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I got hired at a Bangladesh sweatshop. Meet my 9-year-old boss [video]

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Re: I got hired at a Bangladesh sweatshop. Meet my 9-year-old boss [video]

#151

Post by al1x »

Dogamondo wrote: post #135

Are these monthly salaries quite typical across the board for the majority of people in Bangladesh? I employ a JS developer in Dhaka as a contractor who's hourly rate is $22.00 USD. I would have crossed his palm with about $4000 in the past month alone. Yet he still tells me he's only on the slightly higher side of 'average' when it comes to lifestyle/income over there. Earning 90% of a sweat shop workers monthly sal…

Average salary for a software developer in India is ~10k US. You're paying him 4.4x that. You should shop around. Contract out some small pieces of work to other developers in the $5-$10/hr range and see what quality of work they deliver. I suspect you'll find you're overpaying. (I pay my contractors $5/hr)

Re: I got hired at a Bangladesh sweatshop. Meet my 9-year-old boss [video]

#152

Post by [deleted] »

Dogamondo wrote: post #135

Are these monthly salaries quite typical across the board for the majority of people in Bangladesh? I employ a JS developer in Dhaka as a contractor who's hourly rate is $22.00 USD. I would have crossed his palm with about $4000 in the past month alone. Yet he still tells me he's only on the slightly higher side of 'average' when it comes to lifestyle/income over there. Earning 90% of a sweat shop workers monthly sal…

[deleted]

Re: I got hired at a Bangladesh sweatshop. Meet my 9-year-old boss [video]

#153

Post by bjterry »

jdotjdot wrote: post #103
javajosh wrote: post #96

I've emailed the author asking how I can pay Meem to go to school. I think I can outbid the sweatshop. I'll let you know how it turns out.

I can't decide how I feel about this. On the one hand, I love the initiative you're taking here and the drive you have. Reading the article, my immediate thought was "that's terrible"--whereas yours was "What can I personally do about this right now?" On the other hand, I remain unconvinced that directing resources simply to the people and charities that come my way through the media is the best way to distribute the…

There actually is an answer here. Namely, http://www.givewell.org/

The "effective altruism" movement attempts to compare all of the altruistic interventions available to maximize the amount of good done per dollar of your donation, and GiveWell is a part of this movement (although there are others you can explore). Currently GiveWell's top-rated charity is one providing malaria nets in Africa, and their second rated is one that provides direct wealth transfers to Kenyans. They have ridiculously high epistemic standards which are detailed in their published articles and on their blog.

Re: I got hired at a Bangladesh sweatshop. Meet my 9-year-old boss [video]

#154

Post by Dogamondo »

Dogamondo wrote: post #135

Are these monthly salaries quite typical across the board for the majority of people in Bangladesh? I employ a JS developer in Dhaka as a contractor who's hourly rate is $22.00 USD. I would have crossed his palm with about $4000 in the past month alone. Yet he still tells me he's only on the slightly higher side of 'average' when it comes to lifestyle/income over there. Earning 90% of a sweat shop workers monthly sal…

Thanks a lot for the replies guys. I had a feeling I might be paying too much. As since I hired my contractor he's suddenly been able to afford to set up and office and hire other developers that are charged at the same rate. Don't get me wrong, he's a really skilled developer and puts my JS skills to shame. But I'm feeling like the price per project seems to be creeping up exponentially. I'll try giving some smaller jobs to other devs in Bangladesh & India to see what the quality of work is like in comparison. Cheers.

Re: I got hired at a Bangladesh sweatshop. Meet my 9-year-old boss [video]

#155

Post by ksrm »

philwelch wrote: post #111
RodericDay wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The way I answer people that say this is: It's not good enough. Yes, you can come up with all the explanation whatsoever you want to how this is a ~local maxima~ of happiness, but the fact is that we live on a much higher one with tons of disposable income and benefit from their work... so it s not a ~global maxima~ (not even close) so we should do better. What can I say? I'm definitely more to the left than most peo…

The problem is that anti-sweatshop leftists like you do things like buy clothes made by unionized workers in downtown Los Angeles. That's not pushing Bangladeshi child laborers up a global maximum, it's pulling them down from the local maximum they've already achieved.

Are you saying it is somehow immoral/less moral to not buy from sweatshops?

Re: I got hired at a Bangladesh sweatshop. Meet my 9-year-old boss [video]

#156

Post by javajosh »

jdotjdot wrote: post #143
javajosh wrote: post #129

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I probably would have felt the same way as you even a year ago. But then it started to feel like I was always waiting to be "effective" and never actually doing anything. If every human on this planet who could just adopted one other random person on this planet to look out for, wouldn't the world be a much better place?

Possibly, except my point was Meem is hardly random. If everyone took that initiative, Meem would get a ton of support because of the publicity--but no one else would.

