Stop drinking tea on moral grounds?

gradyhawks said:
You're kidding yourself if you think that is the case. It would take a combined effort from everyone in the entire world to make a difference, not paying 50 pence more for tea bags. Those workers that get £1 a day working then pay some other poor sod £0.50 per day for their food, who then pays £0.10 for theirs and it keeps going till you are right at the very bottom.



Just grabbing some very quickly found sources, from the BBC:



Could you live on £6k a year? Sure. Would it be as easy as getting a smaller TV and just a single tablet/phone? No.
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:confused:

People aren't wishing for some sort of global communist solution, just that we in the west should stop exploiting people in poor countries so that we can have things silly cheap and crap we don't even need/want!

Also when was the last time you visited a 3rd world country ?? Because the way you describe it is simply not true
 
C.R.A.Z.Y said:
:confused:

People aren't wishing for some sort of global communist solution, just that we in the west should stop exploiting people in poor countries so that we can have things silly cheap and crap we don't even need/want!

Also when was the last time you visited a 3rd world country ?? Because the way you describe it is simply not true
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I was just giving an example of how it would look if it were truly fair is all, it's just usually a lot harder than people realise.

Sure, I have never been to India, but I do have friends from their that have described it as such.
 
Well that certainly wasn't the way it worked when I was in West Africa last month.

The fact of the matter is that things have simply got too cheap and not only is that bad in regards to poor people being exploited but it also means people become wasteful and irresponsible due to the low price.
 
Wtf? England is a nation known for bullying the hell out of other countries to get what they want, they built this empire with a cuppa whilst bulldozing other countries and now we need to tread lightly because some people have less fortunate lives than us?

Don't be silly. Go and put the kettle on and grab the Risk game out the cupboard.
 
C.R.A.Z.Y said:
Well that certainly wasn't the way it worked when I was in West Africa last month.

The fact of the matter is that things have simply got too cheap and not only is that bad in regards to poor people being exploited but it also means people become wasteful and irresponsible due to the low price.
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I agree with you there, but as you said before, it's not in the minds of people to do so.
 
stopper said:
You shouldn't drink black tea anyway, it causes skeletal fluorosis.
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All tea contains some flouride. Unusually high amounts would be required to cause skeletal fluorosis, e.g.

A 47-year-old woman was referred for bone pain and abnormal findings on radiography. The patient reported that for the past 17 years, she has habitually consumed a pitcher of tea made from 100 to 150 tea bags daily (estimated fluoride intake, >20 mg per day).

http://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMicm1200995
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Especially with the B-grade fluoride our governments put in our water supply.
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Which is at levels well below the naturally occuring levels in some water. How do you grade fluoride, anyway?

Why do you think older people need so many hip replacements and have so many joint pains.
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Aging.
 
gradyhawks said:
I agree with you there, but as you said before, it's not in the minds of people to do so.
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Which we must try to change!
It wasn't in the minds of slave owners in America but they managed to change that.
(We are effectively Slave owners/enablers as most of us (myself included) knowingly buy cheap tat and produce that deep down we know could only be produced at that price due to slave labour!!
I think or at least hope to think that if most people were to actually to see this first hand instead of it being via proxie and out of sight, then we would be far more compassionate and less selfish when it comes to the point of paying a little extra to get a more ethical alternative!
Going on a tour and walking in the Slave dungeons in West Africa has certainly inspired me to shop more ethically and that was with the horrific place empty, I dread to think what it must have been like crammed with hundreds of slaves :(
 
Part of the problem is that we let companies in this country distance themselves from their suppliers. Well, same is true in the US, etc.

Whenever stuff like this happens, and keeps happening, we have no recourse because we cannot directly influence the suppliers' actions. And the UK companies can make a token effort then claim to have done their bit.
 
dirtychinchilla said:
This seems completely incongruous with your normal take on things, FoxEye. Does it take something as important as tea to rouse your sense of humanity?
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dirtychinchilla said:
That is atrocious. I don't think it reflect much onto their space program, though. Their country is enormous; we couldn't control such a large population. We should keep giving foreign aid otherwise they'd still be spending it on the space program, and even less would reach the poor.
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Doesn't change your idioti...I mean idealistic view on the world.

We should prop up another developing country's citizens because they are trying to get ahead of us technologically...

Now thats some weird thinking....
 
Indeed, but as long as you have money and lobbyists in politics you will never pass any meaningful laws/legislation that significantly punishes companies that profit off exploitation/slavery abroad :mad:
 
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FoxEye said:
Part of the problem is that we let companies in this country distance themselves from their suppliers. Well, same is true in the US, etc.

Whenever stuff like this happens, and keeps happening, we have no recourse because we cannot directly influence the suppliers' actions. And the UK companies can make a token effort then claim to have done their bit.
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Where do you draw the line?

