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/lit/ - Literature

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4456573 No.4456573[DELETED]  [Reply] [Original]

Hi, /lit/,


So I live in a third world country and my father has a small company which sells wood. He, as the owner of the company, obviously makes much more money than the workers (who are responsible for extracting the wood from the forest and similar things). His work is, as far as I know, completely legal and he makes no human rights violations etc. (the workers have good food, water and so on) In terms of the environment, the sort of extraction he does is actually beneficial.

Now here’s the problem: his workers make very little money (the minimum in my country) while my father makes much more – around 50 thousand dollars per year, I think. His workers live in the country in small houses and probably have no more than a cheap TV and a even cheaper mobile phone, while I have computers, internet and an iPad, while living a very nice house. If my father were to raise their salaries, than he would deprive me and my family from our first world commodities (which all of you guys have). I wouldn’t have internet, I wouldn’t be able to go to a good university etc.

Is what he’s doing immoral? Does he have a moral obligation to raise their salaries so that we can all live a more equal life our does he have the right to make much more money than his workers?

If what he’s doing is immoral, does it follow that I am doing something immoral by living with him and using his money?

Notice that I am not rich and that I have the same commodities as you (no big yachts, expensive watches and clothes etc., just the basic middle class stuff).

>> No.4456587

>Is what he’s doing immoral?
No, that's capitalism.
>Does he have a moral obligation to raise their salaries so that we can all live a more equal life our does he have the right to make much more money than his workers?
One decides on their own morals, I cannot answer this for him. In my opinion though, he has the right to do what he pleases within the law with his business.
>If what he’s doing is immoral, does it follow that I am doing something immoral by living with him and using his money?
As stated above, one chooses their own morals. Deciding what to do for ourselves is the only freedom we really have.

>> No.4456590

>>4456573
Per wages price and profit his workers have the moral obligation to murder you and your father; or, if they're lenient, to use work to reeducate you into new socialist men.

>> No.4456593

What country?

>> No.4456594

Yes, it's immoral but don't let it bother you

>> No.4456597

Yes. Your father's selfishness makes their lives that much harder.

>> No.4456600

no, not really
is it immoral that you're a human instead of a rock? that's just life

>> No.4456602

>>4456573
>Is what he’s doing immoral?
as an anon said above, no, it's capitalism.

>Does he have a moral obligation to raise their salaries so that we can all live a more equal life our does he have the right to make much more money than his workers?
There is no such thing as a moral obligation. I don't know your father, but it sounds to me that he had a choice between giving his family a decent life, or paying his workers fair wages. As harsh as it may seem, he made the right choice.

>If what he’s doing is immoral, does it follow that I am doing something immoral by living with him and using his money?
No. You will have your chance to make good in the world, but right now you depend on your father. Look at your middle class opportunities as the gifts they really are, and cherish them. Take advantage of your chance to go to college, and, if you still feel a moral obligation to help your fellow countrymen, use your education to help better their lives.

It's good that you're thinking about these things OP, but don't feel disgusted by your opportunities. Embrace them, and put yourself in a better position to improve the lives of others.

>> No.4456603
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4456603

>>4456573
Is this a lie in order to provoke an argument about capitalism?

HUH? I deserve the truth dammit!

>> No.4456608
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4456608

Okay everyone let's think for a minute.

Why would a child living in a third world country, son/daughter of a wood salesman, be browsing 4chan, let alone literature, and asking the board if capitalism is okay? How likely is that?

>> No.4456607
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4456607

>>4456603
Capitalism sucks. What's to argue over?

>> No.4456609
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4456609

Yes and all your clothes and technology is built by sweatshop labour ($2 a day) too, and you eat meat. You are one evil mo fo. All the more evil 'cause you think nothing of it except abstractly, then post it on 4chan.

>> No.4456614

>>4456608
Given the number of people who have access to the internet and therefore here, it's entirely plausible.

>> No.4456647

>>4456603
I really am in the situation I described, but I understand your skepticism. In the city were I live, I'm one of the only people who can understand English, although a lot of people (Incluiding everyone of the "rich" ones, like me) has access to the Internet.

>> No.4456665

>>4456573
>If what he’s doing is immoral, does it follow that I am doing something immoral by living with him and using his money?

Some would argue it is unethical, others would argue it is not. Some idiot going "that's how capitalism works" is not going to help you one bit.

However, whatever conclusion you come to, it will be immoral not to let your beliefs direct your actions. In my experience it's most of the times worse to be amoral than immoral.

>> No.4458496

>>4456608
The mass producability of electronic and data items combined with their massification as essential components of the wage in order to realise imperialist transfers of value from the third to the first world; in part due to the difference in capitalisation between wood getting and designing a samsung tablet.

>> No.4458518
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4458518

>>4456573
How much of an increase in their wages would be necessary to, in a significant way, improve the workers' living situations?

>I wouldn’t have internet, I wouldn’t be able to go to a good university etc.
This doesn't necessarily follow, depending on the answer of my first question.


>>4456587
>No, that's capitalism.
That doesn't make it moral, silly.

>> No.4458541

The money your father has basically comes from their labor. He's stealing what is rightfully their produce. How much money this is on either end is less relevant.

>> No.4458559

>>4456608
I live in the tip of Patagonia, a few miles away from the southernmost city in the world, little more than sea, sand and penguins hundreds of miles around me and yet I'm here.
Globalisation.