And if everyone thought like you did, then Meem wouldn't get any support at all. So, who's position sits better with you?

Look, the best we can do is take care of the actionable problems in front of us. I don't consider "get vast numbers of people out of poverty" to be an actionable problem. I don't study poverty, I don't know what statistically significant levers to pull (or try to pull). I just know that when I see a situation like Meem's, I know I can help so I can at least make the effort.

And who knows? Maybe in trying to help one person I'll have some insight (currently lacking) into the larger problems. But I find it hard to take that someone can sit back in their armchair, never having helped a single person out of poverty in their life, criticizing someone for taking concrete action because it doesn't address the larger issues.

The simple fact is that unless you have vast wealth, or you have a tremendous amount of influence on those with wealth, then you have about as much ability to address larger issues as I do, that is, nil. So if you want to let your contradictory beliefs paralyze you into inaction, that's your problem. Meanwhile, let me do what I can in peace.

Re: I got hired at a Bangladesh sweatshop. Meet my 9-year-old boss [video]

#157

Post by javajosh »

tptacek wrote: post #38
beering wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, this is just your angry knee-jerk reaction so you can feel good about taking the moral high-ground, and you're scrambling to find the negative in every comment. The comment you're replying is a detailed comment that also states that there should be more done to improve working conditions and wages. Your comment is a rant about how we're a bunch of "grown-ass white men" (thanks for assuming things about me) who ba…

I call it outrage tourism. Most of the time, people commenting like this are simply trying on other people's purported outrage to see how it feels.

I think a lot of the emotion here comes not only from empathizing with Meem's plight, but the twin realizations that a) the problem is much wider than Meem, and b) individuals are largely powerless to do anything about the wider issue of poverty.

It can be difficult to accept your own powerlessness in the face of large scale social problems. Our instinct is to want to confer the same quality of life we have on those who, through no fault or failing of their own, live in a much poorer society with much poorer prospects for virtually everyone born there. Clearly "society" is to blame, but how do you change a society, from top to bottom? Does Bangaldesh need a Lee Kuan Yew[1]?

So no, it's not tourism. It's a howl of pain when confronted with newly realized powerlessness. And personally, I prefer it to cool indifference.

[1] http://www.amazon.com/From-Third-World-First-Singapore/dp/00...

Re: I got hired at a Bangladesh sweatshop. Meet my 9-year-old boss [video]

#158

Post by javajosh »

ashraful wrote: post #108
javajosh wrote: post #96

I've emailed the author asking how I can pay Meem to go to school. I think I can outbid the sweatshop. I'll let you know how it turns out.

You can sponsor a child's education in Bangladesh through the JAAGO Foundation. SPONSORSHIP PARTICULARS: Your contribution of BDT 1500 (USD 20/GBP 13) per month, per child, will cover all necessary education costs for the sponsored child(ren), i.e., tuition, books, uniforms, stationery, school bags, shoes, monthly health check-ups, and weekly nutritious food. http://www.jaago.com.bd/ Link to sponsorship form: https:/…

Thanks for that. So, one of the question I have before contributing is to ensure that the money gets to the right people. What sort of assurances does this organization make - what, in general, can an organization do to ensure it's not just spent on Foundation "salaries"?

Re: I got hired at a Bangladesh sweatshop. Meet my 9-year-old boss [video]

#159

Post by eevilspock »

javajosh wrote: post #157
tptacek wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I call it outrage tourism. Most of the time, people commenting like this are simply trying on other people's purported outrage to see how it feels.

I think a lot of the emotion here comes not only from empathizing with Meem's plight, but the twin realizations that a) the problem is much wider than Meem, and b) individuals are largely powerless to do anything about the wider issue of poverty. It can be difficult to accept your own powerlessness in the face of large scale social problems. Our instinct is to want to confer the same quality of life we have on those…

The thing is, the problem is not powerlessness, but the lack of courage and will. If each and every one of us refused to contribute to evil structures and systems, it would make a huge difference.

The Banality of Systemic Evil is a great read: http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/09/15/the-banality...

And you're right about the indifference. Add ambivalence to lack of courage and will.

Re: I got hired at a Bangladesh sweatshop. Meet my 9-year-old boss [video]

#160

Post by eevilspock »

rubberband wrote: post #32
beering wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, this is just your angry knee-jerk reaction so you can feel good about taking the moral high-ground, and you're scrambling to find the negative in every comment. The comment you're replying is a detailed comment that also states that there should be more done to improve working conditions and wages. Your comment is a rant about how we're a bunch of "grown-ass white men" (thanks for assuming things about me) who ba…

Is there a label for this kind of derailing, angry comment? Moral superiority, I suppose.

wow. just wow.
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