Althouse: "If you occasionally buy this product, please kindly resend this letter to the World Human Right Organization."

December 26, 2012

"If you occasionally buy this product, please kindly resend this letter to the World Human Right Organization."

"Thousands people here who are under the persicution of the Chinese Communist Party Government will thank and remember you forever."

Real or fake?

17 comments:

Oso Negro said...: I am gonna go with fake. I find that when a story sounds too perfect, it usually is.; 12/26/12, 8:39 AM
Witt's End said...: At the site where this article was posted, everyone seems to be accepting it at face value. Maybe I'm being too skeptical, but I find the it suspicious that the letter follows English conventional style so well - the indentation, punctuation, (and correct use of parentheses) is surprising is this context.; 12/26/12, 8:43 AM
KCFleming said...: The English is a little like a bad effort at faking kid's writing.

The key will be the Chinese writing. It will either be real and effortless or a google translation.

As of now, I remain skeptical. However, the story does comport with some facts I know of, so most
Y I am hoping its fake.

Remember, in China they force even 3rd trimester women to have abortions, if it is their second child. Only one allowed, you see. So yes, they can be heartless bastards.; 12/26/12, 8:48 AM
Sharc said...: Or particularly efficient, Pogo, if you live in Tom Friedman's world.; 12/26/12, 8:51 AM
dbp said...: It seems like it should be fairly straightforward to determine the source of the product:

Surely, the box will not say, "Made in forced labor camp 27". So Sears auditors travel to the factory that claims to have made the item and audit it. If they make the decorations there, then they should still have matching injection molds and production records for the lot in question.

The real issue is that the PRC is a known abuser of human rights. We don't need this letter to confirm what is already well-known.; 12/26/12, 8:52 AM
KCFleming said...: They could be keeping duplicate books, like the rug makers in India, where children hook 400 knots per square inch.; 12/26/12, 9:02 AM
edutcher said...: Has anyone checked the origin of the paper?; 12/26/12, 9:19 AM
dbp said...: If you add-in the costs of keeping duplicate books, as well as duplicate dies, then you have eliminated the small difference between slave vages and normal Chineese wages.

Wages are only part of a production expense: You have to account for the cost of capital, raw materials and transportation as well. All of these cost the same in a slave labor camp as they would in a normal factory.; 12/26/12, 9:20 AM
Ann Althouse said...: The handwriting looks too good, but maybe that should count toward real.; 12/26/12, 9:21 AM
KCFleming said...: No need for duplicate dies or books. One part of the building is illegal, another is legal. The American observers believe what they see, and do.Not suspect what they don't see. That's how Indian rug factories fake it. That's how the Soviets fooled the Western press.; 12/26/12, 9:24 AM
Astro said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 12/26/12, 10:06 AM
DADvocate said...: I tend towards fake, but I'm skeptical about such things anyway. The use of "totally" in "totally innocent" seems a little too American, as does the use of the word "otherwise" and the references to Saturday, Sunday and holidays.

On the other hand, more people speak English in China than any other country. There could be that one outlier that is Americanized and fluent. I worked a couple of years with a woman who grew up in Bejing. She was quite clever with the use of language. Sometimes we would hear her talking to someone on the phone faking she didn't understand the other person and using broken English. She always fully understood what we said in work related discussions, etc.; 12/26/12, 10:18 AM
dbp said...: I am sure observers could be fooled, especially ones who want to be fooled. The thing is that the Chinese know that there is no need to even try.

So if Sears holdings finds out their K-Mart items are made by slave labor, they stop sourcing from there. Then the Chinese find another buyer, or they change the packaging a little and claim the products come from a normal factory and Sears resumes buying.; 12/26/12, 10:56 AM
George M. Spencer said...: The current Chinese regime performs vivisections on prisoners being executed but not yet dead, and you all are discussing whether or not this letter alleging labor camp beatings is accurate?????

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organ_transplantation_in_the_People's_Republic_of_China

"On 12 September 2012, the United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs heard the testimonies of experts about organ harvesting in China. Ethan Gutmann, an investigative journalist, referred to the body of witness testimony, much of which he has wrangled, from former surgeons and nurses who have direct knowledge of organ harvesting from prisoners of conscience. He has also interviewed imprisoned Falun Gong practitioners who have been tested for their blood type, which is needed for their organs to be harvested. He lamented the lack of interest in the West in the evidence that he and others have worked to accumulate, and urged the committee to invite the witnesses to be cross-examined.[62] Dr. Gabriel Danovitch, a professor of medicine at UCLA, noted the efforts that international medical organizations have made to change abusive Chinese organ sourcing practices. Dr. Damon Noto, the spokesman with the medical society Doctors Against Forced Organ Harvesting, presented a careful historical analysis of the beginnings of organ harvesting by the CCP, and ran through a narrative that led to the ultimate conclusion that the Party has harvested the organs of up to 60,000 Falun Gong prisoners of conscience. The CCP’s military apparatus began with death row prisoners in the 1990s and after 1999 moved on to the newly persecuted Falun Gong population. There was an “exponential increase in transplantations” from 2000 onward, Noto said.[62]"

That's 60,000 executions of Falun Gong members...for their organs. 60,000.; 12/26/12, 11:13 AM
Oso Negro said...: George, the current American regime conducts drone attacks on unsuspecting children, and still we are discussing whether the letter is a fake.; 12/26/12, 12:12 PM
Unknown said...: Seems fake to me. It fits too neatly into the anti WalMart agenda.; 12/26/12, 1:16 PM
Anonymous said...: 16 comments. Real. Gee..where's all the indignation Jingos? Off to Costco for the SUPER CHEAP LED CHINESE XMAS LIGHTs?; 12/26/12, 7:47 PM