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My first world living standards aren't exactly a cruel system of oppression.
The bread and circuses work, apparently. Congrats on being purposefully ignorant to the sheer ridiculous amount of past, present, and future suffering your first world living standards require from moment to moment. All so you can keep your bread and circuses, no matter how much blood soaks through the tent.
I won't even get started on how that's not even true within the first world, but our first world conditions are built upon and kept alive by oppression of the third world/global south so yeah a cruel system of oppression is exactly what it is.
"the global South" oh like Australia, New Zealand, South Africa?
But it doesn't affect me (yet).
You're not the one doing the oppression but everything we consume and many things we can and can't do all stem from oppressive systems.
Like exploitation of the global South, exploitation from billionaires, the consequences of colonialism, bashing minorities and migrants, religious oppression, etc.
Our first world living standards are all built on the remnants and on current oppressive systems.It's not obvious to be how people in the 3rd world would benefit if the rich west stopped 'exploiting' their cheap workforce. If it costs the same to produce something in China than it would to do it locally then I just stop buying Chinese made stuff.
Obviously it's a very complex and complicated situation that would take multiple books to expose and explain entirely.
And obviously if we were to dismantle this system overnight it would wreak havoc on societies and people.
Your example of locally vs chinese manufactured products is one of many examples of the oppressive systems we have in place.Say you have a factory in your hometown that produces X and employs 1000 people. And because of political choices, and search for more profits, the owner of the factory decides to relocate to China.
Why China? Because of more lenient work regulation and human rights protection, the cost of labour is cheaper. At least it used to be, given that it changed a bit in recent years.So the factory in your hometown closes, 1000 people are now filing for unemployment. And 1000 people across the globe are now employed in the new factory, for less pay and probably rough working conditions. They manufacture the same product for cheaper, but that product is still sold for the same price in your home country, or is slightly more expensive (to cover the cost of relocation and shipping for instance).
The owner now takes a bigger margin, 1000 people are unemployed and need to find another job and 1000 Chinese people work in the factory (usually in terrible conditions). With that, you just displaced the potential unrest of people wanting higher pay or better working conditions.The people in your hometown now have to rely on social security nets not to starve because of slashed revenue, especially if the factory was the main employment source in the region. The people in China now have a job but one that will probably fuck up their health and with enough time, they will manage to ask for better working conditions. If they get them and the cost of labour gets too high for the owner, the cycle repeats in another country, let's say Kenya.
In the meantime, the owner is probably friends with other people like him, most of them having ties to people with political power or influence. Where they can do similar things to your public services, healthcare, education system, etc.These people control most of the narrative via media ownership, so they can steer public opinion away from their actions.
In countries with a colonial past, these people also use their country's influence to impose their will on locals.
Like bribing the current government to build a pipeline through the country, or fuelling unrest, or arming militias to overthrow a government that doesn't play well with their plans.All that to get cheaper materials or cheaper labour to manufacture abroad what used to be manufactured in your hometown. But now the product is more expensive, usually of worse quality and you can't afford it anymore because you lost your job, because a guy wanted more zeros on his spreadsheet.
Obviously this is simplified and lacks nuance, but that's roughly how all of these systems play together and end up being oppressive either in your country or across the world.
Me, who lives in privilege but isn't closing their eyes and ears in deliberate ignorance: "You should try thinking about others too sometimes"