In the latest manifestation of how consumer capitalism has transformed former Communist China, a 17-year-old high school student recently sold his kidney in order to buy an iPhone and an iPad.
Capitalism Comes to China
Ted Rall
Ted Rall is a syndicated political cartoonist for Andrews McMeel Syndication, WhoWhatWhy.org and Counterpoint. He is a frequent contributor to The Wall Street Journal, a graphic novelist and author of many books of art and prose, and an occasional war correspondent. He is, recently, the author of the graphic novel "The Stringer."
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Disappointing cartoons like this one are why I can’t fully embrace Ted’s politics. It makes the whole “revolution” thing seem phony. Mass consumerism is at the core of why we have so many problems, and to basically pooh-pooh efforts to counter that mentality is jive. Again, it makes the “revolution now” meme seem like jive. Instead of “revolution now” being about changing the fundamental way our system works, which includes changing the attitudes of a passive consumer-based populace, it seems Ted has more of a personal vendetta against the power elite. Perhaps Ted just wants to see the powerful taken down because they’re so successful, or because his own fortunes have waned in recent years. Whatever the reason, attacking people who are active in changing people’s attitudes about excessive consumerism, excessive waste, and so on – is bogus. If you embrace mass consumption and waste then accept your place in such a world. Don’t complain when you’re relegated to the sidelines, living off scraps, bitching and moaning.
NOTE: The current cartoon was not the cartoon that was originally posted, which was the one I was commenting on. That cartoon was about how environmentalism is horseshit, a Rall meme.
It will likely be re-posted in the coming days. For whatever reason this disconnect between the cartoon and caption continues on rall.com, and is yet to be sorted out.
Not the original cartoon? Will be reposted? Disconnect to be sorted out? Nah, Ted just likes to f*ck with commenters…
Well – that certainly was a poor decision, but it does point out the rampant consumerism all over the world – let alone China. Since I am deep into editing a book on Zen Buddhism at the moment, the contrast of this motivation to gain status by owning brand-name toys seems particularly idiotic – but I guess that is what we can expect to see in a world drifting further and further towards Idiocracy.
I know, who cares about accuracy in humor, right? But I just have to say it: Foxconn is not an Apple subsidiary, for crying out loud (hint: they manufacture HP branded stuff too).
Wow, probably the saddest thing about this is that both his iPhone and iPad will probably be outdated by the time he finishes recovering from the surgery. Then what is he going to sell to get the next generation of each?
Ain’t capitalism grand ?…
Henri
in countries where you are allowed to sell your internal organs, there are NO waiting lists for transplants. China is MORE capitalistic than the USA!
http://www.webmd.com/news/20060612/should-donors-be-able-to-sell-organs