Yesterday I read an article about Gap Inc.’s response to its most recent child labor allegations. According to the report, the responsible vendor in India was working 10 year-old children for 16 hour days without pay in a workplace where the toilets flooded the hallways. If the children cried, they were either hit with a rubber pipe, or punished with an oily cloth stuffed in their mouths.
The Gap President responded by announcing that the responsible subcontractor was fired, affirming the company’s refusal to use child labor, and stating that he personally felt “violated,” “very upset,” and “angry.”
I recount the details of this story not because they are necessarily new allegations for the Gap, not because I am suggesting a boycott on Gap clothing (I wear a lot of solid-colors), and not even because I think these facts are all that shocking for anyone who pays a little attention to world affairs. What I find more interesting is the company’s response- to do the “right” thing. And I was thinking that the Gap got lucky on this ethical dilemma: the “right” thing turned out to be the popular thing.
No normal member of our society would support a system like the one described above. I would like to assume that if child labor was widely accepted by American clothing-buyers that the Gap would still refuse to use it, but the public response to these types of allegations certainly make the decision easier. And there are many other “right” things that our culture honors on both individual and corporate levels: donating to charity, volunteering in a community project, dialoging about ways to end racism, researching environmentally-friendly products and services. Even on the more debatable hot-button issues (abortion or homosexual rights), there seem to be organized groups on both sides of the issues that would support anyone who did the “right” thing in their eyes.
Does this mean that it is easier to do the right thing today than it used to be? Does it mean that there are just as many right-but-unpopular decisions that are overlooked by our society? Is it harder to be the Atticus Finch today than 100 years ago? Is it even possible for someone today to make a decision that makes them stand almost completely alone from their contemporaries?
Perhaps we have made it easier for people to choose the right, at least on some level, and perhaps this is good. I wonder, though, whether we have lulled ourselves out of the need to cultivate this kind of courage.
The Gap President responded by announcing that the responsible subcontractor was fired, affirming the company’s refusal to use child labor, and stating that he personally felt “violated,” “very upset,” and “angry.”
I recount the details of this story not because they are necessarily new allegations for the Gap, not because I am suggesting a boycott on Gap clothing (I wear a lot of solid-colors), and not even because I think these facts are all that shocking for anyone who pays a little attention to world affairs. What I find more interesting is the company’s response- to do the “right” thing. And I was thinking that the Gap got lucky on this ethical dilemma: the “right” thing turned out to be the popular thing.
No normal member of our society would support a system like the one described above. I would like to assume that if child labor was widely accepted by American clothing-buyers that the Gap would still refuse to use it, but the public response to these types of allegations certainly make the decision easier. And there are many other “right” things that our culture honors on both individual and corporate levels: donating to charity, volunteering in a community project, dialoging about ways to end racism, researching environmentally-friendly products and services. Even on the more debatable hot-button issues (abortion or homosexual rights), there seem to be organized groups on both sides of the issues that would support anyone who did the “right” thing in their eyes.
Does this mean that it is easier to do the right thing today than it used to be? Does it mean that there are just as many right-but-unpopular decisions that are overlooked by our society? Is it harder to be the Atticus Finch today than 100 years ago? Is it even possible for someone today to make a decision that makes them stand almost completely alone from their contemporaries?
Perhaps we have made it easier for people to choose the right, at least on some level, and perhaps this is good. I wonder, though, whether we have lulled ourselves out of the need to cultivate this kind of courage.
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