Zoe Williams, writing in The Guardian asks, "When did being lowly become a criminal offence?"
It's a new world order that you probably have not seen and yet it is setting in all around us. It's the very sort of order that appeals to soulless authoritarians like our own Steve Harper.
Please, follow the link, read the article, and then try to think about how we stop this because, if we don't, it will get worse and that could become our children's "normal".
Update - If The Guardian piece isn't enough to make you think twice about Amazon, check out this report from The Independent an anonymous commenter here brought up.
10 comments:
It's Frederick Taylor's scientific management modernized for the 21st century, Mound.
The same techniques are used to train mice to make their way through mazes.
It's a tale of mice and men.
The question is, Owen, how do we stop it?
"Arbeit macht frei"
We must turn our backs on this chicanery. The path to defeat it is to ignore it.
Arbeit macht frei? Maybe that's just a bit dark, even 60-years later, a bit "too soon."
Mound, I think we have to start where we are. I can't change Amazon by myself, but I can not buy from Amazon. And I can share this information with everyone I know and encourage my friends not to buy from Amazon either.
I can seriously think about the difference between wants and needs and I can make a strong effort to make my purchases from local producers and suppliers. And I can practice kindness, and defend kindness and I can talk about why it matters. And I think it is also important to call out crap when we see it, much like you do here everyday.
If we stand up to this nonsense, even to our detriment, someone else may take strength and encouragement from that.
Hi Karen. You're right to boycott Amazon but we need to ferret out all the other outfits just like them.
It's been about 15-years since I shopped in a Wal-Mart which, to me, is just a place where working people go to shop themselves out of their own jobs.
If we just look there are really good alternatives, often local. For example I won't go to national chain groceries.
What I find about buying local is that you keep your money within your community where it can circulate to do you some good but you also get to meet and deal with a lot of really nice people who are your neighbours or extended neighbours. People you deal with get to know you, relationships are built, and you usually come away knowing a little more than you did when you went in.
Thanks for getting the word out, Karen.
Related from The Independent.co.uk
Amazon 'used neo-Nazi guards to keep immigrant workforce under control' in Germany
"The film showed omnipresent guards from a company named HESS Security wearing black uniforms, boots and with military haircuts. They were employed to keep order at hostels and budget hotels where foreign workers stayed.
The documentary provided photographic evidence showing that guards regularly searched the bedrooms and kitchens of foreign staff. “They tell us they are the police here,” a Spanish woman complained. Workers were allegedly frisked to check they had not walked away with breakfast rolls."
Thanks, Anon. I updated this post to put a link to the Independent article.
Cheers
You are welcome, and thanks for the well stated summation on shopping at Walmart.
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I think we need a clear understanding of the Wal-Mart example. It shows that when we pursue a perceived, narrow self-interest, we're actually fueling a race to the bottom.
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