MLK

I cannot imagine what it would be like if I still lived in a society of segregation, fear, and hatred. I can not imagine  how different my life would be if these changes had not been made. The intolerance that went on during that time period I simply cannot understand and I hope that something like will never happen again. When we look back at history and think about people who have changed the tide of history who do we think of? I think that none are more influential than MLK who knows what could have violence could have been birthed from the tension between ethnicities during that time if not for Dr. King to preach about the importance of nonviolence  

*modern day slavery and us vs. them

The discussion that we had in class about how big corporations manufactured their products and treated their workers so unfairly really opened my eyes to the injustices of these corporations. Do not get me wrong i was not oblivious to the sweat shop or how everything was getting outsourced to be made cheaper. I was unaware of how little it really did cost for these companies to make the product, five dollars to make a pair of shoes that could sell for a hundred plus dollars? I find this practice sick and extremely unjust to the consumer who wants to buy the product, but no more. It is not hard to buy things that are not made in China, it is just a bit more pricey and if that means that I buy less clothes but still spend the same amount of money because i know that what I am not feeding the profit margins. I vow to only buy clothes that are either made in Canada and Mexico because they are trade partners with the United States or to buy clothes that are made in Europe. I will not buy clothes that are made in a third world country were the worker is being exploited to the point of being akin to slavery. While I do know that I will not be able to completely follow this I will certainly take advantage of whatever opportunities to do so I am given.
China is becoming a world power because of American businesses. We are creating a world power that does not have a democratic government, censors the news and is so power hungry that it has taken over the country of Tibet  in recent years killing protesters or anyone standing in their way. The situation is so bad the Dalai Lama has left the country and is in exile in India. There is speculation that the Chinese will be the one who will be selecting the next Dalai Lama instead of the usual comity of the Buddhist hierarchy that goes through the long process of finding the Dalai Lama's reincarnation who will become the next Dalai Lama. Instead it is rumored but still highly likely that the Chinese will try to select and march around their own version of the his holiness but will be no more than a puppet and representation of the ever controlling Chinese.
 It is simply appalling what the Chinese are doing and the western media has turned a blind eye and allowed to let this happen. At this rate with the Chinese gaining more and more influence through out the globe they will soon become a global super power that will even overshadow that of the United States. It almost seems inevitable that there will be a power struggle between the Chinese and the United States in the not too distant future as seems to be the trend when there is a changing of the guards of world powers. I hope that my insight is completely wrong that relations between us and them will never come to a boil but in my mind the future looks bleak. Who knows who would come out on top either we have the experience and the allies to do the job but they have a nation of hundreds of thousands of men if not millions who would be eligible for a draft. What would happen to the companies that have factories over there? what about all of the workers that they employ? I don't think anyone can answerer these questions but the future.