This essay by Jim Evans spoke to me and I think hits on points that nag many of us.
http://www.ethicsdaily.com/article_detail.cfm?AID=9885
Your thoughts?[Especially wonder what you and Jane think, J.D.]
P.S. Matt, thanks for the beautiful picture gracing the Around the Bend blog site.
Scott
Friday, December 28, 2007
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
More on Walmart
Here are some videos that are about this topic. I'm just not sure these guys really did a good job responding to the interviewer's responses, though they were pretty biased. I thought the pastor did a better job.
Wake-up Wal-Mart
I have no idea if people have posted about the ethical dilemma of shopping at Wal-Mart before, but ethicsdaily has just brought this issue back to my attention. I have not seen these ads on TV yet, but apparently there are advertisements featuring Atlanta pastors urging Wal-Mart to take up its moral obligation to be a better neighbor given the immense amount of wealth that is has accrued. One of the pastors, Charlie Johnson, was even on of my McAfee professors. Check out that advertisement here.
I have heard about the simple atrocities that Wal-Mart commits many times before--failure to give a living wage, completely inadequate access to health care, conditions that only perpetuate the cycle of poverty, keeping workers at part-time status to avoid benefits...the list goes on and on. Barbara Ehrenreich's book Nickel and Dimed provides a great look into the world of gainful employment at Wal-Mart, and has forever made me cringe when I think about the big-box store. But I had never thought about, until this new advertisement, the ethical implications of Wal-Mart's involvement with China. With 70% of Wal-Marts products being produced in China, the stats show that Wal-Mart serves as China's 8th biggest trading partner
--having a hand in direct and indirect human rights violations. (Check out www.wakeupwalmart.com for the sources of these statistics.)
So...now it is Christmas. Two of my Sunday School classes have just collected about $1000 for a refugee family of 11. I sit here wondering how to make this money go as far as it can for this family who has seen so much tragedy and poverty. We plan on taking the family shopping, so that the children can have the joy of picking out their very own things that have not been passed down, borrowed, or purchased from a Goodwill store. It makes sense to take the family to Wal-Mart where the prices really cannot be beat, and great toys and cute clothes are plentiful. And the dilemma is not just with this family...when I have to use the church's budget to purchase things for ministry, trying to make every dollar count Or, when I want to buy basic supplies for my own home, and hate to spend much money on such products. Outrage at Wal-Mart would be so much easier if there was a better alternative to the convenience and prices, wouldn't it?
Isn't it funny that those near the poverty level--those who scrape each nickel and dime together to get through life--are the ones who benefit most from the prices at Wal-Mart? Aren't these are the same people who are tethered to the poverty level because of their Wal-Mart-induced work conditions?
Thoughts?
I have heard about the simple atrocities that Wal-Mart commits many times before--failure to give a living wage, completely inadequate access to health care, conditions that only perpetuate the cycle of poverty, keeping workers at part-time status to avoid benefits...the list goes on and on. Barbara Ehrenreich's book Nickel and Dimed provides a great look into the world of gainful employment at Wal-Mart, and has forever made me cringe when I think about the big-box store. But I had never thought about, until this new advertisement, the ethical implications of Wal-Mart's involvement with China. With 70% of Wal-Marts products being produced in China, the stats show that Wal-Mart serves as China's 8th biggest trading partner
--having a hand in direct and indirect human rights violations. (Check out www.wakeupwalmart.com for the sources of these statistics.)
So...now it is Christmas. Two of my Sunday School classes have just collected about $1000 for a refugee family of 11. I sit here wondering how to make this money go as far as it can for this family who has seen so much tragedy and poverty. We plan on taking the family shopping, so that the children can have the joy of picking out their very own things that have not been passed down, borrowed, or purchased from a Goodwill store. It makes sense to take the family to Wal-Mart where the prices really cannot be beat, and great toys and cute clothes are plentiful. And the dilemma is not just with this family...when I have to use the church's budget to purchase things for ministry, trying to make every dollar count Or, when I want to buy basic supplies for my own home, and hate to spend much money on such products. Outrage at Wal-Mart would be so much easier if there was a better alternative to the convenience and prices, wouldn't it?
Isn't it funny that those near the poverty level--those who scrape each nickel and dime together to get through life--are the ones who benefit most from the prices at Wal-Mart? Aren't these are the same people who are tethered to the poverty level because of their Wal-Mart-induced work conditions?
Thoughts?
Monday, December 10, 2007
The Story of Stuff with Annie Leonard
Click here for a short and entertaining film about where our stuff comes from. It's a particularly helpful look at consumerism, energy consumption, and waste.
Farm subsidy bill--Carter's reflection; and Scott's frustration.
Check out http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/09/AR2007120900911.html?wpisrc=newsletter.
Every time I read much about the farm subsidy bill, I tend toward despair. It is a bill that comes up only every five years and is very far removed from original intent and draws much lobbying money, including much in Georgia. The rich get much of the subsidy, it does little to protect smaller farmers and apparently does major economic and personal damage in less developed countries of the world. The proposed reforms have bipartisan support, but big money and power are likely to carry the day.
People of faith in the US should care about such matters. How can we confront them beyond just writing an occasional letter to a Senator or a Representative from whom we get almost a form response? Are all these issues just too complicated, too controversial, too difficult and/or too inconvenient?
If the answer is that such issues (and each of us could name numerous others) are important but just fall far down on the priority or cost/benefit scale of our Christian action list, what are the items that for each of us are at the top of our list ?
I do not have answers. I am frustrated. Have, for example, people of faith so little leverage against the wishes of big money and big power? Is there anything that we (JEPR folks) can do, and not necessarily about this particular issue, to have our governmental representatives pay more attention to the mandates that faith puts upon us?
In my more cynical and frustrated modes, I suspect that we get the government that we deserve. I also feel that the faith communities often pay woefully little attention to justice for those groups upon which Jesus' focused so much attention, even while we do pretty well at the charity side.
For suggested effective solutions, we ( or at least I) would owe you forever. Absent the silver bullet, do you have comments, thoughts, advice, suggestions?
Every time I read much about the farm subsidy bill, I tend toward despair. It is a bill that comes up only every five years and is very far removed from original intent and draws much lobbying money, including much in Georgia. The rich get much of the subsidy, it does little to protect smaller farmers and apparently does major economic and personal damage in less developed countries of the world. The proposed reforms have bipartisan support, but big money and power are likely to carry the day.
People of faith in the US should care about such matters. How can we confront them beyond just writing an occasional letter to a Senator or a Representative from whom we get almost a form response? Are all these issues just too complicated, too controversial, too difficult and/or too inconvenient?
If the answer is that such issues (and each of us could name numerous others) are important but just fall far down on the priority or cost/benefit scale of our Christian action list, what are the items that for each of us are at the top of our list ?
I do not have answers. I am frustrated. Have, for example, people of faith so little leverage against the wishes of big money and big power? Is there anything that we (JEPR folks) can do, and not necessarily about this particular issue, to have our governmental representatives pay more attention to the mandates that faith puts upon us?
In my more cynical and frustrated modes, I suspect that we get the government that we deserve. I also feel that the faith communities often pay woefully little attention to justice for those groups upon which Jesus' focused so much attention, even while we do pretty well at the charity side.
For suggested effective solutions, we ( or at least I) would owe you forever. Absent the silver bullet, do you have comments, thoughts, advice, suggestions?
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