Do you draw the line at tea?

What about Apple stuff under the Foxconn thing? If you don't get Apple stuff then what about other same that the same factory produces? which means the following manufacturers are no go.

Acer Inc.
Amazon.com
Apple Inc.
BlackBerry Ltd.
Cisco
Dell
Google
Hewlett-Packard
Huawei
Microsoft
Motorola Mobility
InFocus
Nintendo
Nokia
Sony
Toshiba
Xiaomi
Vizio

After going back to the dark ages with no tech, drinking only water, what about clothing?

Are you going to start going naked? I mean where is the line.

My opinion is that be a good person, be honest, help an old lady cross the street now and again, perhaps donate a few quid to the Red Cross or something.
 
not sure if this thread is a joke, do you think the tea industry is the only area affected by slave labour? You may as well literally take the shirt of your back if you're going to condemn the whole trade practise.
 
FoxEye said:
Part of the problem is that we let companies in this country distance themselves from their suppliers. Well, same is true in the US, etc.

Whenever stuff like this happens, and keeps happening, we have no recourse because we cannot directly influence the suppliers' actions. And the UK companies can make a token effort then claim to have done their bit.
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How is it a company or private industries place to tell another countries government how to run its country and employment laws?

The major companies just buy off the cheapest supplier (which earn the government some nice tax I imagine). They don't have to do anything, so that token gesture is actually better than nothing.

It's okay though, they should cut their nose off to spite their face.

It's not us as the consumers responsibility to see that those people are paid fairly. It's a problem with their government and humanity issues.

You can't protest with your wallet because as it's been discussed people will just be laid off. The tea industry or "unethical" product isn't to blame it goes way beyond that.

Humanity laws need to change in those countries before anything else will improve.

Either way there is very little private industry can do about that. Import is import.
 
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Twirlywoos said:
not sure if this thread is a joke, do you think the tea industry is the only area affected by slave labour? You may as well literally take the shirt of your back if you're going to condemn the whole trade practise.
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A joke? Hardly. Like I said, I was appalled.

Not just at the conditions they live in, but also at the recognition there is no will to change it. Either there or here.

The BBC report it because it is a story, not because they care.
The Indian people don't care.
We don't care.
The corporate chain doesn't care.

It says a lot about us.
 
Raymond Lin said:
Where do you draw the line?

Do you draw the line at tea?

What about Apple stuff under the Foxconn thing? If you don't get Apple stuff then what about other same that the same factory produces? which means the following manufacturers are no go.

Acer Inc.
Amazon.com
Apple Inc.
BlackBerry Ltd.
Cisco
Dell
Google
Hewlett-Packard
Huawei
Microsoft
Motorola Mobility
InFocus
Nintendo
Nokia
Sony
Toshiba
Xiaomi
Vizio

After going back to the dark ages with no tech, drinking only water, what about clothing?

Are you going to start going naked? I mean where is the line.

My opinion is that be a good person, be honest, help an old lady cross the street now and again, perhaps donate a few quid to the Red Cross or something.
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What an asinine argument!
Are you honestly trying to say that these things can only be produced via exploitation/slavery :confused:
That's obviously nonsense, it would mean however that many people won't be able to buy new phones, gadgets, designer clothes, cars ..etc whenever they feel like it, but when we live in such a wasteful, disposable and throw-away society is that such a bad thing?? Do we really need most of the crap we have ?? Is it making us happier ??

Also can we honestly say we are good people when we knowingly exploit others for our benefit, and shallow material benefit at that!! (exploiting others for your own health and well-being is one thing but doing it so we can have more shinny and cheaper gadgets/consumer goods is a totally different level of selfishness!)
 
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C.R.A.Z.Y said:
What an asinine argument!
Are you honestly trying to say that these things can only be produced via exploitation/slavery :confused:
That's obviously nonsense, it would mean however that many people won't be able to buy new phones, gadgets, designer clothes, cars ..etc whenever they feel like it, but when we live in such a wasteful, disposable and throw-away society is that such a bad thing?? Do we really need most of the crap we have ?? Is it making us happier ??

Also can we honestly say we are good people when we knowingly exploit others for our benefit, and shallow material benefit at that!! (exploiting others for your own health and well-being is one thing but doing it so we can have more shinny and cheaper gadgets/consumer goods is a totally different level of selfishness!)
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I don't think you get what I am saying.

I am saying, be a good person, sure you should have morals, and no, just because something is happening on the other side on the world you shouldn't ignore but now tell me. What are you going to do by not drinking tea, not have any phones, tell me, what laptop/tablet/phone are you using?

Are you going to be a hypocrite about it all and pick and choose which sector is okay to exploit?

Support the people who champion clauses if you want, but don't tell me it is not okay to drink tea while typing it on your iPhone sitting in front of a Sony television.
 
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