And now as an American consumer there is noting to be done about it.
We can thank our politicians and our unions for where we are. But ultimately the responsibility as the voting public was ours and we failed to keep our eye on the ball.
There is nothing we can do about the fact that the Chinese make all our "stuff". But there is something we can do about our ignorance about the Chinese people and there is something we can do about our callous disregard for their opinion's and ideas. Our arrogance astounds me and our educational system and our media has failed us in this regard. Education and a flood of information on China should be front and center in America.
More on this topic to follow.
As much as I am reluctant to admit it we can't wipe our butts without using a Chinese product. No...wait...that might be the one and only product they don't make for us. I stand corrected.
What the Chinese think and what they do, and feel and what their opinions are about world affairs should be front and center in our minds and in the American conscience.
Have you ever picked up a product Walmart, Kmart, Target, Lowes, or Home Depot or virtually any store, except maybe the Made In America Store and wondered exactly, where in China it was made? No? I have and I imagine, with some embarrassment, trying to explain to some 50 year old Chinese assembly line factory working making 3000 Yuan a month why we buy the crap we buy from them. I'm talking about the Toys and Dollar Store crap we buy.
What must these people think sitting on an assembly line, day in and day out making little injection molded plastic birds that balance on your index finger? I wonder if they ever dream of following one of those little plastic birds from their factory in Guangzhou Provence to the ultimate consumer in Walls, Mississippi or to a convenience store in up state New York? If they could do that, what would they think? Would they care? Do they care? I don't know but I think we should.
Don't get me wrong I can defend our other purchases. The quality is OK and the products pretty much work as advertised. I don't begrudge the Chinese making products and profits. I wish them luck. But I wish we hadn't totally abandoned our domestic industrial capacity, and capabilities but we have. And now as an American consumer there is noting to be done about it.
We can thank our politicians and our unions for where we are. But ultimately the responsibility as the voting public was ours and we failed to keep our eye on the ball.
There is nothing we can do about the fact that the Chinese make all our "stuff". But there is something we can do about our ignorance about the Chinese people and there is something we can do about our callous disregard for their opinion's and ideas. Our arrogance astounds me and our educational system and our media has failed us in this regard. Education and a flood of information on China should be front and center in America.
More on this topic to follow.
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